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Trump Holds Final Rally of "Thank You" Tour in Mobile, AL; Ivanka Trump Could Become Stand-In First Lady. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired December 17, 2016 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:52] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Florida was even that whole night, the big, big beautiful state. I love Florida. And it's even. And then all of a sudden we hadn't hit the panhandle. Right? Anybody live in the panhandle?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Oh, I love the panhandle. And, you know, you had to see the people. They were so devastated. The media. The anchors. So they have been saying for months and months that Trump is going to get absolutely killed. I remember three weeks before the election, one of them, I won't say the name, he said how is Trump going to lead the rest of his life because this is one of the most devastating defeats. He will suffer so badly.
(LAUGHTER)
And his whole career, which is true, which is good, like your football team, right? How good are they?
(CHEERS)
Frankly, frankly -- all your football teams they do well, right? But this guy -- and he was saying it with such joy. How is he going -- they were talking about his three and a half weeks before the primary. I went and told my wife, I said, man, that was pretty bad to hear. His whole life has been based on winning and he's going to suffer one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics, right, Jeff, that's what they were saying. We were going to lose the presidency. I was going to take down with me the House, and I was going to take down the Senate. And it was going to go down as the single greatest defeat in the history of politics and three weeks later we had the single greatest victory in the history of politics. That's what they are saying.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We won -- you know I don't know if you know this. Nationwide -- thank you. USA is right. Made in the USA. We're going to put that sign up. Made in the USA. But, you know, one of our products that we're going start making a lot of. But it was like this, you know, terrible kind of thing. He was saying it with -- he was very happy. But we then went back and I went back to work. I really went down to work and I didn't do interviews. All I did was stuff like this, rallies. And I didn't want to do
interviews because they cut your sentence off, that cut it in half, you make a beautiful statement and then all of a sudden you say I didn't say that. Well, when they leave the back part of the sentence off, or they don't talk about the other half of the paragraph it's not so good. Right? And I said, I don't want to deal with these people. And I said if you want to quote me quote me from the speeches. Now I get a nice quotes. But even there they will take like if you're doing a line, a funny line.
I'll give you an example of what happened today. One of the papers wrote a story. I was talking a lot of fun over the last couple of days. I said, you know, prior to the election, you people were strong and vicious and violent and you wanted to win. And I'm saying it kiddingly. Right? And you wanted to win but you were vicious as vicious as I've ever seen. And we were all laughing and having fun. Right?
And then I said, and after the election, meaning last night or the night before where I was in different places like Pennsylvania. Hershey, Pennsylvania was unbelievable. But I said and now you're mellow, your low key, you're just sitting back, you won, you won. You're chilling out. Okay. And I said that. And everybody laughed and they had fun. So today a couple of the groups, I won't tell you which station but it's ridiculous said, see we were right. Donald Trump is calling his people vicious.
Donald Trump. He said that. These people are so bad. So we can't have a little humor, folks, because if we have humor they're going to take it. And you know, when you report it or write it out it does sound that way. But when you see it you know what we're talking about. So, they are very dishonest people. But we go down but we understand. We shouldn't change, right? We can't change. Because people get it, obviously, because I think -- I just heard a statement that we won like 2,700 counties. Where is Kellyanne? Kellyanne. Where is our great Kellyanne? Come here.
(CHEERS)
I got to get her up. She told me 2700. So she didn't know I was going to do this. She didn't know.
(CHEERS)
Where is Hope? Where is Hope? Hope, get up here, Hope. Hope, get up here. She's always on the phone talking to the reporters trying to get the reporters to straighten out their dishonest stories. Hope and Kellyanne. So Kellyanne -- Kellyanne and you've seen her. Has anyone -- like how about every day seen her on television, right? So in the history of politics in this country, she's the first campaign manager to ever win as a female.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And she did a fantastic job. Kellyanne, tell them about the count. Go ahead. [17:05:10] KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISOR, TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM
SENIOR ADVISOR: Okay. Hi, again. So, your President-elect Donald Trump won over 2,600 counties.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
It's huge. He also won 31 of the 50 states. Three hundred and six electoral votes.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And had any of those graphics on TV said, road to the popular vote, we would have been in California and Illinois and New York and we would have won the popular vote. But every graph has said, road to 270. So, we figured we'll get 306 just to have a little cushion.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And there's one other thing that doesn't get a ton of coverage which I think is incredibly impressive about the Trump-Pence victory. Donald Trump your next president turned 200 counties across this country from President Obama in 2012 to President Trump in 2016.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now Hope Hicks is a tremendously talented person. She started with us right from day one. She used to be in my real estate company. I said, what do you know about politics? She said, absolutely nothing. I said, congratulations, you're into the world of politics. Right? She knew nothing. And she was there the first day. And she was fantastic. And I just say a couple of words, Hope. You know, she's a little shy but that's okay because she's really, really talented. Hope, say a couple of words.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HOPE HICKS, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY, DONALD TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Hi. Merry Christmas, everyone. And thank you Donald Trump!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We had a great team. We had a great team. So, the other side, when we won so big in Ohio and we won so big in Iowa, we weren't supposed to win like that and we had those horrible exit polls. Remember the exit polls started coming out. And everybody in this, you know they did that to depress the vote because in places like California and other places, you know, they see it because there's a three hour gap and they say I love Trump but I'm not going to waste my time because these exit polls came out and my daughter and her husband Jared called up, Ivanka and Jared and they said, dad it's really looking bad. I said, what's looking bad? It can't. I just left Michigan. I started speaking at almost 1:00 in the morning on Election Day. We had 31,000 people inside and out and I said, what's looking bad and she said those exit polls are just horrible. And it's not looking good. So I went to my wife. I said, you know
what? I don't feel badly about this because I worked as hard as you can work. Don't forget that last month I did two and three speeches a day, like this. Big crowds.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I don't know maybe I'm wrong about it. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you should say I didn't work hard and therefore I lost. But I really did. I worked as much as you could possibly physically could do. I don't think anyone has ever -- I don't think anybody and they've written this. I don't think anybody has ever worked harder in the last month of a presidential campaign than I did. Nobody.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I covered 17 states and I went to Maine -- I needed one because they all said you cannot get to 270. Right, remember? Well it's a little different. There is no path to 270 for Donald. He will not win the election. So I said I'll get to 270. I'm going to go to Maine too which is one. OK. It's got an -- called Maine too. And I went there. I got it too by the way. I got that one vote. So, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I got it. I got that one vote. But I went to Maine. That's the beauty of this electoral system. You know in the other if you go with like with the popular vote, I would go New York State, California, back, forth. It would be much easier. The problem is every other place you stop in Florida, you stop in Texas. You wouldn't see any place else, it would be so much easier. I think I actually would do better. But you never see most of the country. The electoral vote -- and I never appreciated it until now how genius it was what they had in mind because at the time they didn't want everybody going to Boston and New York.
[17:10:15] And everything else would be forgotten. And now it's the same thing. It's genius. I'm telling you it's genius. I went to 17 states. I went to states -- I went to states that, you know, you just wouldn't go to and they were great. And I went to places, frankly that normally you wouldn't be thinking about too much and they were incredible and they came through for me. Most of them -- most of them really, really came through. So then you had the Hillary people saying that --
(CROWD BOOING)
(CROWD CHANTING)
We won. Let's see. Right? We won. But yet the Hillary people were on and they saying, we were going to win the state of Florida, we have information we're going to win. Maybe their information was how many people voted illegally, maybe that was the information. But, of course, you know when I say that, they say isn't that a terrible thing that he said. Isn't that terrible? You got to look into that, folks. But the problem is when you win Florida by that much, there's nothing much they can do. You can't have people and numbers that's bigger than the number of people. So they said you can't win and we're going to -- we end up -- breaking news. Ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump has won the state of Florida. And these people are standing --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I remember they had, they had one guy, I guess he was mid-level and he was saying, we're going to win the state of Florida. He's representing her. We're going to win state of Florida, we're going to win North Carolina but Florida is really looking strong. And the announcer said, excuse me one minute. We have something breaking. Breaking news. Trump has won the state of Florida. And the guy is standing there like, what happened?
But then they said that I can't win North Carolina. And by the way, they raised $2 billion. They spent so much more money than me. I spent like peanuts compared to what they spent. Under budget and ahead of schedule. Does that sound good?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Under budget and ahead of schedule. Like we're going to have our roads built and our planes built. And our F-35s one of the most expensive -- we're going to straighten things out but under budget. So what happens, you know, in the old days you have some people here that will tell you, when you spend less money and win, that's much better than the other way. And I had cases where I was tied or up in the poll but she had spent in a state like 50 million and I had spent like two million and they said Donald Trump is not spending the money like and I'm saying wait, that's a good thing. They don't understand it. That's actually a good thing.
If I can do that -- if I can do that -- I remember in the primary in New Hampshire, I love New Hampshire. In New Hampshire I spent a tiny amount, almost nothing and another person -- I can't say any more because they are all friends of mine now. But another person spent like $22 million. I spent nothing and I won. And they said before I won, like this person was doing great because he was spending much more money. I said yes, but I'm going to win the state. So remember for all the young people here, when you spend less money and you win that's a good thing, not a bad thing. All right. Trying to press.
So then the next state was North Carolina. Which is great. And they spent, they out spent me five to one at least. But I had great. I had my sons there and Lara and everybody. We had incredible people there. And they came out and, again, breaking news. Donald Trump has won North Carolina. That was unbelievable.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And then Pennsylvania, we were doing so good in Pennsylvania but every Republican for like 38 years has lost Pennsylvania. Some large ridiculous number. And they always called it the bride that got away. I don't even know if that's politically correct when the press says it. Now if I say it they will say it's not politically correct but I always heard them say it. So, for them it's fine. Right? But they say the bride that got away. Because you thought every Republican for 30 years thought they won the state of Pennsylvania. It's a big state. And they didn't.
[17:15:08] So I said we're going to win Pennsylvania. We had three congressmen there who were incredible. They said we're going win. But I didn't want to tell that to anybody because everybody thought they would win anyway. So, we're looking. And there's one percent left. And I'm leading by a lot. And even if I lost 100 percent of the one percent, there was no way I could lose the state. But they would not call the state.
Now I knew, in fact, if I started accepting victory because if I win Pennsylvania now I win. And the other side is saying, they're going to win Pennsylvania but actually when they looked at the numbers they understood it was over. And then we had a surprise. Breaking news. Donald Trump has won the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Right? And people are saying, where did that come from? What happened? Because we thought we were going to do well there but we won it. And now they are in trouble. They are really in trouble. And I don't know if you saw, they had the most beautiful stage. In fact, I wanted to swap stages with them around midway through. I want to maybe swap. You know they had that beautiful picture of the country and magnificent, you know, they had, they spent $7 million on fireworks and they knew something was wrong.
One of their people who is a high level guy said we made a big mistake. We made a big mistake. We're going to lose. And he was telling that to people. And I felt we were going to win. But then all of a sudden they cancelled their fireworks. And I said, because you know what I found fireworks just don't work when you lose. Do you agree with that?
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Did you ever see one of your football teams when they lose have fireworks in the stadium? No. No. It's called depression. But they cancelled their fireworks and then just to be cute, we sent an offer in, we offered to buy their fireworks for five cents on the dollar. They had a very good company. Grucci or something. Grucci. They had a great company, going to do their fireworks. We offered to buy it for five cents on the dollar. We never heard back from them. But they this incredible -- they took the convention center. And I took a small ballroom. Because if I lost I want to get out. Here's my case. I would come up, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much, I really appreciate it, my supporters, I love you folks. I love you. Always a movement. But a movement that didn't work. Right? Right?
And I would have said I want to thank my wife, I want to thank my family. Bye-bye, I'm out of here. I didn't want to have this huge expensive thing. I had a ballroom in the city. But then all of a sudden we started to see we were going to win. We knew we were going to win even though we won Pennsylvania. They called it at 3:00 in the morning. They should have called it at 11:00 in the evening fun looked at the ratings they were making a fortune by not calling it. But then we won before Pennsylvania the state of Michigan. Everyone said, oh!
And then they started having the cameras and then I said it last night. You had one guy who is really good. I mean he's really good on the maps. Right? You know who I'm talking about. And that map was so red, it was so unbelievable. That map that, you know, they used to show it and it was really depressing, everything was blue, blue, blue. They had the blue wall. Remember the blue wall. It was unbreakable. Boy, did we shatter that wall. Right? We shattered that wall.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
That wall was shattered. That wall will never be the same. So we broke the wall. So now we won Wisconsin. Now we won Michigan. And I'll never forget the guy he was devastated. This was not -- he never even thought of this. And his hand is like quivering, you know, because he puts it on the map and the map turns red. Donald Trump has won the state of Wisconsin. Oh, no. Donald Trump -- oh, no. Oh, no. No. Please check this. Please check this.
Donald Trump has won the state of Michigan. And it's very unfair to the people of Pennsylvania, they never got the glory. It's like the guy that, you know, can rush for one yard and get the glory. They didn't get the glory. But we love our people in Pennsylvania because they were there for us, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So now he goes -- so now he goes because they've been saying there was no way to get to 270. Right? Remember. There is no path to 270. And the most they could get me to was 269. Remember that? Two sixty nine. I never once got above in their minds 269 -- they get paid a lot of money they don't know what the hell they are talking about, folks. I'll tell you.
(CHEERS)
[17:20:11] I never once -- I never once got -- Jeff will tell you, I never once got above 269. And I was watching it for months. That's where I got upset with Texas. I kept saying, Texas we're going to win it. So what happens is the 269 -- that's why I kept going to Maine I needed that one. I needed that one. So now what happens is, he's up, he says Wisconsin, he says Michigan and now he goes, there is no path for Hillary Clinton to become president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Donald Trump and his great movement is president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) So it was pretty good. It was pretty good. And some sportscaster a
really good one on ESPN said, that's as good as it gets in terms of -- they call it entertainment. And it is a little bit of entertainment. But in another way it's not because we're going to get to work. And now in a certain way the hard work begins. And we're going to make great trade deals and we're going make you so happy and so proud and Jeff Sessions is going to make you so happy and so proud.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
For years the jobs and wealth have been ripped out of our country. Foreign powers have gotten rich, bleeding America dry. And not a lot of people know it better than the people of Alabama and the people of the south in general because you know what's happened. But that's all behind us. We are going to stand up to the American worker like nobody has ever stood up for that worker before.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Our economic agenda can be summed up in three very beautiful words. Jobs, jobs, jobs!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
There's a woman out there got very excited by those three words. It's exciting though, right? That is why we're going to lower our business tax rate from 35 percent down to 15 percent and you're going to see things happen.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're one of the highest in the world right now, just about the highest and we're going to be among the lowest and you're going to see what's going to happen. That's going to be beautiful. That is why we're also going to eliminate job killing regulations and lift the restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale, oil, natural gas and beautiful clean coal. We're going to put our miners back to work. Our miners are going back to work, folks. We're also going to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure. And boy does it need it. It needs it. We have spent $6 trillion in the Middle East. We could have rebuilt our country three times over. It's time, folks. With all of that we're going to knock the hell out of ISIS. We have no choice.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I'm asking Congress to support the construction of new roads, bridges, airports, tunnels and railways all across this nation. And we will put our people back to work. It's time to help get Americans off welfare and back into the labor market. Rebuilding this country with American hands by American workers. My administration will follow two very simple rules. Buy American and hire American.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And we're going to go back to the old days. We're going back to the old days. Remember made in the USA. You remember? You know I did this last night, let's do it again because it's like a free poll. You know these characters will spend a million dollars for a poll. And you can give me a better answer. Is it made in America or made in the USA? So, let's go America first. Made in America or made -- let's go -- wait. Let's go America first. And you say, who likes made in America?
(CHEERS)
[17:25:24] Who likes made in the USA?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING "USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA!")
Okay. Can we do one more poll? What the hell, it's raining and miserable but let's do another poll. Who the hell cares? We're all soaking wet by now so it doesn't matter, right? So "Time" magazine just gave me person of the year, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Nice. Always a great honor. "Financial Times," the "Financial Times," which is a big deal just gave me person of the year. OK. You're ready? Now, remember, we have half the people here are women and by the way, thank you women. I did so great with women.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Those polls were so dishonest with women because we did great. You know I used to go home. My wife said I don't think any woman in the United States is going to be voting for you based on what they just said. We did great with women. We did great with the African- American community. We did great.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Remember, I said inner cities, I said what the hell do you have to lose? And they agreed. It's terrible what's going on. We did great with African-Americans. We did great with Hispanics. You know, I'm saying we're going to build a wall. But they want it also. They want their jobs protected. They want safety, they don't want drugs pouring into our country. We did great. So, here's what happened. But we did great with women. I have to tell you folks because that was very embarrassing. I mean, those polls were so wrong. Those polls were wrong in just about everything, weren't they?
They were wrong on everything. But OK. So I get this person of the year from the "Financial Times" and I get person of the year from "Time" magazine this week. So which is better? Now remember women, okay, because if it's a woman that gets it we have to think about that. So they do it because they wanted to be politically correct. You run the magazine, you run the "Financial Times" or you run "Time" magazine. You go man of the year, thank you darling, I love you too. You go man of the year or do you go person of the year. We'll do person first. Which is better. Person of the year? Wow. Or man of the year?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
That's what I think. And it's pretty simple. If it's a woman you go woman of the year, right? Right? You know, right? They are all saying yes. So, anyway, so we had a lot of fun. We've done well. At the center of our agenda is fixing our absolutely terrible trade deals. America is now running -- listen to this -- nearly $800 billion in annual trade deficits. I asked John Riggle (ph), the great car dealer, one of the biggest in the country, do you think you could negotiate John a slightly better deal than that?
So we do all this work with trade and we're losing or we have a deficit of over almost $800 billion a year. It's almost like what are we doing? Who are the people that negotiate these deals? And there's almost no country that we do well with. I mean, we have bad deals with every country. That is going to change fast. Is that right, Mr. Riggle (ph)?
(CHEERS)
Our country has lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs since NAFTA. One-third. And here's one -- when I first saw this and I can say it because this is the last time I'll be speaking at a rally for maybe a while. You know? They are saying, as president he shouldn't be doing rallies but I think we should, right?
(CHEERS)
[17:30:00] We've done everything else the opposite. Well no, this is the way you get an honest word out because you can't give it to them because they are so dishonest. They had a clown today, I didn't see it, I didn't read it but I heard about it. They had a clown today in the failing "New York Times" who said that I wanted to have another World Trade Center catastrophe because it's good for my base. Can you believe this?
No, no. Think about it. Think of it. What kind of a demented person would say that? Think about that. Thousands of people killed. They said I wanted to have another catastrophe like that because it's good for my base. Anybody that says that -- and this guy is demented, he's a demented person and that's why the "times" is failing. I went up to see him three weeks ago. I gave it a shot. I had a great meeting. Remember, said I did great. Everything was great. But they will never change.
They will never change, Jeff, no matter what you do. They will never change.
That's OK. We did very well without them, right? What kind of a demented person would say that? It's incredible. But when I saw this and these statistics I said it must be a typo because it's impossible. We've lost 70,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization. Think of that. And I said 700, you mean. I said 7,000 maybe. But the number is 70,000 factories, many of them right from Alabama and you know it. It's the greatest job theft in the history of the world. There's never been a jobs theft that's happened to us and we're going to un-theft it, folks. We're going to bring it back. We're going to bring it back.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: We're not going to be taken advantage of any more by all these foreign countries. We are going to have a very new policy for a long time and it hasn't been this way. It's called America first. It's now America first. If a company wants to fire their workers, leave the great state of Alabama or another state for another country and then ship their products right back into our country through a very strong border, by the way, there will be consequences. Right now, they can do that, make the product, bring it in for nothing. You saw what we did with Carrier air conditioning. Go buy Carrier. They were great. We have thousands of people if you look at it from a family standpoint are going to have a great Christmas in Indiana. But we have many of those things happening. Many, many, many. Because if they want to do that. We're going to impose a 35percent tax on those products coming into our country and you know what? They are not going to move. They are not going move to. Now why didn't your politicians do this 15 years ago? Because either they are not smart, or and a lot of people don't even understand it, and they always talk about free trade. I want fair trade. I don't want free. I love free trade. But I want fair trade. And if they don't do then we don't do. But it's now 35percent tax for a company. All these companies that think they will get rich by firing thousands and thousands of workers in our country. I hope they get rich. But you know what we're going get rich, too, because we're going typical pose a very large tax on those companies and we're going to write up that legislation very soon. And when they leave there will be consequences. You know what will happen. They won't leave. Their model no longer works. The politicians got taken care of by campaign contributions or something else. If it's something else Jeff Sessions will catch them, right? He will. He will catch them.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: I wouldn't want to be them. But their politicians got taken care of by campaign contributions or whatever because it's incredible that we lost so much. To be a rich nation and we're going to be a rich nation again, we also have to be a safe nation. The murder rate has experienced its largest increase in our country in 45 years. Think of it. The murder rate. More people are being murdered than, in 45 years. And the press never tells you that. Do they ever write that? No. We're going to support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Going to bring this terrible crime wave to a very rapid end. One of the greatest public safety threats remains open borders. I always say there goes your business, there goes your country. You know, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, they all believed in strong borders. We don't. We fight for countries that most of you have never even heard of before so they have borders. And yet we don't protect our own borders. But I have a message for the drug dealers, the gang members and the
criminal cartels that are terrorizing all of our citizens in cities and different places throughout the United States. And the message is that your days are numbered. We're getting you out. We're getting you out.
(CHEERING)
[17:35:36] TRUMP: We will build a great wall. And we'll stop illegal immigration for good. And we will have doors in that wall. And people will come into that wall and they will come through that wall by the tens of thousands. But they are coming in legally. Coming in legally.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: We will stop the drugs from pouring into our country and totally poisoning -- what the drugs are doing to our youth and you have a big problem here, but every state has a big problem, our youth and more than our youth but you see it with our youth and it's astronomical numbers. We'll keep our country safe from terrorism. We've seen Islamic terror attacks from Belgium to Paris to the World Trade Center. Think of that. One attack after another after another. So, let me state this as clearly as it can be stated. I am going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: We have no choice. That includes suspending immigration from regions where it cannot be safely processed or vetted and I use the term extreme vetting. Is that OK? Extreme. The safety and security of the American people will always come first in the Trump administration.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Ethics reform will be a crucial part of our plan as well. We're going to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: And stop government officials from trading favors at your expense.
We face many, many challenges. The world is a mess. Our country is in trouble. We face many, many challenges.
Michele Obama said yesterday that there's no hope.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: But I assume she was talking about the past not future because I'm telling you we have tremendous hope. And we have tremendous promise and tremendous potential. We are going to be so successful as a country again. We are going to be amazing. And I actually think she made that statement not meaning it the way it came out. I really do. Because I met with President Obama and Michelle Obama in the White House, my wife there was. She could not have been nicer. I honestly believe she meant that statement in a different way than it came out because I believe -
(SHOUTING)
TRUMP: I believe there is tremendous hope. And beyond hope we have such potential. This country has such potential. You watch. It's going to be so special. Things are going to happen like you haven't seen happen in many, many decades.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: This is truly an exciting time to be alive. The script is not yet written. We do not know what the page will read tomorrow. But for the first time in a long time, what we do know is that the pages will be authored by each and every one of you. It's a movement.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Don't forget they didn't know you existed until election day. Then they said where the hell did all those people come from. Right?
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Where did they come from? They came in by the millions and millions and millions. Set records in many areas. Set records here. We set a record here in Alabama. They said, where did those people come from? And now they are going to work really hard over the next four years but if we want to go for another four years I think we're going to make it. Do you agree?
(CHEERING)
[17:40:10] TRUMP: I actually think the next four years are going to be a lot easier if you want to know the truth. We're going to do a great job.
You, the American people, will now again be in charge. Your voice, your desires, your hopes, your aspirations will never again fall on deaf ears. Never again. The forgotten men and women of this country and they were forgotten -- by the way, you're not forgotten any longer.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: You will never be forgotten again. Together we will raise incomes and bring back our jobs. We will repeal the disaster known as Obamacare. And create new health care reforms that work for you and for your family. We will re-establish the rule of law, defend the second amendment. Very important.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: And Franklin will be very happy with this, protect religious liberty. (CHEERING)
TRUMP: And appoints justices to the United States Supreme Court who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: We will heal our divisions and unify our very, very divided country.
When Americans are unified s nothing we cannot do. No task is too great. No dream too large. No goal beyond our reach. Nothing. Nothing. There's nothing like us. There's nothing and nobody like us. My message today is for all Americans, from all parties, all beliefs, all races, all walks of life. Whether you are African- American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, we're all American. And we're all united by one shared destiny.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: So I'm asking everyone to join this incredible movement. Here is my request for all of you. Never, ever give up. Can't give up. I should have given up in this campaign five times. I should have given up, according to them, 10 times. I could take you over 10 different things that happened where people would have given up. But I never gave up. Never gave up. I should have given up, but I never gave up. Right?
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Never, ever give up. Never stop believing. And never ever stop dreaming. And if you do that, then all together, we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you, Alabama.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: God bless you.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody. And God bless you.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Thank you for your support.
(CHEERING)
(SINGING) POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The President-elect Donald Trump wrapping up about an hour's worth of remarks there in Mobile, Alabama. This is the final stop on his Thank You tour. He's been taking his team across the country, thanking voters for helping him win this historic election.
A few headlines in his speech that sound a lot like a campaign speech. Not one mention of Russian hacking, not one mention of China stealing a U.S. underwater drone. Rather huge attacks on the media that lasted for quite a long time. Also, a message there at the top end to his supporters saying the forgotten men and women of America will never be forgotten again, saying we'll revert to the old ways in terms of American manufacturing. And also, saying never give up because he should have given up 10 times during the election, and if he had, he wouldn't be here today.
Let's bring in Ron Brownstein, senior editor of "The Atlantic."
This was Alabama. This is where it began. The first sitting U.S. Senator to endorse him, Jeff Sessions, made some remarks there. Now his nominee for attorney general.
Where do we begin? I mean, this sounded like a campaign speech. He has the bully pulpit. The world is listening. Not one mention of Russia or China. He goes after the media. At one point, he mocks Hillary Clinton's campaign, basically saying they bought fireworks to celebrate and we offered to buy them from them in jest after they lost. Was it a missed opportunity?
[17:45:10] RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I thought it was an incredible distillation of both his mindset, and the themes he's likely to stress when he takes office, particularly on the domestic side. On the mindset, you see the grievance that he was still underestimated, and I won, I won. Kellyanne even increasing by one the states he won to 31. He won 30.
More important, you saw the core themes he'll carry into the White House, Poppy. And the core promises, I'm going bring back jobs and incomes to places that have been falling behind, you know, non-urban America that has felt lost out as we move towards a more information age globalized economy. He gave you a big indication of how he tends to pursue that, an agenda that gives corporate America, big business what it wants on taxes, big tax cuts, big regulatory rollback, but wrapped in an anti-corporate mantel where he promises to go after companies who move jobs abroad. And then as kind of -- the last piece I thought was very important, which was that he reconnected with the cultural themes that have been so important. Because, even with these policies, it's going to be difficult to reverse decades of global economic change that have made life tougher in places like Youngstown and Gary and rural Alabama.
HARLOW: On that -- exactly. Ron, on his point, his exact quote was, "We're going back to the old days."
BROWNSTEIN: We're going back.
HARLOW: And he said buy American, make American.
Look, you and I, we cannot put ourselves in the shoes of factory workers who lost their jobs. They deserve a good income. They deserve to able to support their families. However, going back to the old days in a world of globalization, how do you square the two?
BROWNSTEIN: And automation, as well. Perhaps a bigger challenge. Our total manufacturing output is as high as it's ever been. The highest it's ever been. But we're doing it with many fewer people.
HARLOW: It is. We're doing it with machines and robots --
BROWNSTEIN: Many fewer people.
HARLOW: -- but we're making more and exporting more.
BROWNSTEIN: And you can have big symbolic victories like Carrier or pressuring other individual companies but it's hard to systematically reverse that. And that's why if you look -- he talked about how many counties he won, which is true, he won about 2,600 counties. Hillary Clinton won under 500. Her counties account for two-thirds of all the economic output in the country. So, he has a big lift in terms of kind of bringing back prosperity to these places.
And the point I was trying to make, you saw the fallback strategy. A lot of Democrats hope if Donald Trump can't reverse the kind of long- term economic trends in some of these places, voters will sour on him. He gave you a good indication tonight that even if that happens, he's identifying with their cultural anxieties, he's naming the forces that they feel are threatening them from above and below, whether drug dealers and gangs or corporate elites. There's a strong element of cultural identification that goes beyond what he can or cannot deliver economically, which is his challenge starting January.
HARLOW: Interesting, too -- I have to leave it there -- but he took the high road when it came to Michelle Obama and her comments yesterday about the lack of hope. Attacks on the media.
BROWNSTEIN: As the president did yesterday. Neither one of them wants to go after each other directly even if others around them are.
HARLOW: That's a good point.
Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
HARLOW: Coming up, the future for daughter, Ivanka Trump. How much of the first lady's role will she take on? We have new details live in the CNN NEWSROOM next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Ivanka Trump on the phone this week with some members of Congress asking them to help with her child care proposals. There is the auction selling a coffee date with the president-elect's daughter that got cancelled amid public allegations that it was a little more than access for sale. And the bidding had climbed to over $70,000 before that got pulled.
This comes as we learn that the soon-to-be first daughter may end up functioning more perhaps as a first lady.
I want to bring in Kate Anderson Brower, author of "The First Woman, The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies," and a piece in "The Washington Post" this week, titled, "Ivanka Trump Could Be the Most Powerful First Lady Ever."
Nice to have you on. And thank you for sticking around and waiting for us while we listened through the entirety of the president-elect's remarks.
Let's jump right in. You argue that Ivanka's role will be, "singular in its breadth". And that, "She is prepared for the White House in ways that many sort of previous presidential first daughters were not."
What do you mean?
[17:50:46] KATE ANDERSON BROWER, AUTHOR: We've never seen a first daughter this involved. We saw the 19th century, daughters who filled in as hostesses but not facilitating meetings between her father and former vice president gore and the fact that gore came to that meeting thinking he wasn't necessarily going to meet with president-elect but Ivanka, that says a lot about her role. It would have been enough to meet with her. She's like a wild card in this administration and I think that for Democrats, they see her as someone they can talk to. She's not a registered Republican, which I think is very interesting.
HARLOW: That's true.
What's also interesting, when I interviewed her at the beginning of her father's campaign, and she kept saying to me, I'm not part of the campaign, I'm not part of the campaign. And then, obviously, she became more a part of the campaign.
Even after the election when Lesley Stahl asked her what her role would be, here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLEY STAHL, CO-HOST, 60 MINUTES: People think that you're going to be part of the administration, Ivanka.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: No, I'm going to be a daughter. But I've said throughout the campaign that I am very passionate about certain issues and that I want to fight for them. So, you know, there are a lot of things I feel deeply strongly about but not in a formal administrative capacity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: It seems like things have changed. I mean, clearly, child care legislation, she feels strongly about. She's calling members of Congress this week, according to a transition source. You know, it's believed she's moving her family to D.C. Her husband will have some sortof role. What should we expect from her?
ANDERSON BROWER: I think she's going to be a senior advisor. It will be informal. I don't think she'll be on the payroll, but she's going to have a big role.
I was struck by what Donald Trump just said in his remarks, by the way, he said Melania Trump said, no woman in America is going to vote for you after what they just saw. And so Ivanka, as a working mother, she can reach out to young women in this country who might be skeptical. She's really their best hope at reaching out to Democrats who are disappointed with this election results.
HARLOW: Give us a little history lesson here because you delve into it in your piece. How unprecedented or not unprecedented it is to have the first family? Children so involved?
ANDERSON BROWER: This involved is unprecedented, but I mean, during the Nixon administration, you had Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower very involved. She even gave a Rose Garden press conference during Watergate. And it's been 100 years since a daughter filled a role, when President Wilson's wife passed away a year before he remarried. And in history, we had Martha Jefferson filled in for her mother who died before Thomas Jefferson was elected. When life expectancies were shorter, we saw daughters, daughters-in-law take this role, but only as a hostess.
HARLOW: But Melania Trump is there. But what you call it is her apparent indifference when it comes to perhaps the role of first lady, although, she gave the speech saying she would take on social media, which was interesting.
But do you think she sees, Melania Trump, the actual first lady of the White House, the way, say, Bess Truman saw it, once calling it the great white jail?
ANDERSON BROWER: I think she's a reluctant first lady. The fact she wants to stay in New York is very telling. You could say it's refreshing that she's so honest about it. Someone like Jackie Kennedy wasn't excited about it, went to Virginia all the time to get out of D.C. And Melania is not having a pretense to moving to Washington for the first few months, but I think, eventually, she'll feel the need to move there.
HARLOW: It's a fascinating piece.
Thank you so much, Kate Anderson Brower.
ANDERSON BROWER: Thank you.
[17:54:30] HARLOW: We appreciate it. We'll be watching what role she does take.
Thanks so much. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: In this season of giving, we want to show you how you can help the top-10 "CNN Heroes" of 2016 continue their important work.
Here's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, A.C 360: I'm Anderson Cooper. One person really can make a difference. This year, we make it easy for you to support their great work. Just go to cnnheroes.com and click on donate on the top-10 "CNN Heroes" to make a direct contribution on crowd rise. You'll receive an e-mail confirming and that's tax deductible in the United States. No matter how small, it can make a big difference to help the person who inspires you to continue their life-changing work. CNN is proud to celebrate all of these everyday people changing the world. And through December 31st, we offer you a simple way to support causes and, right now, your donations will be matched dollar for dollar up to $50,000 for each year's honorees. You can donate from your laptop, tablet or phone. Your donation will help them help others in any amount. Thanks.
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HARLOW: And if you know someone great doing amazing work who deserves to be a "CNN Hero," we want to hear about them. Nominations for 2017 are open. Just go to cnnheroes.com to nominate right now.
I'm Poppy Harlow, in New York. I'll be back in one hour
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