U.S. President-elect Donald Trump repeated his campaign promise to crush Islamic State “rapidly,” but did not give a blueprint for achieving such a victory during a rally in Orlando, Florida.
Trump told supporters attending his national “thank you” tour late Friday he would build up the nation’s military, though he would use it sparingly as commander-in-chief.
He criticized Washington’s current foreign policy. “For too long, we’ve been moving from one reckless intervention to another, to countries you’ve never heard of before.” He said “It’s crazy and it’s going to stop.”
The Orlando rally was meant to salute Trump’s election day victory in a must-win state. The Republican businessman owns multiple properties in Florida and has called it his “second home. Trump touched on many of his campaign themes, ending illegal immigration, repealing President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, renegotiating trade deals and re-invigorating the domestic economy.
The often rambunctious crowds chanted familiar anti-Hillary Clinton slogans: “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!”
Trump appealed for calm, reminding his supporters how rowdy they were during the campaign. “You people were vicious, violent, screaming, ‘Where’s the wall? We want the wall.” Screaming, ‘Prison, Lock her up.’ I mean you were going crazy. You were nasty and mean and vicious.”
But with his inauguration set for next month, the president-elect gave his supporters instructions on how they should behave now. “Now you’re laid back, you’re cool, you’re mellow, right? You’re basking in the glory of victory.” His Florida victory was won by successfully turning out white voters from non-coastal areas to beat Clinton’s strength among minority voters in the state’s large cities.
In continuing to fill his Cabinet and top leadership posts, Trump officially nominated bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman as ambassador to Israel. Friedman has expressed his opposition to a key tenet of U.S. policy in the region: the two-state solution of an Israeli and Palestinian state living peacefully side by side.
On Saturday, Trump’s makes the final stop on his “thank you” tour in Mobile, Alabama, the site of the largest rally of his campaign.
After Mobile, the future president goes to Mar-a-Logo, his palatial Palm Beach, Florida estate where he will celebrate the holidays with his family and continue to hold meetings as he prepares to enter the Oval Office. He is expected to remain at his estate until the new year.
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