Donald Trump Ohio speech: Transcript of President-elect's rambling address on 'thank you' victory tour
'They were saying for months there’s no way Donald Trump can break the blue wall. Right? We didn’t break it. We shattered that sucker. Shattered it, man. That poor wall is busted up'
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has delivered an fiery and erratic speech in his first public rally since winning the US presidential election, echoing the impulsive style he adopted throughout his election campaign.
Kicking off what he is calling his "thank you" tour in Ohio on Thursday night, the President-elect delivered an unscripted address in which he devoted 10 minutes to ranting about his disdain for "dishonest" media, before recounting the night he won the election in a disjointed and seemingly gloating narrative.
Mr Trump's remarks closely resembled his campaign speeches, touching on his positions on the US economy, jobs and domestic policy - and he doubled down on his pledges to build a while across the southern border with Mexico and to repeal Obamacare.
Below is a transcript of one rambling passage in Mr Trump's Ohio speech:
Or how about North Carolina? How well did we do in North Carolina? Right?
[cheers]
Remember what they said. “He cannot win North Carolina. So we had just won Ohio, Iowa. And we had just won Florida. “Breaking news! Donald Trump has won Florida” They’re saying: “Woah!”
[cheers]
And we won it big. But then the people back there, the extremely dishonest press aid, right?
[boos]
Very dishonest people. How about, how about, I mean how dishonest? How about when a major anchor who hosted a debate started crying? When she realised we won?
[cheers]
Tears! “No, tell me this isn’t true!” And you know what she doesn’t understand? Things are gonna be much better now! She doesn’t understand.
[cheers]
I mean think of it. We won a landslide. That was a landslide. And we didn’t have the press. The press was brutal. Youb know what? Hey, in the great state of Ohio, we didn’t have the upper echelon of politicians either, did we?
[boos]
And was very nice. He said: “Congratulations. That was amazing.” He couldn’t believe how much we won Ohio by or the election by. Remember? “You cannot get to 270!” The dishonest press. “There is so road!” Folks, how many times did we hear this? “There is no path to 270. There is no path. There is no path.
[cheers]
“There is no path for Donald Trump”, “Texas is in play”. Do you remember that one? Now, as a Republican, I’m supposed to win Texas. As a Republican, I’m supposed to win Georgia. As a Republican, I’m supposed to win the great state of Utah. I love Utah. Love those states.
Remember when they said: “Donald Trump is gonna lose to – “some guy I had never even heard of. Who is that guy? “He is going to lose to this guy!”
But the people of Utah were amazing and we trounced them. We trounced. And, by the way, Hillary came in second and that guy came in third. I was still trying to figure it out. I’m still trying to figure out what was he going to prove?
Did he want to - wanted to find, what the hell was he trying to prove? I guess he wanted us to lose the Supreme Court. That’s about the only thing he was going to get. But think of it. They said: I’ll tell you what. This is two, three weeks before the election. And my friends were telling me just the opposite. They live in Texas and Georgia. They said: ‘Georgia is in play. Texas is in play.’
That means like we’re even. And then we won in a landslide, both states. I said: ‘What happened?’ Right? They go for weeks. ‘Texas is in Play!’ Then you turn on the television, like two minutes later. ‘Donald Trump won Texas!’ You know it’s like..
[cheers]
These are very, very dishonest people.
[boos]
Okay. I love this stuff. Should I go on with this just a little ebit longer? I love it. How about it’s like 12 o’clock in the evening and Pennsylvania, I’m leading by a lot. And we couldn’t just get off 98 per cent. They didn’t want to call it. We’re leading by so much. And it’s impossible, if I lost every other vote, and they refuse to call. Then at 3 o’clock, I’ll never forget, I watched a particular person.
And we won Wisconsin. And we won Michigan. And we won Pennsylvania. Right? And that person is doing the map, and that person was saying for months that there’s no way Donald Trump can break the blue wall. Right?
We didn’t break it. We shattered that sucker. Shattered it, man. That poor wall is busted up. So, I’ll never forget it though because it felt so good. You know, more so because they kept saying there’s no path and all this nonsense.
So – and I go out and I see the people, like this. And I’d say: “How are we gonna lose?” I mean how are we gonna lose? But what happened? So, they’d say – we win Winsconsin. Donlad Trump, 38 years or so, Donald Trump has won Michigan.
And then they’re looking at the map. They’re saying: ‘Oh, wow. There’s no way for Hillary Clinton to become president. Donald Trump is President of the United States.”
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