During Donald J. Trump’s latest victory rally in Hersey, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night (Dec. 15) the US president-elect criticized China, globalization, the media, and Utah businessman Evan McMullin—and thanked African-Americans for not voting.
Trump took the stage to repetitive electronica beats, wished the crowd a “Merry Christmas,” and spoke for about an hour. Towards the end, he summed up the groups that contributed to his electoral victory, highlighting women, Hispanics, and, in a backhanded way, African-Americans (at about the 1:33 mark on the video below).
“We did great with the African-American community, so good,” he said. “Remember the famous line, cause I’d talk about crime, I’d talk about lack of education and I’d talk about no jobs. And I’d say ‘What the hell do you have to lose, right?’ It’s true.”
“And they’re smart and they picked up on it like you don’t believe, and you know what else, they didn’t come out to vote for Hillary, they didn’t come out. And that was the big… so thank you to the African-American community,” he said to cheers. While African-Americans voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, almost two million fewer came to the polls than in 2012.
He also said his election victory proves that “the American people still run our country.” Trump mocked CNN, promised to rebuild America’s “badly depleted military” and cut the cost of a new Air Force One plane “way, way down,” called the press “very dishonest people,” and falsely claimed that the victory was a “landslide.”
“Get those shovels ready,” he told the Pennsylvania crowd, promising to bring mining back.