User:Valoem/Donald Trump election victory speech, 2016



Following his victory in the United States presidential election, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump gave his victory speech at the New York Hilton Midtown in his home city of New York City, New York, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, on November 9, 2016, before a crowd of supporters. Viewed on television and the Internet by millions of people around the globe, Trump's speech focused on improvement and solving the major issues facing the United States, all echoed through his campaign slogan to Make America Great Again. His victory was widely described as a "stunning upset", since most pre-election polling had predicted a Clinton win. In his speech, Trump declared his campaign was not a regular campaign, but rather "an incredible and great movement".

Background
Trump formally announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015, with a campaign rally and speech at Trump Tower in New York City. In his speech, Trump drew attention to domestic issues such as illegal immigration, offshoring of American jobs, the U.S. national debt, and Islamic terrorism. The campaign slogan was announced as "Make America Great Again". Trump declared that he would self-fund his presidential campaign, and would refuse any money from donors and lobbyists. Ladbrokes offered 150/1 odds of Trump winning the presidency. Following his June 2015 announcement, Trump traveled to several early primary states including Iowa and New Hampshire to campaign ahead of the 2016 Republican primaries. On August 6, 2015, the first Republican primary debate took place on Fox News. During the debate, Trump refused to rule out a third-party candidacy. Eventually, in September 2015, Trump signed a pledge promising his allegiance to the Republican Party.

On May 3, 2016, Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party after his victory in Indiana and the withdrawal of the last competitors, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, from the race. On July 15, 2016, Trump announced Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate. Trump and Pence were officially nominated by the Republican Party on July 19, 2016, at the Republican National Convention. On September 26, 2016, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Lester Holt, an anchor with NBC News, was the moderator. This was the most watched presidential debate in United States history. The second presidential debate was held at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. The final presidential debate was held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on October 19.

As the results came in on election night, November 8, 2016, Trump won in multiple states that had been predicted to go to Clinton. In the early morning hours of November 9, media sources declared Trump the winner of the presidency, crediting him with 304 electoral college votes where 270 were needed to win. Clinton then phoned Trump to concede and to congratulate him on his victory, whereupon Trump gave a victory speech. His victory was widely described as a "stunning upset", since most pre-election forecasts had predicted a Clinton win.

Speech


Donald Trump began the speech by thanking his audience for waiting on him. He mentioned he had received a phone call from Hillary Clinton and said "She congratulated us. It's about us. On our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign." Trump spoke about his experiences and travels while campaigning.

Trump proclaimed, "As I've said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family." He spoke about working together to rebuild the nation and through his life in business has seen the untapped potential in projects and people, and declared "Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer."

Trump thanked his parents, Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, his sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth, his brother Robert, and his late-brother, Fred.

Trump thanked his family for their support during his campaign.

To Melania and Don and Ivanka and Eric and Tiffany and Barron, I love you and I thank you, and especially for putting up with all of those hours.

Trump reflected on the night and his campaign towards the end and said "It's an amazing evening. It's been an amazing two-year period, and I love this country."

Issues
On the division the presidential campaign had caused to the United States:

Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.

His commitment to all Americans:

It is time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.

To the forgotten of America:

Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.

On America's infrastructure:

We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We're going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.

A message to veterans:

We will also finally take care of our great veterans who have been so loyal, and I've gotten to know so many over this 18-month journey.The time I've spent with them during this campaign has been among my greatest honors. Our veterans are incredible people.

A message to the world community:

I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America's interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone. All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.

Significance
Donald Trump's victory was significant as many people had predicted he would not win the election. Some media outlets noticed the stark change of tone in regards to Hillary Clinton. While many previous remarks towards Clinton were negative, Trump's comments on Clinton were positive in his victory speech. The speech was in contrast with some of his previous rhetoric, with Trump promising to heal the division caused by the election, thanking Clinton for her service to the country, and promising to be a president to all Americans.

More than 71 million TV viewers watched Trump's victory speech.