Donald Trump: Thank you, thank you very much, everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting, complicated business. Thank you very much.
I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it’s about us, on our victory, and I … her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean she, she fought very hard.
Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely.
Trump began his victory speech in a vastly different register from his stump speeches of the past eight months. Gone were the calls for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, or any mention of supposed criminality or the FBI, which twice cleared Clinton of intentional or criminal wrongdoing in her use of a private email server. Instead, Trump struck the most moderate tone of his entire campaign: a call for respect toward his Democratic rival, whom he spent months diminishing as "crooked" and once tweeted "most corrupt candidate ever" with a six-pointed star and a pile of cash.
Now it’s 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 get together as one united people. It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all 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 we can work together and unify our great country.
In context of his campaign, which started with accusations that Mexican migrants are “rapists” , was bolstered by support from white nationalists , and was punctuated with a call to ban Muslim and stereotypes of African Americans and Jewish people, Trump’s words here can be read as conciliatory or a threat. Trump struck the tone of a gracious victor, offering a friendly hand to the 57 million people who voted against him, but his history suggests he will not forget those who opposed him.
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 country for themselves and for their family.
It’s a movement comprised of Americans from all races, backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve our people, and serve the people it will.
Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding the nation and renewing the American dream.
The election was borne out Trump’s declaration of a movement: more than 57 million Americans voted for the businessman, especially white men and women in rural areas, according to early exit numbers. They appear on pace to lose the popular vote, overall, but to have overcome low turnout in urban areas, putting the election on par with those of 2000, 1888 and 1876, when George W Bush, Grover Cleveland and Rutherford Hayes narrowly won the electoral college. But Trump won it easily, and surpassed the numbers of 2012 nominee Mitt Romney in minority groups.
The movement Trump has urged to the polls is deeply at odds with tens of millions of voters who like Barack Obama, and exposed divides not only along racial lines but those of education, inequality and simple geography.
The Democratic party’s staggering defeat, in the House, Senate and White House (and by implication the supreme court), suggests that both parties face dire internal divisions along those same lines. Democrats were unable to capitalize on the legacy of a popular president, and Republican leaders succeeded by letting revolt spread within their own ranks and capitalising on the dysfunction of Washington in general.
I’ve spent my entire life in business, looking at the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the world, that is now what I want to do for our country. Tremendous potential, I’ve gotten to know our country so well, tremendous potential, it’s going to be a beautiful thing.
Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. 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.
Trump’s infrastructure pledge, like his calls to unity and to respect Clinton, is telling for what it lacks: mention of his promised wall on the southern border. The wall would cost an estimated $25bn , and Mexico’s leaders have refused to pay for it.
This promise also links Trump’s victory to his beginnings: his claim to be “a builder”. Trump actually lost hundreds of millions with his real estate projects in New Jersey, his leaked tax documents show , but has continued to manage his father’s empire of buildings for decades, despite federal prosecution for discrimination.
We will also finally take care of our great veterans, who’ve been so loyal and I’ve gotten to know so many over this 18-month journey. The time I’ve spent during this campaign has been among my greatest honors. We will embark upon a project of national growth and renewal. We will call upon the best and brightest to call upon their tremendous talent for the benefit of all. We have a great economic plan. We will build … and have the strongest economy of anywhere in the world. We will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us … great, great relationships.
Nothing we want for our futures is beyond our reach. America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We must reclaim our country’s destiny and dream big and bold and daring. We have to do that. We have to dream of things for our country, and beautiful things and successful things once again.
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.
Trump has here pledged a moderated version of his ‘America first’ slogan, which he stopped using in recent weeks – the Anti-Defamation League has noted the phrase’s origins among isolationists and Nazi sympathisers before the second world war. This new variation is both typical of presidential candidates – high-flying, optimistic, friendly to the world and very vague – and specific to Trump: “beautiful”, without details and with a hint of grievance.
And now I would like to take this moment to thank some of the people who have helped make this what they are calling very historic … I want to thank my parents, who I know are looking down on me right now, great people. I’ve learned so much from them. They were wonderful in every regard. I had truly great parents. I also want to thank my sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth, who are here with us tonight … they’re very shy, actually.
My brother Robert, my great friend … And also my late brother Fred, fantastic guy. I was very lucky.
To Melania and Don and Ivanka and Eric and Tiffany and Barron, I love you and I thank you and especially for putting up for all of those hours, this was tough. This was tough. This political stuff is nasty and it’s tough. So I want to thank my family.
Trump’s gratitude to his family is somewhat unusual: though he often speaks of his father, the real estate mogul who leant him millions , he rarely comments on his brothers, one of whom was maligned by their father and died of alcoholism. He also rarely speaks about his sisters, one of whom is a federal judge . Trump’s children have been far more prominent in the campaign, and Ivanka has reportedly worried about the campaign’s effect on her own business.
You’ve all given me such incredible support and I will tell you we have a large group of people … not so small, look at all the people that we have. And Kellyanne, and Chris, and Rudy and Steve and David. We have got tremendously talented people up here. And I will tell you it’s been, it’s been very, very special.
Our former mayor Rudy Giuliani … he traveled with us and he went through meetings, and Rudy never changed … Governor Chris Christie, folks, was unbelievable … the first man, the first senator, the first major politician, and let me tell you he is highly respected in Washington because he is as smart as they get, senator Jeff Sessions.
Another great man, a very tough competitor, he was not easy, he was not easy … I got to know him as a competitor … Dr Ben Carson. Where is Ben? And by the way, Mike Huckabee is up here some place and he is fantastic. General Mike Flynn. Where is Mike? And General Kellogg. We have over 200 generals and admirals that have endorsed our campaign. We have 22 congressional medal of honor recipients. We have just tremendous people.
The gallery of Trump’s allies vindicated in his election speech. He alludes to Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager who sought to take away his Twitter account and moderate his tone; Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who failed in a presidential campaign and was implicated in the Bridgegate scandal; Steven Bannon, the head of rightwing Breitbart News ; Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York; Mike Huckabee, the former Iowa governor; and Mike Flynn, the former director of national intelligence.
Trump has been endorsed by about 90 retired military officials , Clinton had been endorsed by about 110 generals, admirals and other officials , several of whom spoke for her at the Democratic national convention.
A very special person … I never had a bad second with him, he’s an unbelievable star … so let me tell you about Reince. And I said this, I said, Reince … I know it, Reince is a superstar. But I said, they can’t call you a superstar, Reince, unless we win … Like Secretariat. If Secretariat came in second, Secretariat would not have that great big beautiful bronze bust at the track. But I will tell you Reince is really a star. Where is Reince, get up here. Boy oh boy oh boy … It’s about time you did this, Reince. Say a few words, c’mon, say something.
Reince Priebus: Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States. Donald Trump, thank God.”
A very Trumpian digression: Reince Priebus, the chair of the Republican National Committee, has had the thankless task of holding the Republican party together through 16 months of infighting. Once Trump secured the nomination, Priebus consistently tried to wrangle disaffected Republicans back into line for the sake of the party, going so far as to threaten ex-candidates with 2020 repercussions.
Donald Trump: The Secret Service people. They’re tough and they’re smart and they’re sharp, and I don’t want to mess around with them. And I can tell you. And when I want to go and wave to a big group of people and they rip me down and put me back down in my seat. So I want to thank the Secret Service, and law enforcement in New York City.
These are spectacular people. Sometimes under-appreciated. Unfortunately. But we appreciate them.
A hint at “law and order” themes of Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican national convention , and of Trump policies to come. Trump’s tone on law enforcement has alarmed the Black Lives Matter movement, and in the past year he has consistently misstated the murder rate, describing a wave of crime that evidence does not so far support.
It’s been what they call a historic event, but to be really historic we have to do a great job. And I promise you, I will not let you down. We have to do a great job. I look very much forward to being your president. Hopefully at the end of two years, three years, four years, or maybe even eight years, you will say that so many of you worked so hard for us … something that you were very proud to do.
While the campaign is over, our work on this movement is now really just beginning … We’re going to get to work immediately for the American people. And we’re going to be doing a job that hopefully you will be so proud of your president. You will be so proud … It’s my honor, an amazing evening. I love this country. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you to Mike Pence.
Trump is correct about the historic nature of the election: Americans have never before elected someone with no experience in government or the military. He ended his speech with a nod to his almost forgotten running mate, Mike Pence, a far more orthodox Republican than the president elect. He also ended with a moment of atypical optimism, with the suggestion that he realizes the presidency requires grueling work – and the telling, almost plaintive prediction that voters will “be so proud” of what Trump will do as president of the United States.
Guardian