Fayetteville, North Carolina: President-elect Donald Trump formally introduced Gen. James N. Mattis as his choice for defence secretary on Tuesday night, appearing side by side with him during a campaign-style “thank you” rally in this heavily military community, home to the Army Special Operations Command and the 82nd Airborne Division.
To a roar in the Crown Coliseum, Trump called Mattis “one of the most effective generals that we’ve had in many, many decades” and the living embodiment of the Marine Corps motto, “semper fidelis.”
He vowed that with Mattis, nicknamed Mad Dog, leading the Pentagon, the United States would rebuild its military.
“Mad Dog plays no games, right?” Trump asked the cheering crowd.
The rally was the second of several large events that Trump is holding before his inauguration next month. In Cincinnati last week, he reprised the brash and biting tone of his presidential campaign and boasted about his victory over Hillary Clinton.
But for North Carolinians hoping to see that performance again, Trump was more restrained. He followed the teleprompter, recapping the agenda he intends to pursue in office, including repealing the Affordable Care Act, stopping illegal immigration, renegotiating trade deals and bringing jobs back to the country from overseas.
He barely lashed out at the news media, as he usually does, but he did brag about winning North Carolina, a state that political pundits had repeatedly predicted would support Clinton.
The location of the rally — a stadium not far from Fort Bragg, a vast military base housing more than 50,000 personnel — gave Trump an opportunity to emphasise his support for the armed forces and to lavish praise upon Mattis, whom he has compared favourably to Gen George S. Patton, the famed World War II officer.
For the first 15 minutes of his address, Trump outlined his approach to foreign policy, saying he would “engage the use of military forces when it’s in the vital national security interests of the United States.” He promised to make the military stronger than it has ever been, but said that under his leadership, the country would “stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about.”
“This destructive cycle of intervention and chaos must finally come to an end,” he said.
The president-elect offered few details about how his approach would play out, though he said he would quickly move to eliminate the automatic military spending cuts that Congress and President Barack Obama reluctantly embraced several years ago to control spending and reduce the deficit.
He also suggested that the United States would seek to strengthen alliances around the world that help prevent conflicts.
“Any nation that shares these goals will be our partner in this mission,” he said.
The crowd cheered Trump when he vowed to improve health care for the nation’s veterans. “It will be the duty of my administration to make sure we protect those who protect us,” he said.
Even before he takes office, Trump, who said once during the campaign that he knew more than the nation’s generals, is seizing the opportunity to assume the mantle of commander in chief. On Saturday, he is planning to attend the annual Army-Navy football game, a tradition often observed by the sitting occupant of the White House. A spokesman said Trump, like the presidents before him, would sit in the stands on both sides during the game, which is the annual pinnacle of a fierce rivalry.
Trump began the rally by inviting Mattis onto the stage, where the general expressed gratitude for the chance to serve again and said he hoped Congress would give him the waiver he needs to be the Pentagon’s civilian leader. He retired from the Marines in 2013, and federal law requires a seven-year waiting period between active duty and serving as defence secretary.
“You’ll get that waiver, right?” Trump said when he came back to the microphone. “If you didn’t get that waiver, there will be such a lot of angry people.”
Republicans in Congress moved Tuesday to use a stopgap spending bill to pave the way for Mattis to receive the waiver. The spending measure, which was unveiled Tuesday night and must be approved by Friday to avoid a government shutdown, contains language that would speed up the consideration of legislation granting the waiver early next year.
On the same day that Trump focused on the military in North Carolina, Obama travelled to Tampa, Florida, where he thanked service members at MacDill Air Force Base and delivered a speech on his administration’s approach to counterterrorism.
For Trump, the visit to Fayetteville was a triumphant return to a state that was critical to his election victory and that the Clinton campaign had thought it could win.
While he did not spend much time Tuesday night reliving his win, Trump could hardly resist going off script to get a few cheers.
“We won Ohio. We won Iowa by a massive number, 10 points,” he said. “Then we went down and we won Florida. ‘We have breaking news: Donald Trump wins Florida. Donald Trump wins North Carolina.’”
That brought a roar from the crowd, and Trump added: “We won so many states. We won 30 states, 32 states. We won so much, and we just kept winning.”
The president-elect is scheduled to keep travelling in the days ahead. He will hold a rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday and will go to Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday. More rallies are possible in the coming weeks, officials said.
Trump’s presidential campaign is paying for the rallies, according to a spokesman for the transition. Campaign experts said that was allowed, and that candidates often used campaign funds to pay for events that took place between the election and inauguration.
