Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:30 pm
Donald Trump gave his victory speech early Wednesday morning from the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, what proved to be a very calm, soft-spoken, and conciliatory speech far different than what we’ve all become accustomed to hearing. Rather than promising to jail her, he thanked Hillary Clinton for her service, saying she had “worked very hard for a long period of time” for our country, and promised to be a president for “all Americans.”
The markets were staggering last night at the prospect of a Clinton defeat, the Dow Jones taking an 800 point hit, but Trump surprised everyone when, for the first time, he actually sounded presidential in his victory speech, and they finally came to rest about 220 down.
What was missing from Trump’s speech is any mention of his trademark MAGA – Make America Great Again. He did not say it. Not even once. Watch Trump’s full victory speech courtesy of NBC News:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
“I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it’s about us, on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she fought very hard. Hillary has worked very long and very hard for 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.
“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division. We 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. 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 that we can work together and unify our great country.
“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.
“It’s a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve the people and serve the people it will. Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream.
“I’ve spent my entire life and business looking at the untapped potential in projects and 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 fullest 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 gonna rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of people back to work as we rebuild it. 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 with them during this campaign has been among my greatest honors. Our veterans are incredible people
“We will embark upon a project of national growth and renewal. I will harness the creative talents of our people and we will call upon the best and brightest to leverage their tremendous talent for the benefit of all. It’s gonna happen.
“We have a great economic plan. We will double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us. We’ll have great relationships. We expect to have great relationships.
“No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future 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’re going to dream of things for our country and beautiful things and successful things once again.
“I wanna tell the world community that while we’ll 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; and now I’d like to take this moment to thank some of the people who really helped me with this, what they are calling tonight, very historic victory.
[…]
“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’ll be so proud. Again, it’s my honor. It was an amazing evening. It’s been an amazing two-year period. And I love this country.
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Americans can take from these words what they will, but this was a very different Donald Trump. The fact is, he is our president now. Hillary Clinton, though she has not given a concession speech, called Donald Trump and conceded.
The election is over. Donald Trump is our president. This is his promise, the words to which he will be held and measured against over the next four years. We – and the world – will be watching and we will hold him to that promise.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
