President-elect Donald Trump told the crowed at a pre-inaugural concert in Washington Thursday evening that they were the movement that rocked U.S. politics and that he was merely their messenger.
“You had much more to do with it than I did. I’m the messenger. I’m just the messenger,” said Mr. Trump, standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where thousands gathered for the “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” concert.
A man in the crowd yelled out: “We love you!”
“I love you. Believe me, I love you,” the president-elect said. “We all got tired of seeing what was happening and we wanted change but we wanted real change.”
His remarks echoed his “Thank You” tour of battleground states after his upset win in November.
Mr. Trump said he looked forward to the inauguration Friday, which he said would be “so amazing.”
He said that his supporters had created a political movement the likes of which the world had never seen.
“On the campaign I called it the forgotten man and the forgotten women. Well, you’re not forgotten anymore, that I can tell you.”
He also promised to be a unifying force in the country,
“We are going to make America great for all of our people. Everybody. Everybody throughout our country. That includes the inner cities. That includes everybody. And we are going to do a special job,” he said.
The concert included performances by Toby Keith, Lee Greenwood and DJ Ravi Drums.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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