Washington: President-elect Donald Trump addressed the crowd at Make America Great Again welcome concert a day before he is sworn in as the 45th US President on Friday — calling himself the “messenger” of a movement and portraying himself as the champion of the “forgotten man” and “forgotten woman”.
“This journey began 18 months ago,” ABC news quoted him as saying in the brief remarks, following the country music-heavy concert. “I had something to do with it but you had much more to do with it than I did. I’m the messenger,” Trump said at the Lincoln Memorial.
“We all got tired of seeing what was happening and we wanted change but we wanted real change,” he said.
“On the campaign I called it the forgotten man and the forgotten woman,” he said. “Well, you’re not forgotten anymore. That I can tell you. Not forgotten anymore.”
Trump said that he didn’t care if the weather was nice or not for the inauguration because “I’m going to be cheering you on — you’re going to be cheering me on but I’m going to cheer you on.”
“We are going to make America great again, and I’ll add greater than ever before,” Trump said.
This wasn’t the first time Trump made public comments today. When he arrived here early on Thursday, he used a leadership luncheon as an opportunity to boast about his Cabinet picks.
“We have by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled,” he said.
Trump touched down at Joint Base Andrews on board a military plane at 12.05 p.m. (local time) with his family, including his sister. They then were transported to Trump International Hotel for the luncheon.
Trump and his family left the Trump International Hotel spent some downtime at the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue before heading to Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath with Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
From there, the Trump family crossed back into D.C. to begin the more festive portion of the day with the Make America Great Again! welcome celebration.
The concert was held outside the Lincoln Memorial and included performances by country music star Toby Keith and rock band 3 Doors Down.
–IANS