Donald Trump Uses His ‘Thank You’ Tour To Attack Hillary Clinton And Republican Rivals

Donald Trump is using his national ‘Thank You’ Tour to attack Hillary Clinton and his former opponents for the Republican nomination. Trump is taking a victory lap through the states he won on November 8. Trump has criticized Clinton and independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin.

President-elect Trump has attacked his former political rivals at his victory rallies, according to The Guardian. Trump took aim at Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Ohio Governor John Kasich. During the lead up to the election, Kasich won the Ohio primary and refused to endorse Trump when he won the Republican nomination.

“We did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn’t we?” Trump asked the crowd at a rally. Trump’s supporters responded with chants of ‘Lock her up’. He promised to appoint a special prosecutor to ‘look into’ Hillary Clinton during his campaign, but he has since rolled back the idea.

Trump made a surprising attack on independent candidate Evan McMullin. Although he was not well-known, McMullin was a former Republican who ran as a third party candidate but failed to win a single state. McMullin was highly critical of Trump for lacking genuine conservative credentials.

“What the hell was he trying to prove?” Trump said. “I guess he wanted us to lose the Supreme Court.”

In Ohio, Trump attacked Governor John Kasich, who refused to support Trump during the general election. Trump acknowledged that Kasich phoned him to congratulate him on winning the election, but the president-elect criticized Kasich for his lack of enthusiasm.

“We didn’t have much help at the top levels, and it turned out it didn’t matter,” Trump told the crowd. Kasich won the Republican primary in his native Ohio, but Trump picked up the swing state in the presidential election. Kasich remains popular in Ohio despite openly opposing Trump’s campaign for the White House.

Trump surprised the media by announcing his pick for secretary of defense at one of his rallies. Trump tipped General James Mattis to take over the Defense Department. Mattis is a Marine Corps general who has been described as the George S. Patton of his generation.

“I don’t want to tell you to this, I refuse to tell you, don’t let it outside of this room,” Trump told the crowd ” I will not tell you that one of our great, great generals, don’t let it outside, we are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense, and we’re not announcing it until Monday so don’t tell it to anybody.”

Mattis will need a special waiver from Congress before he can be confirmed. Mattis is retired from the Marine Corps, but the law requires military personnel to have spent seven years outside the military before taking charge of the Defense Department. Some Democrats are already saying they will refuse to grant this waiver.

Trump repeated his attacks on the media that became a hallmark of his campaign. He criticized the media for refusing to believe he could reach 270 electoral college votes and win the election. Trump has continued attacking the media on Twitter and in public since his victory despite claiming he would act in a more presidential way once elected.

The Trump campaign is calling Trump’s national tour a ‘Thank You’ tour rather than a victory lap. Trump is visiting the states he carried in the election, including swing states that unexpectedly went red in November. Trump’s rallies are reminiscent of his campaign, and his attacks on his Republican rivals are a clear reminder of his insurgent bid for the White House.

While Trump has used his ‘Thank You’ tour to double down on promises to bring jobs back to the United States from overseas, he has used his rallies to renew attacks against Hillary Clinton and the Republicans who opposed his nomination.

[Featured Image by Darron Cummings/AP Images]