Few signs Trump focusing on unified nation

Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala.

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday wrapped up his post-election victory tour, showing few signs of turning the page from his blustery campaign to focus on uniting a divided nation a month before his inauguration.

At each stop, the Republican has gloatingly recapped his election night triumph, reignited some old political feuds while starting some new ones, and done little to quiet the hate-filled chants of “Lock her up!” directed at Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Little changed at the tour’s finale at the same football stadium in Mobile, Ala., that hosted the biggest rally of his campaign. Trump saluted his supporters as true “patriots” with little attempt to reach out to the more than half of the electorate that didn’t vote for him.

“We are really the people who love this country,” said Trump.

He reminisced about his campaign announcement and his ride down Trump Tower’s golden escalator. His disputed a newspaper’s account of the size of the crowd at one of his rallies and bashed the press as dishonest. And he joked that he booked a small ballroom for his Election Night party so, if he lost, he “could get out!”

And he paid homage to the August 2015 rally here that he said jump-started his campaign. Though the crowd was not as large Saturday, it was no less fervid, repeatedly chanting “Build the wall!” when Trump renewed his vow to build an impenetrable border at the Mexican border.

And in Mobile he acknowledged that “now the hard work begins” and ended with a plea for all Americans, including those who did not support him, to “never give up.”

After the rally, Trump planned to return to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate. Aides said the president-elect probably would spend Christmas week there.