Trump soaks in cheers as he sets out agenda in "Thank You" tour stop

ajc.com

Credit: Jamie Dupree

Credit: Jamie Dupree

On his second of four stops this week, President-Elect Donald Trump told a raucous crowd in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night that his administration will be ready to go to work on January 20, as he once more vowed to bring back jobs to America in a Trump Administration.

"We are going to rebuild our country," Trump said in Hershey, Pennsylvania. "We're going to do it ourselves."

"My administration will follow two simple rules - buy American and hire American," Mr. Trump said to cheers.

The President-Elect did not address the ongoing political feud over how Russia inserted itself into the 2016 elections, as he used part of his rally to tell of his reaction to winning the election, and part to set out his agenda for 2017.

"The era of economic surrender is over," Mr. Trump said, as he repeated his familiar campaign trail vow to be a "champion" for all voters.

"In four years, we're going to win it by even more," he said confidently of his future in the White House.

At one point, the President-Elect gave a favorable mention to President Obama - the crowd booed - but Mr. Trump cut them off - and then segued into a series of verbal jabs at White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

"He is so bad, the way he delivers a message," Mr. Trump said.

Even though Mr. Trump went off his prepared remarks a number of times, he did not wander into any direct battle with Earnest, who has been more and more critical of the President-Elect's statements about Russia.

"I made the observation yesterday that Mr. Trump was obviously aware of the fact that Russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity and that that malicious cyber activity was having a negative impact on his opponent’s campaign and was boosting his," Earnest said at the Thursday White House briefing.

President Obama is certain to be directly asked about the situation on Friday, when he is expected to have a year-end news conference, before he leaves for his family vacation.

The President-Elect has events in Florida on Friday night and Alabama on Saturday. Then he is expected to spend some holiday time as his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.