Trump promises to bring 'golden age', heal the nation

PTI Washington: Donald Trump on Wednesday promised to bring a “golden age” for America, as he appeared poised to win the presidential election with a mandate he called “unprecedented and powerful”. According to races called by the Associated Press up to 4 pm (IST), 277 electoral votes had gone to Republican candidate Trump and 224 to Democratic Party's Kamala Harris. Trump's victory was sealed after the networks declared that he had won the battleground state of Pennsylvania which had 19 Electoral College votes. Fox News was the first major American media outlet to declare Trump the winner, which was soon followed by many other media outlets. “This will truly be a golden age for America.

This is a magnificent victory that will also help us to make America great again," Trump, 78, told his supporters in the wee hours of Wednesday at Palm Beach Convention Centre in Palm Beach, Florida. He was accompanied by most members of his family, including his wife Melania Trump. Vice President-elect J D Vance and his Indian American wife Usha Vance were also present on the podium. Trump praised both his running mate and Usha for their support throughout the process. "This was a movement like nobody's ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There's never been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond, and now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal," said the presidentelect.

The inauguration is scheduled for January 20. Harris, 60, had not conceded defeat at the time of filing of this report. A senior campaign official told supporters at Howard University that she will speak later on Wednesday. “You won't hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow," Harris campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said. In his speech, Trump also spoke about stopping illegal immigration. In his brief speech, Vance described Trump's victory as one of the greatest political comebacks. “I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honour of being elected your 47th president, and your 45th president,” Trump said. He told his supporters that the county has delivered a powerful and unprecedented mandate.

“This is a moment like nobody's ever seen before. Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There's never been anything like this in this country,” he said. “We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We're going to fix our borders, we're going to fix everything about our country. We made history for a reason tonight,” he added. "We will make America safe, strong, prosperous, powerful and free again. And I'm asking every citizen all across our land to join me in this noble and righteous endeavour," Trump said as he specifically mentioned the battleground States in his speech. “We've built the biggest, the broadest, and the most unified coalition. They've never seen anything like it in all of American history. They've never seen it. Young and old, men and women, rural and urban. We had them all helping us tonight. They came from all corners, union, non-union, African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, Arab- American, Muslim American. We had everybody, and it was beautiful,” he said.