President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence kicked off a “Thank You” tour [Thursday] night with a huge rally in Cincinnati, Ohio. The whole event was incredible. You can watch it here.

Here are some excerpts of Trump’s remarks that I want to share with you.

On putting America first, Trump said this:

“From now on, it’s going to be America first… For too long, Washington has tried to put us in boxes… We spend too much time focusing on what divides us. Now is the time to embrace the one thing that truly unites us. You know what that is? America. America. It’s America…

"You hear a lot of talk about how we’re becoming a globalized world. But the relationships people value … are local — family, city, state, country… There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag, and that flag is the American flag.”

As much as I applaud Trump’s patriotism and desire to unite us, far too many on the left do not share our love for our country. That’s why they burn our flag, praise our enemies and attack our values.

The Trump administration will be fought tooth-and-nail by left-wing activists and left-wing bureaucrats every step of the way. And we will be right in the thick of it, fighting with the Trump-Pence team for faith, family and freedom!

Trump also talked about rebuilding our cities and “getting the rust out of the Rust Belt.” He talked about creating a better future for our children, including “a future where every American child is fully included in the American dream.”

Given his support for overturning Roe v. Wade, I look forward to working with the Trump-Pence team to restore the right to life so that every American child has a future and the right to realize their dreams.

As it has done to every conservative since Ronald Reagan, the left attempted to viciously smear Trump as a bigot. [Thursday] night, Trump declared, “We condemn bigotry and prejudice in all of its forms. We denounce all of the hatred… We’re going to come together.”

On immigration, an issue the left has exploited to undermine the rule of law and to divide the country, Trump said his administration would seek a “truly inclusive society, where we support each other, love each other, and look out for each other.”

Then Trump turned the left’s rhetoric against it, saying, “And that means that people coming into our country have to be people that have the potential to love us, not to hate us.”

That is precisely the point I have been making for years. Our immigration policies do not require us to import hate and must not put our homeland security at risk. That is not bigotry. It is just common sense.

Why It Matters

Here’s why immigration reform is so important. America is a free, open and tolerant society, but not all cultures share those values.

A new survey finds that 43% of Muslims in Great Britain support some aspects of Sharia aw. There have been similar findings among Muslims in America. But Sharia law is incompatible with our Constitution and Western values of religious liberty and free speech.

This is why we need “extreme vetting.” That is also why we need an administration that will stop doing idiotic things like taking in refugees other countries won’t accept.

Believe it or not, the Obama administration has agreed to bring into America 2,500 refugees who the Australians refused to take. If Australia won’t take them, why should we?

When the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees demanded answers, the Obama administration classified details about the refugees, claiming it had a secret deal with the Australian government.

Great. Another of Obama’s secret deals. That alone suggests it is a bad deal for America.

Carping About Carrier

Some of Trump’s critics on the left and the right are carping about his intervention in the Carrier plant closing, which saved 1,000 jobs. There were more attacks [Friday], this time on CNBC, the network that presents itself as THE business network.

I couldn’t help noticing that for much of the past year, most of its so-called business experts seemingly favored the party of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over the successful capitalist. Now these experts are raising concerns about government involvement in business decisions.

Here’s something to think about. The gutting of our manufacturing base has contributed to high unemployment in many areas, increased welfare, drug addition, suicides and failing schools. There are social costs to losing jobs and whole industries, which often leads to bigger government involvement in other ways.

What is better from a free market perspective? Is it better to stay on the path we’re on, turning more Americans into dependents? Or is it better to have leaders who will remind American businesses that they are American businesses and should have an obligation to American workers?

Mattis For Defense

The transition team that is supposedly in a perpetual state of turmoil continues to be ahead of schedule in making key appointments. [Thursday] night, Donald Trump announced his selection of retired General James Mattis to be secretary of defense.

There is some concern that Gen. Mattis embraced Obama’s fiction that Jewish “settlements” — homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria — are impediments to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But we know Trump rejects that.

We also know that Mattis views Iran as the main impediment to peace in the Middle East. We know he doesn’t like war, but he knows when you are in one, you must win it. That is what we need.

And that is why Trump said [Thursday] night, “We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense. He’s our best. They say he’s the closest thing to General George Patton that we have.”