President-elect Trump on Tuesday lauded his selection of retired Gen. James Mattis as his secretary of defense, and introduced Mattis to a veteran-filled crowd as “one of the extraordinary leaders of our time.”
“We will show the world that America is going to be strong again,” Trump said at a “thank you” rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Tuesday evening. “We will build up our military, not as an act of aggression, but as an act of prevention.”
While the president-elect mentioned his intention to nominate Mattis to lead the Pentagon at a rally last week, he did not formally announce the pick until Tuesday evening.
Trump, who has sharply criticized President Obama’s approach to foreign policy, pledged to avoid involvement in overseas conflicts unless doing so presented direct benefits to the U.S.
“We don’t want people taking advantage of us anymore,” Trump said. “We want to be the smart people. We don’t want to be what we’ve been over the last long period of time.”
The president-elect has slammed members of both parties, including the Bushes, for being too eager to intervene in protracted foreign wars.
During the second stop on his “thank you” tour through the states that delivered him the presidency, Trump vowed to deliver on his campaign promise to overhaul the broken Department of Veterans Affairs.
“It will be the duty of my administration to ensure that we protect those who protect us,” Trump said. “I’m right now working on the people that are going to be helping our veterans, and they are going to be really outstanding.”
Trump teased his selection for VA secretary, noting the people he would appoint to lead the agency are making “unbelievable sacrifices” to take VA jobs.
Rumored contenders for the position include former Sen. Scott Brown, Sarah Palin, House VA Committee Chairman Jeff Miller and Pete Hegseth, former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America.
Trump pledged to implement “the best care in the world,” which he said would include allowing veterans “the right to see a private doctor when the lines are long.”
