By Maria Curi
DES MOINES — President-elect Donald Trump spoke at Hy-Vee Hall in the Iowa Events Center on Dec. 8 as part of his “Thank You Tour,” and he formally announced Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s appointment as the U.S. ambassador to China.
While in Iowa during the campaign, Trump claimed that before his speeches Branstad would always tell him not to say anything bad about China because he had “so many friends” there.
“You better like China if you’re going to be over there, do we agree?” Trump said. “You have a very special man. He will deliver results just like he has for the last 23 years to the people of Iowa.”
Rally attendee Jonah Oleson, 19, said Branstad’s experience with China makes him qualified to be ambassador.
“I think it’s good because Branstad has had ties to China for quite a long time,” Oleson said.
Branstad, the nation’s longest-serving governor, accepted the offer on Wednesday. His connections to China date back to 1985, when he formed an economic partnership with the director of the Feed Association of Shijiazhuang Prefecture, Xi Jinping.
Trump also spoke about his Cabinet selections at the event and said it was “one of the greatest Cabinets that has ever been assembled in the history of our nation.”
Josiah Oleson, 17, said going into the rally, he looked forward to hearing Trump staying on message in regards to “draining the swamp” — a signature promise Trump made on the campaign trail to keep special interests and corruption out of politics.
“Government must stop listening to the special interests and start listening to the national interests,” Trump said. “It’s time to deliver to the American people the way Iowa delivered to me, and boy, did you deliver.”
In response to Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs trader and hedge fund manager, Josiah Oleson said that he “trusts he’s picking people who know what they’re doing.”
“It’s a little bit of a loyalty pick,” Josiah Oleson said. “But I don’t think we could have expected anything different from Hillary.”
For head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump chose Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, an ally of the fossil-fuel industry.
Trump said he will get rid of regulations while still ensuring “clean air and clear water for all of our people.”
“We are going to end the EPA intrusion into your lives,” Trump continued. “Regulations by the way will be cut down to a fraction and believe it or not, you will be environmentally better and have jobs.”
Blane Wilson, 17, said this is his sixth time at a Trump rally.
“He talks to the people who are in pain — that’s how he won the Rust Belt states,” Wilson said.
Trump’s “Thank You Tour” kicked off last week in Cincinnati, Ohio and his next stops will be today in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“It’s pretty unexpected that he would win even though I knew he would from the start,” Wilson said. “I always believed in him.”