President-elect Trump accepts results, praises Clinton and promises to “rebuild America”

“To all Republicans and Democrats and Independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans. And this is so important to me,” Trump added.It was the phone call that few pundits and pollsters expected: Just before 2 a.m. EST, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton called Republican candidate Donald Trump to concede the presidential election.

Within minutes, Trump appeared before his supporters at his campaign headquarters in New York to accept the results and calm a nation of voters who are both shocked and exhilarated after one of the biggest upsets in American political history.

Vice president-elect Mike Pence took the stage first, thanking the audience for their support. “I am mostly grateful for the president-elect, whose leadership and vision will make America great again,” Pence said.

Trump then took the podium, beginning with a characteristic quip: “Sorry to keep you waiting — complicated business, complicated,” he said, to delighted laughter from the crowd.

But his tone quickly shifted, becoming more gracious as he praised his opponent after a bruising campaign.

“I just received a call from Secretary (Hillary) Clinton,” Trump said. “She congratulated us — it’s about us — on our victory and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she fought very hard.

“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,” Trump said. “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together.

“To all Republicans and Democrats and Independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans. And this is so important to me,” Trump added.

Trump thanked supporters, including his campaign staff, his family, and his wife, Melania, who now becomes America’s first-ever first lady born outside the U.S.

He also promised to “a project of national renewal,” including rebuilding America’s aging infrastructure of “highways, tunnels, schools and hospitals,” and putting “millions of people to work as we rebuild it.”

Though Trump was criticized during the campaign for focusing too closely on his own concerns instead of the GOP agenda, he framed his victory as a triumph of a movement, not a man, promising that Americans will have a more responsive, effective government under his presidency.

“Ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement made up of millions of hardworking men and women who … want a brighter future for themselves and their families,” he said.

Trump also reached out to governments and people overseas, with a message that mixed firmness and a willingness to listen.

“I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone,” Trump said, adding, “we will seek common ground, not hostility. Partnership, not conflict.’

—Featured photo: Screenshot of video by WJBK Fox News-Detroit of Trump acceptance speech at campaign headquarters on Nov. 9.