President-elect Donald Trump will hit the road Tuesday — this time to visit supporters in Fayetteville, North Carolina, as part of his ‘thank you’ tour.
The rally — the first of three scheduled this week so far — is a chance for Trump to visit a battleground state that was key to his upset electoral win. He will use the North Carolina event to formally announced retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as his choice to run the Pentagon.
Trump previewed the announcement during a rally last week in Ohio.
Trump is set to formally announce retired Marine Gen. James Mattis is his choice to run the Department of Defense though the President-elect preempted this week’s announcement with his last tour stop in Cincinatti, Ohio last week.
“We are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump said at the rally, joking with the crowd, “We’re not announcing it until Monday — so don’t tell anybody. He’s the closest thing we have to Patton and it’s about time.”
In the hours leading up to Tuesday’s rally, Trump tweeted a photo of him and Mattis on his plane.
“Departing New York with General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis for tonight’s rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina! See you soon! #ThankYouTour2016,” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s event last week had a similar tone and format to the prominent campaign rallies Trump hosted in the Republican presidential primary as well as the general election campaign, filled with vocal and passionate supporters and also regularly surrounded and interrupted by protests. While some of Trump’s later events featured a teleprompter and scripted remarks, the Republican presidential nominee often engaged in unscripted moments to weigh in on news of the day and interact with audience members. In the final days of the campaign, Trump did several rallies in different states each day.
Trump is also set to visit Iowa and Michigan for additional stops on his tour later this week.