Trump’s ‘Gettysburg address’ makes closing argument as race heats up

• First 100 days’ agenda speech formalized his mainstay political pledges with promises of legislation and executive orders
• Called it a ‘Contract with the American Voter,’ modeling it after the 1994 Republican ‘Contract with America’
• Trump touted ‘the kind of change that only arrives once in a lifetime’ and made his final substantive pitch to frame the campaign’s last two weeks
• Told an audience of about 300 invited guests that he will ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington
• Borrowed a line from Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 speech, saying he would replace D.C. elites ‘with a new government of, by and for the people.’
• A Trump aide said the Civil War battlefield site is appropriate because ‘Gettysburg was the moment when the war turned’
• The candidate briefly visited the site of the famed Civil War battle after his speech

Donald Trump planted a flag on hallowed ground Saturday morning by laying out near the Gettysburg National Battlefield what he would do in his first 100 days as President of the United States.

Touting ‘the kind of change that only arrives once in a lifetime,’ Trump told an audience of about 300 invited guests that he will ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, replacing the current government ‘with a new government of, by and for the people.’

The symbolism factor was high, with a campaign aide telling reporters Friday night that the Civil War battle in Gettysburg memorialized by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 ‘was the moment when the war turned.’

The Republican nominee left the podium and made a beeline in his motorcade for the National Military Park – the battlefield memorial – spending about as much time there as it took Lincoln to speak his 272 words.

Trump’s own war – a two-front clash against both Hillary Clinton and the mass media – will come to a climax on November 8 when most Americans will choose a leader for the next four years.

He summed up the substance of his campaign in a ‘Contract With The American Voter’ – a point-by-point set of initiatives that track with the themes he has focused on for 16 months.

Donald Trump laid out an agenda for his first 100 days as President of the United States – provided he can win – with a Saturday morning speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Trump stopped at the Gettysburg National Military Park after his speech, speaking with Park ranger Caitlin Kostic (center) and campaign CEO Steve Bannon (right) near ‘Cemetery Ridge’ where Confederate general Robert E. Lee ordered the attack known as Pickett’s Charge