Donald Trump Ends Election 2016 the Way He Started It

By BETH REINHARD for the Wall Street Journal.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— Donald Trump ended his presidential bid Monday the same way he started it nearly 19 months ago: with an overtly nationalist message and the swagger of a New York City billionaire.

In a cross-country spree that touched down in five swing states and extended into early Tuesday morning, the Republican nominee largely reprised the themes from his unorthodox June 2015 announcement speech.

He vowed to bring back jobs shipped overseas, bashed free trade deals, and promised to “build that wall” along the southern U.S. border with Mexico. Those appeals helped him build a political base dominated by white, working-class voters who felt left behind by a rapidly changing economy.

In his announcement speech, Mr. Trump singled out Ford Motor Co. for moving jobs overseas and said that if that happened when he was president, he would “call up” the company president and mete out a 35% tariff on exports to the U.S. He made the same promise at the Michigan rally early Tuesday morning.

“If Ford or another company wants to move to another country, I will pick up the phone myself,” he said.

Two of the people he name-dropped on that June day last year also earned mentions on Monday; Mr. Trump said New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had called to say he voted for him, and the nominee lamented a lack of leadership in the military exemplified by the late U.S. Gen. George S. Patton.

Mr. Trump’s family represented another campaign bookend. Minutes before announcing his candidacy last year, Mr. Trump descended down the escalator of his office tower with his wife, Melania Trump, to join his children and their spouses. Except for Mrs. Trump, the family joined him Monday on stage at his second-last rally in Manchester, N.H., a reminder that Mr. Trump had depended more on relatives than on Republican Party luminaries.

“I had the best surrogates of all,” he said.

One major difference between his announcement speech and his last day on the trail was the explosive reference last year to Mexico sending rapists and drug dealers across the border. Those remarks alienated many Hispanic voters just as he was beginning his campaign. Instead, Mr. Trump’s closing argument for months has included an overt appeal to the Hispanic community, as well as to African-Americans. “What do you have to lose?”

If there was a signature line from Mr. Trump’s last day on the campaign trail, it was what he said at his first rally in Sarasota, Fla., and repeated throughout the day: “ Hillary Clinton is being protected by a totally rigged system,” he said. “And now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box tomorrow.”

At the Michigan rally, just hours before the polls opened, he added, “You’re going to do it today!”