At candlelight dinner, Trump says election was ‘victory for all of us’

President-elect Donald Trump spoke Thursday night at a candlelight dinner in Union Station, where high-level donors mixed with his Cabinet nominees and members of Congress.

The president-elect praised his incoming administration hours ahead of his inauguration, calling it a Cabinet “the likes of which has never been appointed,” adding that “the other side is going absolutely crazy” over his picks.

{mosads}Though problems with his microphone prevented TV viewers from hearing the first minute or two of his remarks, Trump promised that “the next time, four years from now, the next time, we’re going to win the old-fashioned way, we’re going to win because we did so well, because it was so overwhelming the thing that we did, because it was so beautiful how great our Cabinet … has performed.”

After name-checking several appointees, from Agriculture pick Sonny Perdue to retired Gens. John Kelly and James Mattis, he said, “I’m very, very proud of my picks. There’s not a pick I don’t love, and if there was I’d tell you right now.”

He also thanked his donors, gently ribbing those who “got very, very generous the day after the election,” but saying “we love you too.”

Trump rehashed a bit of his frequent media criticism, mentioning CNN and praising Fox News, saying it’s one network that has “has treated us very well … and when I say well, I mean fairly.”

After noting that the media thought he couldn’t get the 270 electoral votes needed, he noted, “I went to Maine four times for one vote, and I got it, but I didn’t need it.”

“This was a victory for all of us,” he added.

At the end of his remarks, Trump called top aide Kellyanne Conway, whose 50th birthday is Friday, to the stage, after praising his many family members in the crowd.