Earlier Thursday, he made a triumphant visit to the Carrier Corp. plant in Indianapolis, where he intervened to help save close to 1,000 jobs with tax subsidies totaling $7 million

Donald Trump busted out of Trump Tower where he has been planning his transition and returned to battleground Ohio to fire up some of the spirit of his campaign – but made clear he misses his angry battle against Hillary Clinton.

'I’m going to discuss our action plan to make American great again. We’re gonna discuss it,' Trump told supporters in the US Bank arena. 'Although we did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn’t we?'

'These are very very dishonest people,' Trump said of his media doubters during the campaign. Then Trump ad-libbed his way through some of the campaign's greatest hits, and hammered the press like in the old days before he faced the certain burden of taking the oath of office.

Then, speaking behind a podium that said 'USA Thank You Tour 2016,' he mocked some of the gob-smacked television journalists who chronicled his Election Night coverage of his historic win.

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Trump spoke about breaking the Democratic 'blue wall' at a 'Thank You Tour' and spoke of the states where he defied predictions to beat Hillary Clinton

Speaking behind a podium that said 'USA Thank You Tour 2016,' Trump mocked some of the gob-smacked television journalists who chronicled his Election Night coverage of his historic win

'And we won Wisconsin, and we won Michigan, and we won Pennsylvania. And that person is doing the map. And that person was saying for months that there’s no way that Donald Trump can break the blue wall, right? We didn’t break it, we shattered that sucker. That blue wall is busted up,' Trump said to cheers.

The line had echoes of Clinton's constant refrain of shattering the 'glass ceiling' and becoming the first woman president.

'Should I go on with this just a little bit longer?' he asked a chanting crowd – underlining that even if his advisers decided not to call it a 'victory tour,' he would still crow about his historic win.

'Texas is in play – remember that one?' Trump said, referencing reports that Clinton's vaunted operation had a chance to make gains, buoyed buy Hispanic voters.

He even brought up Utah – a state that pre-election polls showed could have been won by little known candidate Evan McMullin. 'We trounced. And by the way, Hillary came in second and that guy came in third.'

'How about when a major anchor who hosted a debate started crying when she realized that we won?' Trump said. It was a reference to ABC's Martha Raddatz, who appeared stunned as she grasped for words to explain Trump's unexpected triumph on election night. 'Tears. No, tell me this isn’t true,' he said.

'And you know what she doesn’t understand? Things are going to be much better now,' Trump said.

Trump ran through some of his pre-election promises, and showed little sign of softening, even as he has begun to stack his administration with some well-heeled insiders.

Supporters cheered 'Lock her up!' although Trump has backed off his plan to call for a special prosecutor for Hillary Clinton

He took on critics who have noted that early picks include billionaires and multimillionaires, like Commerce pick Wilbur Ross. 'That’s because this guy knows how to make money, folks,' Trump explained.

'We will construct a great wall at the border,' Trump said, repeated his campaign promise.

'On immigration, we will restore the sovereignty of the United States,' Trump said. 'We will finally end illegal immigration.'

Vice president-elect Mike Pence called Trump a president 'who will suspend immigration from all states and territories compromised by terror.'

Like pre-election rallies, this one featured protesters. A group held up a large sign that said 'Stop Trump Deportations.'

'They don’t know that Hillary lost a couple of weeks ago,' Trump quipped.

There were banks of empty seats, but the president-elect made clear it was a heightened security posture that was to blame.

Trump settled scores with Ohio Governor John Kasich and minor candidate Evan McMullin during his remarks

President-elect Donald Trump greats workers at Carrier air conditioning plant before flying to Cincinnati for a campaign-style rally that had been dubbed a 'victory tour'

Protesters held up a sign that said 'Stop Trump Deportations' before it got taken down

'Although we did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn’t we?'

'I didn’t know that they closed down the roads around the stadium for an hour and a half. We gotta work out a new deal with our Secret Service, but we love ‘em right?'

'From now on its going to be American first, okay?' Trump said.

'We seek peace and harmony with the nations of the world. But that means recognizing the right of every country including our own to look after its citizens.'

'We would put other countries first. We had people running our country that truly didn’t know what the hell they were doing,' Trump said, resurrecting one of his signature lines from the campaign.

Trump broke some news, hours after it was reported he would nominate retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to be secretary of defense, although his spokesman tweeted no decision had been made.

'We are going to appoint "Mad Dog" Mattis as our secretary of defense. But we’re not announcing it until Monday so don’t tell anybody,' Trump quipped. 'They say he’s the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have and it’s about time.'

People wait in line to enter the president-elect Donald Trump "USA Thank You Tour" event outside the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio

There were cheers of 'lock her up!' during remarks by an Ohio state senator, but they quickly died out.

Outside, venders hawked Donald Trump hats and T-shirts, though one vendor told DailyMail.com sales were 'slow motion' and 'not like the campaign.' The event had many of the same fixtures of prior Trump rallies – but in a house that was far from packed as introducers took the stage.

An aide at first called the post-election rallies a 'victory tour,' although the campaign later dubbed it a 'thank you.'

As at the rallies that electrified crowds during the campaign, there frequent evocations of nationalism and law and order themes.

'It’s okay to recognize that it’s not radical Presbyterians that are killing people at Ohio State,' said introducer, State Sen. Keith Faber, referencing the recent attacks on campus by a Somali-born immigrant.

'Are we unhappy with all of the vitriol' directed at Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence during the campaign, asked Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. 'You bet we were,' he said. But Bevin advised: 'Lets bury it.'

Earlier, Trump visited the Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis, where he intervened to help save close to 1,000 jobs with tax subsidies totaling $7 million.

A triumphant Trump declared that 'companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences' as he visited the Carrier manufacturing plant in Indiana that is staying open with his intervention and $7 million in state subsidies.

President-elect Donald Trump heaped praise on Carrier workers and United Technologies execs after the company decided to keep an Indiana plant open in exchange for $7 million in subsidies after his own intervention

'It's a great day for working people all across the United States of America,' said Vice president-elect Mike Pence, who introduced Trump.

Trump hailed the 'big beautiful plant,' and gushed: 'They're going to have a great Christmas.'

The deal he struck with United Technologies CEO Greg Hayes involves the carrot of state-level tax breaks instead of the stick of new tax threats.

But on Thursday he renewed that warning to other corporations.

'There will be consequences, meaning they'll be taxed very heavily at the border,' he said.