President Donald Trump seemed to deny the notion that he would prematurely declare himself the winner of the election on Tuesday.
During Trump’s interview on “Fox and Friends,” Fox News anchor Steve Doocy brought up concerns that the President would claim victory without waiting for the full results if the early vote count leans in his favor.
“At what point will you declare victory?” Doocy asked.
“When there’s victory. If there’s victory,” Trump replied. “I think we’ll have victory. I think the polls are suppression polls. And I think we’ll have victory.”
“But only when there’s victory,” he continued, circling back to Doocy’s question. “There’s no reason to play games.”
The President, sounding noticeably low-energy after staying up until about 2:30 to thank his supporters on Twitter, didn’t express the usual blustering confidence of his reelection prospects during the interview.
“I don’t know what the chances are. I don’t know how they rate the chances,” he told the Fox anchors. “But I think we have a very solid chance of winning. And I think a lot of that has to do with the tremendous crowd size.”
Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger, is reportedly prepared to immediately address the country as president-elect if he is declared the winner despite whatever litigation Trump will bring on to contest the election results, as the President has promised to do.
Listen to Trump below:
Trump says he'll declare victory "only when there’s victory": "There’s no reason to play games." pic.twitter.com/vhpp62EvCr
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 3, 2020
I am by no means a “preper” however I did run out to a suburban Chicago Costco last night to lay in some supplies in case things go sideways over the next couple of days. There’s also a good chance that Illinois is headed for another shelter in place order.
Cruising through the parking lot was a lifted pickup truck with trump flags flying and CCR’s “Fortunate Son” blasting from the open windows. The driver I’m sure was not aware of the meaning of the lyrics, unless he was being “ironical”.
I found myself thinking “like to see you take your punk ass act down to Garfield Park and see how far you get”
“Declare Victory” to Trump is lessening indictments.
Nope just a moron. Trumpers don’t do irony.
RIGHT… so at 12:01 when he claims victory, everyone will believe him… I know I will
I read the quote (from the eminent @ddale8, who’s tracked and fact-checked EVERY Trump speech/lie since…well, it seems like forever) differently: he knows damned well he’s beat, and his “will” is already collapsing. I don’t know if he’ll run from a non-extraditing country, or hunker in the bunker under the WH, but I know he won’t be out there fighting. And neither will his cheapjack third-rate ambulance-chasing shyster “lawyers”–they’ll be too busy scrubbing their resumes and their hard drives.