Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that he doesn't take losing well as he rattled off a confusing message on when he expects the election winner to be known, claiming he wants to know by Election Night, but doubling down on preparing to launch a legal battle in several states over the results.
'I'm not thinking about a concession speech or acceptance speech yet. Hopefully we'll be doing only one of those two,' Trump told reporters as he visited his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia Tuesday afternoon as voters lined up all over the country to cast their ballots.
'And you know, winning is easy,' the president continued. 'Losing is never easy. Not for me, it's not.'
The president was joined by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and a very dressed-down Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, for the trip.
Reports emerged over the weekend that Trump is preparing to declare victory Tuesday night before a winner is officially called – but the president denied this, claiming the reports were 'false.'
Trump told 'Fox & Friends' in a call-in interview Tuesday morning that he would declare victory 'only when there's victory.'
During his visit to the Washington D.C. suburb, which aired live on TV, Trump told a room of his staffers that the winner of the election should be decided Tuesday, again railing against mail-in ballots.
'When do you think we'll know a winner and should every vote be counted no matter how long it takes?' a reporter gathered for the quick trip across the line from D.C. asked the president.
'Well I think you will know possibly tonight depending on the extent of a victory. I think you could know tonight,' Trump said.
'I think the ruling on Pennsylvania was an unfortunate one by the Supreme Court because I think we should know what happens on the night,' he said. 'Let people put their ballots in earlier. But you have to have numbers, you can have these things delayed for many days and maybe weeks. You can't do that. The whole world is waiting, this country is waiting – but the whole world is waiting.'
'You have to have a date, and the date happens to be November 3,' Trump reiterated. 'And we should be entitled to know who won on November 3.'
'They should put the ballot in earlier, there's no reason why they can't put the ballot in a few weeks earlier, one week earlier,' he said. 'I think it's a very dangerous decision for a country in many ways dangerous, in many ways.'
The president is particularly upset with the swing state Pennsylvania, which could decide the outcome of the election.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Democrats in Pennsylvania who put in a new guideline due to an influx of mail-in ballots this year allowing the state election board to count those votes that were received up to three days after Election Day.
Trump says this is just a cover for Democrats to try and 'steal' the election by committing fraud.
The court also ruled that North Carolina, another swing state – a bit less consequential than the Keystone State – has up to eight days after the election to collect and count ballots as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday, November 3.
'And a lot of shenanigans, a lot of bad things happen with ballots when you say, 'Oh let's devote days and days and all of a sudden, the ballot count changes.'
Trump has continuously flip-flopped on how the rest of the election should move forward, claiming he wants results known on Election Night, but promising to launch legal battles that could hold up the results.
The president predicted that he will win with an even larger Electoral College margin than in 2016, but said he will only declare that he has won 'when there's a victory.’
'So my number last time was 306,' Trump said when the 'Fox & Friends' panel asked him how many Electoral College votes he thinks he will earn.
'I ended up with 306, that was good numbers – 223-306,' he said in reference to the outcome against Hillary Clinton in 2016 – but the Democratic candidate actually earned 232 not 223.
'And that was a big number,' the president said. 'And I think we will top it. I'll leave it at that. I think we'll top it.'
Speaking hoarsely and 45 minutes later than scheduled after arriving back at the White House about 2am Tuesday, he voiced confidence in his ability to win.
According to Cook Political Report, Trump likely holds around 163 Electoral College votes as of now out of those states that are solid, likely and lean Republican. If he were to win all of the Electoral College votes of the states that are deemed a 'toss up,' his total would move up to 248.
This means he would need to earn 58 votes from solid, likely or lean Democrats states to even reach the threshold he won at in 2016.
When Trump was asked during the call-in interview when he will declare he has won the election, the president said 'only when there's victory.'
'I mean, there's no reason to play games. And I think we'll have victory,' he said during his interview where he could be heard but not seen.
'I look at it as being a very solid chance of winning,' he continued. 'I don't know what the chances are – I don't know how they rate the chances but I think we have a very solid chance of winning.'
Reports emerged over the weekend with sources claiming the president has extensively discussed his plans for election night, which they say includes declaring victory early.
The Axios report on Sunday said Trump privately discussed in delta plans to walk up to the podium on Tuesday and declare he has won before official Electoral College results are revealed.
Trump denied the claims, stating Sunday: 'No, no that was a false report,' after he landed in North Carolina for his third rally of the day.
The president touted Tuesday his hectic campaign schedule in the days leading up to Election Day, which included 14 rallies in three days. And said the massive crowd sizes, which regularly include thousands of loyalists, are proof that he will win reelection.
'There was no small event – every place, no matter where we went,' Trump said of his rallies in the days leading up to the election.
'I really did six yesterday,' he claimed. 'Because the one from the day before went until two in the morning. So then I got up and did one at 8:00 a.m.'
During his rally in Michigan Monday – the last before Election Day – Trump told the crowd: 'I think we're going to win everything. I think tomorrow is going to be one of the greatest wins in the history.'
'This is not the crowd of somebody who is going to lose the state of Michigan,' he said of the rust belt swing state. 'This is not the crowd of a second place finisher.'
'We want a big win. Not just a win. A big win,' Trump continued.
President Donald Trump, 74, started Election Day off by joining the 'Fox & Friends' panel in one of his famous call-in interviews. While the interviews sometimes pan an hour, this time around, he only joined the team for half-an-hour.
He also sounded much more low-energy than usual – possibly indicative of exhaustion following an aggressive and ambitious campaign schedule.
During Trump's final rally before Election Day Monday night in Michigan, the president sounded hoarse and tired following two back-to-back days of campaigning.
He made stops in several crucial battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan Wisconsin and Florida.
Trump's final rally on Monday started after midnight following a 14-hour day of campaigning.
He told his crowd of supporters in Michigan not to make him cry as they repeatedly chanted 'we love you' as he wrapped up his final pitch for a second term.
'Don't make me cry, don't make me cry,' Trump, who was wearing a MAGA hat, told his large crowd of supporters as his children, excluding Barron, stood by his side.
'If I started to cry they'd have a big story,' he said. 'They'd say the president broke down and cried, and I don't know if that's good for us.’
'Maybe it brings me up four or five points, but I don't care,' Trump added.
He also brought up the line during his interview with Fox Tuesday morning, claiming it was a joke.
'When the crowd was going, 'We love you! We love you!' and then you said, 'Don't make me cry,' – were you a little emotional right then because that could have been the last rally of your political life?' Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy posed.
'I was kidding actually, but you know, there is a little emotion,' Trump said. 'But I've said that a few times actually, 'Don't make me cry, don't make me cry. You'll make me cry and that would be very bad for my image as president.' And you know, I kid.'
Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads in national polls and in several battleground states crucial for Trump's victory.
The former vice president is up nationally by 6.7 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
This year, however, predictions and polling are likely more reliable than previously as the election has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic – and Tuesday's race is far from a lock for either candidate.
'He's not going to win. I really don't believe he's going to win,' Trump said of Biden Monday night.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
