Advisers urge Donald Trump to declare victory early on election night | US election 2024

Donald Trump has been told by some advisers that he should declare victory early on election night if he is sufficiently ahead of Kamala Harris in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, according to people close to him, although whether he will follow that advice remains unclear.

The consensus view is that Trump has nothing to lose by claiming victory if he has an advantage of several hundred thousand votes in Pennsylvania, or if his internal pollsters think a victory is plausible, even if the results are not fully confirmed Tuesday evening.

But even Trump’s most combative allies — including former White House strategist Steven Bannon, who spoke with him last week, one of the people said — have suggested he hold off on speaking out if the race is closer , when he goes to bed. that it doesn’t make him look foolish.

In the final days of the campaign, Trump and his campaign have projected confidence. That has raised expectations among his supporters that he will win, laying the groundwork for baseless claims that the election was stolen if he loses and Harris takes the White House. Any premature declaration of victory would likely play into that phenomenon as well.

The wildcard factor in what Trump might do on election night remains Trump himself. His aides admit that if Trump decides he wants to declare, he will do as he pleases, and his travel-weary team may have little appetite and influence to dissuade him.

Trump’s team collectively shrugging at the prospect of the former president prematurely declaring himself the winner, as he did in the wake of the 2020 election, is remarkable in itself as it underscores yet another norm of presidential politics that is crushed by Trump.

Trump, declaring prematurely, would not carry the element of surprise it had four years ago. The Harris campaign has said it is preparing for him to pull such a stunt again.

Trump has said less this time about what he plans to do on election night, the people said, in contrast to his deliberations in the 2020 election, when he told friends and allies of his intention to declare victory regardless of the outcome.

Trump dodged questions about his intentions when he cast his own vote Tuesday.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of declaring victory,” Trump said. “It looks like we have a very significant lead. It looks like we have a lot more Republicans voting than Democrats. So if you have a lead and a bigger vote, that means you’re doing well , but they have to call a winner And they should call a winner.”

But whether it’s a product of the advisers around him cracking down on the kind of plots that fueled attempts to overturn the election results, or that the logistics of the news media are in a different place than his private vigil, Trump has been more quietly. about his intentions.

Trump will watch the results come in at a private watch party at his Mar-a-Lago club for members, donors and other friends and family, while the official campaign watch party will take place a short drive away at a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida , said the people.

The private watch party starts earlier and Trump is likely to project to members that he will win, the people said. That event at Mar-a-Lago has also been described as a knife fight, with allies striking donors’ names off the list to gain credentials for themselves.

Whether Trump will double down on any victory claim at the convention center party remains unclear. Trump’s aides have suggested that if he decides to announce himself as the winner, he will drive by Mar-a-Lago, and if not, he might not show up at all.

Read more about the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage