Donald Trump Says ‘There’s No Reason To Play Games’ On Declaring Early Victory
Donald Trump seemed to send a more conciliatory message on Tuesday morning as polling locations across the country opened their doors, suggesting that he would accept the election outcome whatever it was.
Just hours after appearing at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump called in to Fox & Friends to discuss the ongoing election and how he will handle it if he loses to his opponent, Joe Biden. Video of the phone interview was posted to Twitter by Vox journalist Aaron Rupar, which can be viewed here.
Co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Trump about reports that he might declare victory prematurely if it looked like things were going his way in early voting tallies.
“At what point will you declare victory?” he asked the president.
“When there’s victory. If there’s victory,” Trump responded. “I think we’ll have victory.”
He went on to shed some doubt on polling and said that he felt assured of a victory.
“I think the polls are, you know, suppression polls. And I think we’ll have victory. But only when there’s victory. I mean, you know, there’s no reason to play games,” he said.
“And I think we’ll have victory. I look at it as being a very solid chance at winning. 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.”
Some people on social media noted that Trump sounded particularly tired during the phone interview and that his attitude seemed more resigned than it has in the past.
Trump has finally called in and he sounds very tired pic.twitter.com/KbzDnVyUSD
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2020
Trump called in to the show nearly 45 minutes late, as Rupar noted.
Earlier in the interview, he said that he had had “a great run,” which seemed to hint at his feeling that the end of his term might be ahead.
"It's been a great run" — Trump pic.twitter.com/xdeU8KHQuX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2020
Rupar noted that beyond the president, everyone involved in the interview had a different tone than usual.
“Trump sounded exhausted and defeated throughout that Fox & Friends interview. All parties involved understood it might be the end of the line,” he wrote on Twitter.
Democrats have said they have concerns that Trump could take advantage of delays in reporting vote counts to prematurely declare himself the winner after sources claimed that he had suggested he would do so.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, in private conversations, he was alleged to have said that if he was leading in Florida, Arizona, Texas, or Iowa, he would be able to step up to the podium and declare his re-election bid a success.
Later, he shot down the allegations, saying that the reports were false.
