Trump declares victory, likely headed back to the White House

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Donald Trump appears headed back to the White House, which would make him the first president to win nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1892.
Trump supporters gathered in a cavernous hall at the Palm Beach County Convention Center to watch election returns roll in Tuesday night erupted with glee as Fox News called the election for the former president. Many crowded around the large TV monitors with cellphone cameras to capture the moment on the screen. Others hugged each other and exchanged high fives.
Trump and his wife, Melania, his family along with his running mate, JD Vance and his wife, Usha, took the stage just before 2:30 a.m. ET to sounds of “God Bless the USA.”
“This is a movement like nobody’s ever seen before,” he told the cheering crowd, which broke into chants of “USA.” “We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible.”
Trump said he would “heal” the country. “It needs help and needs help very badly,” he said.
“This will truly be the golden age of America,” he said. “This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again.”
Vance told the crowd they had witnessed the “greatest political comeback” in the nation’s history.
During the long evening that spilled into Wednesday, classic rock blared from the speakers. Dozens congregated in front of a stage adorned with American flags. Others in free MAGA hats gathered around tables and sipped out of plastic cups from the cash bars. Dozens of news cameras jockeyed for space on a riser in the center of the room. Big screens were tuned to Fox News and CNN.
The crowd cheered as some early results flashed on multiple big screens showing Trump winning several states he was expected to win. They booed when Kamala Harris won a state. They cheered louder and chanted “USA” when Georgia was called for Trump. And the crowd roared when Trump won Pennsylvania, perhaps the most key battleground state.
And when the news programs went to break, “Better Off With Trump” took over the screens. As the night wore on, the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” pumped some energy into the crowd, many of whom were on the feet for hours due to a scarcity of chairs, which seemed more prized than the MAGA hats.
Polls show a tight race between the former Republican president and Democratic vice president nationally and in the seven battleground states that will decide the election.
It was unclear when Trump would travel the couple of miles from Mar-a-Lago to the convention to address the crowd, though if he were to make an appearance, it would be late in the evening. Trump is reportedly hosting several dinners with close friends, donors and club members, including Elon Musk, at his Palm Beach resort.
Trump and his wife, Melania, voted earlier Tuesday at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach.
“I feel very confident,” he told reporters after he cast his ballot. “It looks like Republicans have shown up in force, so we’ll see how it turns out.”
Early in the evening, Rudy Giuliani walked across the convention hall floor surrounded by several reporters asking him questions about election fraud and the Philadelphia district attorney whom he called a “Democratic hack.” The former New York City mayor and longtime Trump ally, Giuliani was found liable for defamation for falsely accusing two Georgia elections workers of ballot fraud in 2020.
“They took my profession away because I advocated for my client,” he said.
And if Harris wins, “I don’t know what will happen to America,” Giuliani said before reaching the exit. “It worries me greatly.”
Charles Hibbs, of White River, South Dakota, has attended 49 Trump rallies around the country since 2020, including more than two dozen as a volunteer. He wore a red MAGA hat that a Trump aide told him the former president wanted him to have after a campaign event. He also has a signed photo of himself standing behind Trump at a rally that the campaign mailed to him. Trump wrote, “l love you” above his signature.
“What brings me out is a man that stands for the values and principles of what our Founding Fathers stood by, Judeo-Christian principle values. He believes in our Constitution. He believes in our Declaration of Independence. He believes in working for the people, not for the politicians. He believes in peace by strength,” he said.
Hibbs, 69, said he doesn’t think but knows Tuesday is going to be a great night because there was no “scandemic,” which is how he refers to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was concocted to derail Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
“I’m expecting to see a lot of joy, a lot of support, positive, no matter what happens,” he said. “You’re not going to see anger. You’re going to have frustration if it’s cheating.”
Earlier in the day, Ellie Hendricks, a 19-year-old student at Palm Beach Atlantic University, perused Trump merch near the convention center looking to buy a red Trump-Vance hat to go with her new T-shirt depicting the former president urging supporters to fight after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“This is my first election. I’m really excited,” she said.
Hendricks said she voted for Trump because she wants to be able to buy a house in the next four years and she likes how he handled “everything” when he was president.
“I think he handled COVID very well. If anyone else was president, I don’t think it would be the same,” said Hendricks, who was a high school sophomore at the time.
Hendricks and her friends hope to get into the convention center but if not will wait for election returns outside. She said she hopes nothing bad happens, noting there might be protesters.
“I hope everyone has a peaceful time,” she said.