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    • How battlefield victories fueled celebration of Trump's 'unlikely' night
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    How battlefield victories fueled celebration of Trump's 'unlikely' night

    Kathleen William Posted on

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    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Donald Trump's supporters gathered in South Florida began the evening with cautious optimism – and ended it celebrating the culmination of a historic victory.

    “Look what happened!” Trump told his supporters in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “Is this crazy?”

    Many of his supporters who gathered at the Palm Beach County Convention Center for his watch party waited five to eight hours anxiously for the results from the crucial swing states.

    As state after state went to Trump, optimism turned to confidence and then euphoria. Trump gave a speech after his victory in Pennsylvania, receiving 267 of the 270 electoral votes he would officially need to win the White House. He has a clear path to the other states that have yet to be called.

    “It’s exciting,” said Jovita Carranza, a U.S. treasurer and administrator of the Small Business Administration during the first Trump administration, as she stood at a table in the back of a cavernous ballroom. “The numbers are coming strong.”

    “There are people here who have worked very hard to get these numbers,” Carranza said of the revelers around her. The convention center also attracted supporters of the former president in addition to his top campaign staffers such as co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.

    Supporters marveled at how far Trump has come after a contentious presidency, two impeachments, indictments in four different criminal cases, a criminal conviction, expensive verdicts in civil cases and a defeat in the 2020 election. The most shocking moments of the 2024 presidential election also occurred in summer, when Trump faced two assassination attempts, including a shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that killed one man, Corey Comperatore.

    “All that stuff,” said Stephen Hamilton, 58, a businessman who said he flew from his home in New Jersey to Palm Beach County to be part of the story.

    Trump is “a very tough guy,” Hamilton said. “Robust.”

    The sound system at the watch party alternated between '70s and '80s rock 'n' roll and television news about the election. The crowd's escalating cheers peaked at 1:47 a.m. EST when Fox News predicted that Trump had won enough votes to win the presidency a second time.

    Some Trump supporters said the evening reminded them of his victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016.

    Others said there was no comparison.

    “I don’t think it’s reminiscent of anything,” said Hogan Gidley, a media spokesman in Trump’s first White House. “This is the most incredible and improbable comeback story in the history of American politics.”

    Trump supporters at the event dismissed Trump's allegations — and criticism from Democrats and even some GOP rivals — as unfair attacks.

    The former president has long claimed, without evidence, that prominent Democrats were involved in his four impeachments. However, the president still faces conviction in his New York criminal case related to hush-money payments, as well as state charges in Georgia and two federal cases.

    One of the speakers early Wednesday morning — Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White — told the crowd, “This is what happens when the machine comes after you.”

    Trump “continues to move forward,” White said. “He is the most resilient man I have ever met in my life. This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this.”

    The watch party was attended by a number of former Trump officials as well as a cross-section of the Make America Great World campaign. They included Corey Lewandowski, the former 2016 campaign manager who was rehired as a 2024 campaign adviser in August, and Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

    There were people wearing American flag shirts and leather biker vests. Others appeared in business suits and evening wear.

    “We are excited to see President Trump become president again,” Larry Snowden, president of an organization called Club 47 USA, said earlier in the evening.

    Snowden, 78, a retired business executive who lives in Boca Raton, Florida, said he hadn't even considered the possibility of Trump losing: “My mind will just accept that he will win.”

    Others were more cautious.

    “We were hoping,” said Miriam Campos, 82, a retired banker who lives in Miami Lakes.

    As old Trump heroes made the rounds at the watch party in Palm Beach County, they reflected on the political journey that began with a 2015 announcement speech at Trump Tower in New York City.

    “Historical; unprecedented,” said Lewandowski.

    “Nobody has ever seen a movement like this before,” Lewandowski said, reflecting on the consensus Republicans appeared to reach on Election Day. Republicans also won victories in crucial Senate races and are expected to take control of the upper chamber next year. “It was incredible.”

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    Kathleen William
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