Trump Tried To Make This Election 2016 Again. It Didn’t Go As Planned

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President Trump leaves the White House briefing room on Nov. 5 after making false charges that Democrats were rigging the election.

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Evan Vucci/AP

Elections
Biden Wins Presidency, According To AP, Edging Trump In Turbulent Race

Now, the world is seeing just how difficult it is for a man who built his brand on winning to lose. Trump has so far rejected the idea of conceding defeat to his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, who on Saturday became president-elect, having secured enough votes to win the Electoral College.

I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2020

It’s a drawn-out and potentially ignominious end to a campaign modeled closely on Trump’s 2016 win — a flurry of what so far seem like last-ditch legal challenges to voting procedures in several states. «He’s absolutely going to fight like a wild animal to the very end, his former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox Business News. But some advisers are trying to help him find a way out of his corner, gently appealing to him to protect his legacy.

«It’s dawning on him, one former adviser told NPR, speaking on condition of anonymity to comment on private conversations. Trump’s ability to withstand political crisis after political crisis conditioned his team to have «a false sense of reality because he’s survived so many times, the former adviser said.

«He never thought he could lose … and those of us who are in Trump world, we actually never believed he could lose.

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Saying he was «a little bit superstitious, President Trump held his final campaign rally after midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich. — just as he did in 2016, the night before his first upstart presidential win.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Elections
In Waning Days Of 2020 Campaign, Trump Tries To Recapture 2016 Mojo

«If I don’t sound like a typical Washington politician, it’s because I am not a politician. It’s one of the reasons I was elected, Trump repeated time and again.

Trump tried to recreate the magic of 2016, gathering his oldest and most loyal aides to his side, polishing off his old attack lines, and — ignoring warnings from public health experts — racing around swing states to whip up enthusiasm at rallies that felt a lot like the old days.

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Air Force One lands at Phoenix Goodyear Airport for a campaign rally less than a week before Election Day.

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Shots — Health News
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surpass Summer Peak And Are Climbing Higher Fast

Trump, who has consistently downplayed the severity of the pandemic, insisted on the campaign trail that the country has rounded the corner. While Biden warned of a looming «dark winter, Trump pushed on with huge campaign events where thousands of people stood close together, most without face masks, and cheered Trump’s counternarrative — that the virus wasn’t all that bad and would be gone soon enough.

«We want normal life. Normal life, Trump lamented at a rally in Lansing, Mich. «Take us back. Take us back, seven months ago.

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President Trump speaks during a rally in Londonderry, N.H., on Oct. 25.

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Trump held daily briefings for weeks as the coronavirus shut down the U.S., often pushing governors to lift restrictions on businesses and schools.

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The Coronavirus Crisis
Timeline: What Trump Has Said And Done About The Coronavirus

Before the 45 days were up, Trump did an about-face. He told Americans that «we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself and said he wanted to be a «cheerleader for the country’s recovery. He ignored medical advisers who urged caution — and face masks — and he pressured governors to lift restrictions on businesses and schools.

His own lax adherence to social distancing rules caught up with Trump around the time he scored a key victory for his conservative base — the opportunity to shape the tenor of the Supreme Court for decades with his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy left by the death of liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Trump invited evangelical leaders and other conservative allies to the White House for the announcement, a celebration that top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci later described as a «superspreader event.

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On Oct. 5, White House physician Sean Conley discusses President Trump’s medical condition in front of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19.

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President Trump walked to St. John’s Church near the White House for a «law and order photo op on June 1 after the area was cleared of people protesting the death of George Floyd.

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

America Reckons With Racial Injustice

A Black man named George Floyd was killed on Memorial Day by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Video footage of Floyd’s death unleashed fresh waves of pain and anger about racism in America, sparking protests and unrest across the nation.

But in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, Trump doubled down on the «law and order theme he had used successfully during his 2016 run for office. He stoked anger and division by railing against «thugs and rejecting assertions of systemic racism in policing.

Why would Suburban Women vote for Biden and the Democrats when Democrat run cities are now rampant with crime (and they aren’t asking the Federal Government for help) which could easily spread to the suburbs, and they will reconstitute, on steroids, their low income suburbs plan!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020

After polls showed his tough talk had turned off suburban female voters who saw it as racist, Trump spent weeks speaking directly to them, pleading for their votes. His campaign poured nearly $1 million into Facebook ads starting in late September, using a page called Women for Trump, targeting women in must-win states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.

Trump made the case that he was offering safety and stability for the «suburbs as opposed to the chaos of the «cities — another appeal to his mostly white base. He amped up culture wars, arguing that efforts to tear down Confederate statues and promote anti-racism training were antithetical to the American way of life.

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Trump’s campaign pushed to woo Black voters, laying out a «Platinum Plan on economic empowerment in September.

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Evan Vucci/AP

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President Trump gave his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination on the South Lawn of the White House in front of 1,500 invited guests.

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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President Trump dances as he leaves the stage during a rally in Bullhead City, Ariz., on Oct. 28.

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President Trump’s allies give a news conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia.

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John Minchillo/AP

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President Trump takes the stage at his final rally of the 2020 campaign after midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he his his last rally in 2016.

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President Trump takes the stage at his final rally of the 2020 campaign after midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he his his last rally in 2016.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images