“We’re leading big in the polls, all of the polls,” former president Donald Trump told multiple rallies last week, as he laid the groundwork for election denialism, riling up his supporters to make their turnout “too big to rig.”
The Republican nominee for president has spent the weeks leading up to the election playing the role of blowhard braggart, insisting—between the semi-coherent ramblings that make up his marathon addresses— that he’s poised for a resounding victory, despite polls that show a tossup race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Sunday, something changed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump and his top campaign leader seemed to crack, suspending the defiant tone in an abbreviated moments where, for once, they acknowledged losing is on the table.
“I guess you could lose, can lose,” Trump told ABC News in a phone interview. “I mean, that happens, right? But I think I have a pretty substantial lead, but, you could say, yeah, yeah, you could lose. Bad things could happen. You know, things happen, but it’s going to be interesting.”
Susie Wiles, his co-campaign manager, made the acknowledgment in a much more tacit fashion than her unvarnished boss.
In an internal campaign memo obtained by Axios—titled “Donald J. Trump Administrative Update”—Wiles used multiple phrases—“should we be victorious,” “regardless of the outcome of the election” and “God willing”—acknowledging the campaign could come up short handed.
The purpose of Wiles’ memo was to lay out the humdrum administrative task of winding down campaign operations once the election is over, but the tone could hardly be more antithetical to Trump’s general attitude, which has included musing that polls he doesn’t like should be illegal.
If he does lose, don’t expect a quick concession: the Republican National Committee had raised $90 million as of September 30 for recount efforts, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
