As former United States President Donald Trump inched closer to 270 Electoral College votes in the wee hours of Wednesday, he took the stage at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to take an early victory lap.
Giving a nod to the attempt against his life in July, Trump implied his presidency was divinely ordained.
“Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness,” he told the audience at his Election Night party.
“And now we are going to fulfil that mission together.”
No major news organisation had named Trump the winner of the presidential election when he took the stage. But he was within spitting distance of victory: Most media outlets put him just a handful of Electoral College votes away.
The speech was relatively muted for a Trump appearance, and it began with Trump celebrating the Senate’s flip to Republican control.
He also prematurely called the House of Representatives for the Republicans too, though this has not yet been borne out by the coast-to-coast vote: All 435 seats in the House were being voted on this Tuesday.
Trump then called his anticipated win a “victory like no other”.
“This was something special. And we’re going to pay you back. We’re going to do the best job,” he told voters. “This will forever be remembered as the day the American people regained control of their country.”
The Republican leader has long claimed the US has been overrun by a “migrant invasion” and governed by a “deep state” of secretive government officials.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he added.
During his Mar-a-Lago speech, Trump teased high-profile members of his administration.
Former independent candidate Robert F Kennedy, who threw his support behind Trump in August, “would make America healthy again”, Trump said, offering a variation on his “Make American Great Again” slogan.
“He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him go to it,” Trump added.
Of the billionaire and Tesla owner Elon Musk, Trump also offered high praise, calling him a “super genius” after lengthy anecdotes about his admiration for SpaceX rockets and Starlink satellite technology.
“We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have too many of them,” Trump said.
Several of Trump’s closest allies were invited up to share a few words, including his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio.
“I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Vance said to whoops and hollers from the crowd.
Meanwhile, Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, took a moment at the microphone to repeat claims that Trump had been the victim of political persecution, a prevalent theme in his campaign.
Last year, Trump became the first US president to face criminal charges, when four indictments were handed down against him.
Two of those indictments concerned his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to current Democratic President Joe Biden.
“This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks. Couldn’t stop him. He keeps going forward. He doesn’t quit. He’s the most resilient hard-working man I’ve ever met in my life,” White said.
“This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this.”
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