How battlefield victories fueled the celebration of Trump's 'unlikely' evening

WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Donald Trump’s supporters gathered in South Florida started the evening with cautious optimism – and ended it with celebration the eve of a historic victory.

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

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

As state after state went to Trump, optimism turned to confidence and then to euphoria. Trump gave a speech after winning Pennsylvania, he won 267 of the 270 electoral votes he officially needs to win the White House. He has a clear path in the other states yet to be declared.

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

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

Supporters were amazed how far Trump has comeafter a controversial presidency, two impeachments, indictments in four separate criminal cases, a criminal conviction, costly judgments in civil lawsuits and a defeat in the 2020 election. The most shocking moments of the 2024 presidential election also occurred in the summer, when Trump faced two murder 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 history.

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

The sound system at the viewing party alternated between rock ‘n’ roll and television news broadcasts of the 1970s and 1980s elections. The crowd’s escalating cheers reached a crescendo at 1:47 a.m. EST, when Fox News predicted that Trump had won enough electoral votes to become president for a second time.

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

Others said there is 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 unlikely comeback story in the history of American politics.”

Trump supporters at the event dismissed Trump’s legal challenges — and criticism from Democrats and even some Republican rivals — as unfair attacks.

The former president has long claimed without evidence that prominent Democrats were involved in his case four charges. Yet the president still is awaits 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 – Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship – told the crowd that “this is what happens when the machine comes after you.”

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

A number of former Trump officials came to the viewing party, as did a cross-section of the “Make America Great World.” That included Corey Lewandowski, the former 2016 campaign manager who was rehired in August as a 2024 campaign adviser, and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

There were people wearing shirts with the American flag motif and leather motorcycle vests. Others appeared in suits and evening dresses.

“We would like 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 businessman who lives in Boca Raton, Florida, said he didn’t even consider the possibility of Trump losing: “My mind will just accept that he’s going to win.”

Others were more cautious.

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

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

‘Historical; unprecedented,” Lewandowski said.

“No one has ever seen a movement like this,” Lewandowski reflected on the consensus Republicans seemed to build on Election Day. The Republican Party also scored victories in crucial Senate races and will take control of the Senate next year. “It was incredible.”