Trump's team mulls early victory claim before results out

The presidential elections in the United States began on Tuesday. Current Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, who held office in the White House from 2017 to 2021, are running for the position.

Four years ago, Trump was unable to come to terms with defeat, questioned the election results, and talked about fraud without providing evidence. This culminated in his supporters storming the Capitol, resulting in the loss of five lives.

Before this year's elections, there were concerns about a repeat of the events from 2020. Meanwhile, CBS reported that Trump's team has held internal discussions about how the politician should behave. One idea involves declaring victory for the Republican candidate even before the official election results are announced.

"Trump may prematurely declare victory after the first batch of results is announced in the evening," a CBS source said.

CBS points out that results from states traditionally won by Republicans may be published first. However, one should keep in mind the phenomenon of the "red mirage" and "blue shift." This means that the scale tips toward the Democrats as mail-in ballots are counted.

In 2020, this phenomenon was particularly noticeable in Pennsylvania, where a significant number of Democratic supporters chose to vote by mail.

Declaring victory based on partial results may later allow Trump to question the election outcomes and repeat claims about "stolen" elections.

"We will not declare victory until we have 270 electoral votes," said Jason Miller when asked by journalists about Donald Trump's plans. Media representatives tried to determine how and when the Republicans would establish that they have the necessary number of electoral votes.

"Once we surpass 270, then we'll be confident," added Miller, but he avoided answering the key question.