Trump Says He Wants No Regrets ‘Win, Lose or Dra
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Donald Trump: ‘Win, Lose or Draw’ I’ll Be Happy
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 20: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump attend the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on October 20, 2016 in New York City.The white-tie dinner, which benefits Catholic charities and celebrates former Governor of New York Al Smith, has been attended by presidential candidates since 1960 and gives the candidates an opportunity to poke fun at themselves and each other. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Trump’s Jokes Strike a Sour Tone at New York’s Al Smith Dinner
Donald Trump: ‘Win, Lose or Draw’ I’ll Be Happy
Republican nominee has stoked doubts about vote integrity
Done with debates, he and Democrat Clinton hit battlegrounds
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Donald Trump said Friday that he will hold a spate of rallies in the closing days of the campaign to ensure that, “win, lose or draw,” he is giving himself the best shot at a victory.
Striking a more traditional note as Election Day nears, the embattled Republican presidential nominee told a crowd in Fletcher, North Carolina, “I don’t want to think back: ‘If only I did one more rally, I would have won North Carolina by 500 votes instead of losing it by 200 votes,’ right?”
He also said, “We’re going to do this for another 19 days, right up until the actual vote of Nov. 8, and then I don’t know what kind of shape I’m in but I’ll be happy.”
With less than three weeks until an election Trump has warned will be “rigged,” he’s spent recent days stoking doubts about whether he’ll accept the outcome of the vote if he loses.
He said at the final general-election debate on Wednesday he would look at the outcome at the time and keep Americans “in suspense.” On Thursday, campaigning in Ohio, he said he “would accept a clear election result but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.”
Democratic Norms
Political observers from both major parties have warned that Trump’s handling of the issue at the debate threatens democratic norms, and that while voter fraud has been known to happen on a small scale, his prediction that widespread cheating could be pulled off to tip a national race is unfounded.
Clinton at the debate called his answer “horrifying.” As she’s tried to retain her lead in election forecasts, she and her allies have been coping with what they say is attempted election interference on another front: the hacking of campaign chairman John Podesta’s personal e-mail, which the campaign on Thursday blamed on Russia.
U.S. intelligence officials had already publicly blamed Russia for the hacking of other U.S. Democratic Party groups, a conclusion Trump has rejected while denying Democrats’ accusations that he is too friendly toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Included in the purported Podesta e-mails -- which the campaign won’t confirm or deny are authentic -- are apparent transcripts of Clinton’s private speeches to Goldman Sachs; discussion about the classification of some of Clinton’s private e-mails and about handling the political damage of her private server; and evidence of Democratic Party infighting.
Al Smith Dinner
On Thursday night, at an annual charity dinner in New York City where presidential nominees traditionally give self-deprecating speeches, Trump’s biting remarks were met with some laughs and -- in an unusual turn for the event -- some boos.
In a reference to one alleged Podesta e-mail released by WikiLeaks, Trump said Clinton was “pretending not to hate Catholics” at the dinner, which honors the late Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic U.S. presidential nominee.
Trump also quipped that Clinton, who he has said should be jailed over her use of private e-mail as secretary of state, bumped into him and said, “Pardon me.”
Clinton told the crowd she wanted “to put you all in a basket of adorables,” referring to when she called half of Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables” and took political heat for the remark. She also told Trump, in an allusion to their contentious debates, “Feel free to stand up and shout ‘wrong!’ while I’m talking.”
Election Outlook
Trump has been losing ground in election forecasts since the first debate on Sept. 26. In the days after Clinton in that forum highlighted his treatment of women, Trump faced heightened scrutiny, the leak of a 2005 hot-mic tape in which he bragged about being able to grope women, and accusations of sexual assault from several women that he’s denied.
Clinton led him nationally by an average of 6 percentage points in polls including third-party candidates, the aggregator RealClearPolitics said Friday afternoon. In North Carolina, Clinton had a slimmer 2.5 point advantage. She is due back in the state Sunday. Republican Mitt Romney narrowly won North Carolina in 2012.
Later Friday, with no more face-offs scheduled with Clinton before the Nov. 8 election, Trump was set to hold two rallies in Pennsylvania. Vice President Joe Biden was set to campaign there for Clinton, while the Democratic nominee planned to hold an event in Ohio.