The celebration was in full, frenzied swing.
Concession stands were starting to run low on alcoholic seltzers. In Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach, his most ardent supporters had been drinking for hours.
As it crept past midnight, a shoeless woman in a short white dress emptied her guts on to the bare concrete floor of the convention center.
Yet, there was one man in this vast crowd who had not come to party.
Trump strode on to the stage at around 2.30am (ET), stern-faced and somber, the weight of history upon him.
Concession stands were starting to run low on alcoholic seltzers. In Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach, his most ardent supporters had been drinking for hours.
Trump strode on to the stage at around 2.30am (ET), stern-faced and somber, the weight of history upon him.
As it crept past midnight and Trump supporters celebrated, a shoeless woman in a short white dress emptied her guts on to the bare concrete floor of the convention center.
In 2016, he had greeted supporters in disbelief. Some reports even suggested his wife Melania had been brought to tears by the shock of it all.
He was a surprise victor then. Now, he was a conqueror — a hero returning to claim what was his, flanked by his family and closest allies: the elusive Melania decked out in Dior; daughters Tiffany and Ivanka, in blue velvet alongside her husband Jared Kushner; sons Barron, Eric and Don Jr; and Trump’s ebullient granddaughter Kai.
‘This was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,’ Trump said, standing in front of 47 flags to denote his new numerical position in the list of U.S. presidents.
The crowd went wild, fists and phones raised in the air as chants of ‘USA! USA! USA!’ boomed to the ceiling.
But gone was Trump the brash carnival-barker of the campaign trail. Nor was he the snarling counterpuncher of his press conferences, or the sullen courtroom defendant.
This was another role entirely. This was Presidential Trump.
‘He’s no longer a candidate,’ one of his key allies told me. ‘He’s the President-elect.’
This victory, however, was hardly assured.
For weeks, Trump’s campaign team had clung to internal polling that suggested victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. But few outside his circle shared their optimism.
After all, Trump had left the White House almost four years ago with historically low approval ratings, his presidency tarnished by scandal and chaos – and, of course, the ignominy of January 6.
In contrast, Harris’s Democrats believed they had the perfect formula for success: a proven turnout machine and a fired-up base, particularly women, driven to the polls by the abortion issue.
The race, most analysts said, was too close to call — a coin toss that could go either way.
But, as election night unfolded in the blustery Floridian heat, Trump’s allies began to express cautious optimism.
Nigel Farage, the British leader of the populist Reform Party, was on his way to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home when he spoke to the Mail just before the East Coast polls closed: ‘The turnout in rural and non-urban areas has been exceptionally high,’ he said.
‘And if you add that to the big numbers we’re seeing in postal voting, the Trump team is feeling very good about tonight.’
At about the time Farage was enjoying his first gin and tonic, Trump supporters began trickling into the Trump HQ convention center, just across the water from the millionaires’ paradise of Palm Beach.
Women in shimmering dresses, men in red MAGA hats — the crowd began to swell, nervous energy building in the air.
Trump superfan Blake Marnell, easily identifiable in his brick-print suit designed to resemble a border wall, was among the first to arrive.
Women in shimmering dresses, men in red MAGA hats – the crowd began to swell, nervous energy building in the air.
Now, he was a conqueror – a hero returning to claim what was his, flanked by his family and closest allies. (Trump is pictured here with his 17-year-old granddaughter Kai).
The elusive Melania decked out in Dior; daughters Tiffany and Ivanka, in blue velvet alongside her husband Jared Kushner; sons Barron, Eric and Don Jr; and Trump’s ebullient granddaughter Kai.
Trump superfan Blake Marnell, easily identifiable in his brick-print suit designed to resemble a border wall, was among the first to arrive.
He was coming to the end of his own campaign odyssey, having driven 15,000 miles in a rental car in recent months, following Trump from rally to rally across America.
‘The mood is positive,’ Marnell said, his eyes gleaming with quiet confidence. ‘We have more paths to victory than she does.’
At 7:00 pm, the first major call was made. Indiana, a red state, fell into Trump’s column. A muted cheer rippled through the crowd.
Corey Lewandowski, a senior advisor to Trump, stood near the stage and outlined the strategy: ‘Our path is three states,’ he said, while pointing to various key battlegrounds on a map. ‘She has to win them all.’
But as the night wore on, nerves began to fray. The stakes were high, and no one could yet predict the outcome.
Rose Rououluis, a passionate supporter draped in a red-sequined coat, summed up the MAGA mood: ‘If they do anything to him, the people will take to the streets. We love him for his heart, and we won’t let anything happen to him.’
Trump himself had spent the day dialing in to ‘get-out-the-vote’ events, his aides noting that he had taken ‘executive time’ to rest before the long night ahead.
At 7:00 pm, the first major call was made: Indiana, a red state, fell into Trump’s column. A muted cheer rippled through the crowd. (Lara and Eric Trump are pictured on Election Night in Palm Beach).
Meanwhile, in Mar-a-Lago, key figures in his campaign gathered. Farage and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk mingled with a handful of club members awaiting the first signs of victory.
A source present told me the former president had addressed about 250 Mar-a-Lago members soon after midnight with his family alongside him. ‘He told them it’s looking good,’ the insider said.
Others described Trump’s demeanor as remarkably composed, sitting in the middle of the room watching the results roll in on television, surrounded by people frantically checking their phones.
‘Trump himself was as calm as a cucumber,’ said Farage. ‘Literally, he was sitting in the middle of the ballroom with people partying all around him, just sitting there, casually chatting, eating an ice cream. Very relaxed.’
When Florida’s results came in at 8.01pm, it was the first real sign that Trump might be on track to defy expectations.
Long lines at polling stations in the Sunshine State had triggered fears that an amendment to overthrow Governor Ron DeSantis’s controversial six-week abortion ban had mobilized Democrats.
But exit polls showed that not only had Trump outperformed his 2020 numbers in the state, he was on pace to win Democratic strongholds like Miami-Dade County, an omen that his internal polling might have been right all along.
A wave of relief swept over the crowd.
A few of hours later, things were looking even better. Trump had won Iowa, in spite of an extraordinary survey at the weekend by respected pollster Ann Seltzer that showed Harris up three points in the reliably red state. In the end, his lead surged to double digits.
A source present told me the former president had addressed about 250 Mar-a-Lago members soon after midnight with his family alongside him. (Donald and Melania are pictured during the election night event).
Meanwhile, in Mar-a-Lago, key figures in his campaign gathered. Farage and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk mingled with a handful of club members, awaiting the first signs of victory. (Musk is pictured, right, talking to Dana White and Trump).
At about the time Nigel Farage (right) was enjoying his first gin and tonic, Trump supporters began trickling into the Trump HQ convention center just across the water from the millionaire paradise of Palm Beach
A wave of relief swept over the crowd. (Trump supporters rally outside of the Palm Beach Convention Center as they await the final results of the 2024 presidential elections).
‘F*** Ann Selzer,’ one staffer shouted.
The celebration was, certainly, starting to warm up. The bars were heaving, the crowd pressing closer to the convention-center stage.
The mix of attendees was a spectacle: the ‘Ride for 45’ biker crew in leather vests, the high-heeled Palm Beach set and young men dressed as mini-Trumps in dark suits, white shirts and long red ties.
With every subsequent call, the energy in the room reached a fever pitch. North Carolina, the first swing state to be called, went Trump’s way.
Then Pennsylvania — with its coveted 19 electoral votes — followed suit. The crowd erupted in a chorus of disbelief that quickly morphed into wild jubilation.
‘It’s a vindication, an example of what everybody felt and knew,’ said Alexandra Preate, a prominent political strategist, clutching a glass of red wine and high-fiving anyone in sight. ‘Everyday Americans felt it. The polls didn’t show it, but we knew it,’ he said.
The room swelled with the crowd’s roars – quickly replaced by the kitschy 70s hit and classic Trump rally anthem, ‘YMCA’.
By the time the man himself took the stage, victory was all but assured.
For Trump, this was more than a political win. It was a personal redemption, a return to power after a turbulent chapter. Just like in 2016, before the legal battles, the impeachment proceedings, and the assassination attempts that followed, his family stood as one.
And as the confetti rained down and cheers reverberated through the hall, Trump vowed to bring healing to a fractured America: ‘Success is going to bring us together.’