President-elect Donald Trump is reveling in his victory and the subsequent celebration, being described as having a much different mentality than he did in 2017 and feeling like his popular vote win gives him a mandate as he speaks with world leaders, top aides and allies, business CEOs and his transition team.
Sources who have spoken to Trump in the last 24 hours describe him as forward-looking and grateful. He has lavished praise on his campaign co-chairs, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles – who Trump named as his White House chief of staff on Thursday evening. Trump has boasted about his numbers with minority voters and winning the popular vote, sometimes with disbelief, and asked what they need to do to get started on some of his agenda items.
One person described the president-elect as in a “completely different head space” than he was when he was entering office in 2017. With some sources he talked about some of the various events that would be occurring under his presidency, including the World Cup and Olympics. With another he marveled at the positivity and flattery he has received in calls from the more than dozen foreign leaders with whom he has spoken.
“He feels like he’s getting the respect and recognition he deserves,” another source said.
In the 2016 election, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton – and he repeatedly claimed falsely that he had won it. Trump then took office in January 2017 amid an FBI investigation into Russian election interference that he believed threatened his legitimacy and would eventually lead to the appointment of a special counsel who investigated Trump for the first half of his presidency.
Now Trump is ahead in the popular vote by more than 4 million votes and feels like he’s coming into office with a clear runway to enact the policies he ran on, sources close to the president-elect said.
“He is talking about how Americans want his policies and what he needs to do to get that done,” one source who had spoken to the president-elect said.
Trump has been locked down at his Florida club, taking calls, meeting sporadically with donors and mingling with guests on the patio. X owner Elon Musk and Trump recently spent time there together and the mega-billionaire brought some of his children to stay with him. The president-elect even took time on Wednesday to show the kids around before Musk left later in the day. During one conversation, Trump joked that he thought Musk should serve in his Cabinet but that he knew Musk would never go for it, a source familiar with the conversation said.
Trump has enjoyed phone calls with several foreign leaders, including some whom he remained in contact with after leaving the White House, who have similarly praised his electoral win, according to a source familiar with the president-elect’s disposition.
Trump missed his standing 9 p.m. dinner reservation at his Mar-a-Lago resort Wednesday night, which advisers said was because he was taking calls and gearing up for what is likely to be a grueling next week. Trump’s priority is to finalize his Cabinet and senior White House staff, and the second wave is to sort deputy secretaries. The president-elect has told his team he wants to sign off on every position.
One source close to Trump said he is taking the responsibility of choosing top positions much more seriously than he did the first time around. He has told people close to him that he made mistakes during his first term with his hiring decisions, and he wants to make sure he is picking people who are competent but also loyal to him.
“That would seem like an obvious thing, but he feels strongly that in 2016 he allowed people who were around him and knew more about DC to make decisions for him. He is far more involved now,” a Trump adviser told CNN.
Top executive orders being prepared that he has specifically weighed in on includes open energy exploration, such as removing caps and provisions that prevent companies from drilling. He is also plotting cuts to energy regulations.
Popular vote win ‘changes everything’
Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller told CNN that Trump’s expected victory with the popular vote “changes everything,” arguing it gives the president-elect confidence to enact his agenda without fear of alienating a broad swath of the country.
“Winning the popular vote provides a mandate and a national public confidence to accomplish what he wants to do from the Oval Office, especially with regard to fixing the economy and securing the border,” Miller said.
A second Trump adviser described the president-elect as feeling emboldened and more self-assured in the decisions he is making after winning the popular vote. While Trump is still seeking advice from a series of aides and allies and picking their brains on who to choose for certain Cabinet positions and policy priorities for his first 100 days in office, he feels more decisive, the adviser said.
Trump met with his transition team, which is rapidly ramping up to staff his administration, both on Wednesday and again on Thursday, sources say.
He spoke by phone Wednesday with both President Joe Biden and his 2024 opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump is expected to travel to the White House to meet with Biden, a meeting his aides would like to happen quickly, as soon as early next week.
“Very nice calls, very respectful both ways,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News. He said that with Harris they “talked about transition, and she said she’d like it to be smooth as can be, which I agree with, of course.”
One thing that Trump hasn’t done: golfed.
Trump often plays golf to blow off steam, especially after major events. But Trump has not golfed since the second assassination attempt against him and is not expected to do so in the near future, according to one source.
Trump understands the magnitude of the security issue, the source added.
Trump’s aides, however, anticipate that he will make use of the golf courses at Andrews Air Force Base when back in the White House. Barack Obama often golfed at the courses at Andrews while he was president. Trump mostly golfed at his club in Virginia while at the White House during his term.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.