President Trump said he was “probably not” prepared to lose the 2020 presidential election.
“No, probably not. Probably not,” he told NBC’s Chuck Todd in a sit-down that aired on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” “It would be much better if I said, ‘Yeah.’ It would be much easier for me to say, ‘Oh, yes.’ No, I’m probably not too prepared to lose. I don’t like losing. I haven’t lost very much in my life.”
Todd brought up how Trump has often bristled over losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“You didn’t like the fact that you lost the popular vote. That bothered you, didn’t it?” Todd said.
The president then repeated a claim he first made in November 2016 — when he floated “millions” voted illegally.
“Well, I think it was a – I mean, I’ll say something that, again, is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that I don’t believe,” Trump told Todd. “I look at California,” he added, a state where Clinton bested him by 4.3 million votes.
Trump then name-dropped the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
“Take a look at their settlement where California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes,” the president said.
The statement left Todd miffed.
“A million votes of what?” the NBC Newsman said. “What are you talking about?”
The president was likely talking about Judicial Watch’s settlement with Los Angeles County that aims to remove inactive voters from the voter rolls. The lawsuit did not expose widespread voter fraud as the president insisted.
“I think I do better with the popular vote,” Trump added. “But I didn’t campaign for the popular vote.”
He said he beat Clinton 306 to 223 in the Electoral College.
Clinton actually got 232 electoral college votes.
But the president also called the former secretary of state, senator and first lady a “great candidate.”
“She was very smart. She was very tough. She was ruthless and vicious,” Trump said.
When asked if he would like to run against Clinton again the president said no.
“You only talked about her in your announcement speech,” Todd pointed out.
On Tuesday, Trump kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign in Orlando, Fla., and brought up Clinton several times.
Trump said he’d rather run against former Vice President Joe Biden, who is currently leading the large Democratic field in the polls.
“Sleepy Joe. He’s sleepy. She was not sleepy,” Trump said comparing Biden and Clinton. “Let me tell you something, the Electoral College is tougher for a Republican to win than the popular vote. At least me. I feel that I got to three places. I went to 19 or 21 states. I went to Maine four times because I wanted that one. And I did get it. And that’s the beauty of the Electoral College.”
Trump also said he thought the House Democrats opening an impeachment inquiry – which they so far have held off on – would boost his re-election prospects.
“I think I win the election easier. But you know, I’m not sure that I like having it,” Trump said. “Look, I did nothing wrong. I was spied on. What they did to me was illegal. It was illegal on the other side. I did nothing wrong. So impeachment’s a very unfair thing because nothing I did was wrong. And if you look at the Mueller report, there was no collusion. This was all about collusion.”
Todd pointed out how the president has joked about serving a third term. He did so the day the Mueller Report came out. He also sent out a tweet Friday with an edited Time Magazine graphic showing him being president “4EVA.”
Read: Trump says biggest regret so far was appointing Jeff Sessions
“I only joke,” Trump said. “I joke and I say, ‘Watch, I will drive Chuck Todd crazy.’”
The president assured Todd that there wouldn’t be a third term.
“100 percent sure,” Trump answered, when asked if he’d accept the results. He also gave a “100 percent” answer to keeping Vice President Mike Pence on his ticket.
Todd pointed out that Trump had paused when asked if he planned to endorse Pence as his successor. Trump said he responded that way because it was a “surprise question.”
“I mean, you know, I’m not even thinking of it. It’s so far out. I mean, it’s so far out. That would be the only reason,” Trump said. “Now what happens in 2024? I don’t know if Mike is going to run. I don’t know who’s running for anything else.”
“I will say this,” Trump added. “I think it’s a tremendous embarrassment to Joe Biden that Obama has not.”
President Obama hasn’t endorsed in the Democratic primary race.
An expanded version of this report appears on NYPost.com.
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