'This is a fraud on the American public': Trump claims he won the election and is 'going to the Supreme Court' to stop vote counting
While the U.S. election is a tight race in many key states in the country, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed he has won the election and declared that he will go to the Supreme Court to stop the vote counting.
“Millions and millions of people voted for us tonight and a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people and we won’t stand for it,” Trump said. “We were getting ready for a big celebration, we were winning everything and all of a sudden it was just called off.”
“This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this national.”
He said he wants “the law to be used in a proper manner” and that is why he will be “going to the Supreme Court.”
While Biden said "it ain't over until every vote is counted," Trump seemed convinced he'd won it, even with millions of votes yet to be tallied. #Elections2020
For more on this story, tap the link: ➡️ https://t.co/hkajK8bOxu pic.twitter.com/vRYvGuKsT8— Yahoo Canada News (@YahooCanadaNews) November 4, 2020
“We want all voting to stop, we don’t want them to find any ballots at four o’clock in the morning and add them to the list,” Trump said. “It’s a very sad moment.”
The U.S. President said the results have been “phenomenal,” including states like Florida, Ohio and Texas.
“It’s also clear that we have won Georgia,...they’re never going to catch us,” Trump said. “Likewise, we’ve clearly won North Carolina.”
“Arizona, we have a lot of life in that…certainly there were a lot fo votes out there that we could get because we’re now just coming into what they call Trump territory. That could be a return.”
It didn’t take long for people to call out the U.S. President’s “fraud” claims.
"What he said bears no resemblance to the truth": @jdickerson points out that despite President Trump's false claims about the election results, many votes are still not counted — including some that are likely his own voters #Election2020 https://t.co/fxHKy8hSEp pic.twitter.com/SVvHLSvQIJ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 4, 2020
Trump accused Democrats of "trying to disenfranchise" his voters. This is complete projection.
He called the routine vote-counting process a "fraud."
In technical terms, this is dangerous, authoritarian shit.— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 4, 2020
No one should look at Trump's speech as bluster and lies. It was a call to action to his base to not accept the results of this election. This could get very ugly very fast.
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) November 4, 2020
Putting Trump’s false and fraudulent declaration that he’s won and wants to stop counting votes in stark perspective, @abbydphillip says:
“Anywhere else in the world it would be a sign that democracy is in peril. It’s a sign that OUR democracy is in peril.”— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) November 4, 2020
This came after a now deleted tweet where Trump said the Republican party is “up big” and accused the Democrats of trying to steal the election. But it was the misspelling of the word “polls” that got all the attention of the public.
In reference to the president’s since-deleted tweet, @jaketapper: “The fact that the president misspelled polls is just … chef’s kiss.”
(The president wrote "Poles.") pic.twitter.com/B8E461EVhW— The Recount (@therecount) November 4, 2020
Dear @realDonaldTrump - you accidentally deleted this tweet about Poles pic.twitter.com/D5rQd5KMXN
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) November 4, 2020
It's hard to believe a sitting president* of the United States doesn't know the difference between casting a vote and counting a vote that has already been cast. But then, he also thinks those votes are cast at the "poles" and not the polls, so I guess it makes sense.
— James "Vote to End the Madness" Morrison (@JamesPMorrison) November 4, 2020
Omg they’re closing the Poles pic.twitter.com/EJrqlEi19x
— Kat Dennings (@OfficialKat) November 4, 2020
Trump did end up correcting the “polls” versus “poles” issue but ran into another snag with his tweet being flagged for “misleading” information about the U.S. election.
We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
No votes are being cast when the polls are closed as mail-in ballots were cast before that time.
The president's tweet is not true. No more votes are being cast, but they are allowed to be counted. Also, unless this is a reference to the Polish people or utility poles, it’s spelled “polls" pic.twitter.com/OCTmySSzsr
— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 4, 2020
We knew this was coming, but let’s say it again: *Every* state keeps counting votes after the polls close; and 20 of them count mail-in ballots sent on time that arrive within the next few days.
There’s *nothing* unusual or nefarious about *either* of those things. pic.twitter.com/lHfx7iYhjU— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) November 4, 2020
‘We believe we’re on track to win this election’
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has also expressed confidence in taking the presidency away from Donald Trump.
“We feel good about where we are, we really do,” Biden said in an address to the public from Wilmington, Delaware. “I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election.”
“We’re confident about Arizona, that’s a turn around, we also just called it for Minnesota and we’re still in the game in Georgia, although that’s not one we expected. We’re feeling really good about Wisconsin and Michigan.”
The former U.S. vice president also stressed that this will be a long vote counting process, especially with the mail-in ballots and early voters.
“We knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail-in vote that it’s going to take a while, we’re going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished, and it ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted,” he said. “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who’s won this election, that’s the decision of the American people, but I’m optimistic about this outcome.”
“Every time I’d walk out of my grandpa’s house up in Scranton he’d yell ‘Joey, keep the faith’... keep the faith guys we’re going to win this.”