Donald Trump is not handling the news from the 2020 presidential election vote count well. In-person votes largely went to Trump in most states, so the president is saying that (of course) those are the only votes that are legitimate while mail-in and early voting totals are fake news. On Thursday night, after having stayed hidden away since his last insane announcement of victory at 2 AM EST the morning after Election Day, Trump told the country that the vote is being stolen from him by Democrats, the media, big tech, and election officials all across the country.
Trump opens his news conference by saying "if you count the legal vote, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us." This is a lie. There is no evidence of election fraud. pic.twitter.com/BAVSazAmLr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 5, 2020
Trump insisted that only the in-person votes are legal, then said “if you count up the legal votes, I easily win.” However, early and mail-in voting are legal, were expanded in some states due to a badly managed global pandemic that made it unsafe for voters to crowd in to facilities together, and are favoring Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, in nearly every state. Because they are reversing Trump’s in-person vote lead, he’s decided they’re not valid. They are, and the lies Trump is telling are dangerous for our country.
Jim @Acosta says Trump's press conference should come with a Surgeon General's warning that this press conference will be dangerous to the facts and your democracy. pic.twitter.com/BsSuHYcpNn
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 5, 2020
At the time of Trump’s press conference, he was ahead of Joe Biden in two key states – Pennsylvania and Georgia – by a small margin. His lead in Georgia, in fact, shrunk to just around 3,000 votes with more than 12,000 votes outstanding, mostly from blue counties in Georgia. Trump hasn’t won and, in fact, he appears to be losing in the last moments of counting.
This is what it looks like when a loser loses.
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) November 5, 2020
For Trump’s full press conference, the bulk of which wasn’t shown on any mainstream news network because it was filled with false and dangerous, see below:
