President Donald Trump realized the fears of many political observers Tuesday night by falsely claiming a “big win” in the U.S. presidential election despite many millions of votes yet to be counted and no clear victor even remotely in sight.
“He doesn’t decide … we the people do. Forget his nonsense. We will ensure every vote is counted.” —MoveOn.org
With the battle over crucial electoral college votes still potentially days or even weeks away—and just after Democratic nominee Joe Biden spoke to the nation to urge patience for official results—Trump, just before 1:00 am ET, tweeted he would be “making a statement tonight” and then called it “a big WIN!”
Moments later, Trump falsely stated “We are up BIG”—even though at the time both the Associated Press and New York Times election desks had Biden up 213 to 174 in their electoral college projections. Trump then unleashed another lie, stating that the Democrats “are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
Twitter immediately slapped a message on the Trump tweets warning that they contained overt misinformation, stating: “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” In order for viewers to see the tweets, they would have to click through the warning.”
Firing back against Trump’s brazen misinformation, Biden himself tweeted: “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare the winner of this election. It’s the voters’ place.”
In his earlier speech, Biden urged the nation to remain “patient” as all the votes are counted, but added that he was “optimistic about the outcome.”
Grassroots organizers like MoveOn.org said Trump would not get away with it:
While progressives and pro-democracy watchdogs for weeks have warned that Trump would try pull such shenanigans on Election Night, in the end it played out much as many reported it might.
For those keeping score:
–@jonathanvswan reported Trump would declare victory in this fashion.
-Trump denied that he would do that.
-Trump then did what Swan reported he would do. https://t.co/2fKZCKimnG— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) November 4, 2020
there it is https://t.co/el0IP9b9ho
— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) November 4, 2020
Who could have predicted that:
1) Voting day totals would favor Trump
2) The mail-in ballots would take longer to count
3) Trump would claim counting votes is election fraudOh literally everybody. Everybody predicted this. We will count the votes, and we will win.
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) November 4, 2020
“You are as predictable as you are corrupt,” tweeted progressive organizer Kai Newkirk in response to the president’s tweet. “All the votes have been cast already. Now they just have to be counted. This is a democratic republic—not a dictatorship. And We the People intend to keep it. Every vote will be counted.”
Linda Sarsour, co-founder of the advocacy group M Power Change, said Trump’s efforts to subvert the election results would not be tolerated for even one moment.
“We must count every single vote—period,” Sarsour said in a statement late Tuesday night. “We must count every vote, and prepare for what’s coming. This is a crucial moment to defend democracy from fascism at home. We are committed to making sure every vote is counted, whether that means us hitting the streets, taking part in massive nonviolent civil disobedience, or showing up in Washington, D.C. ourselves.”
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Common Dreams | Radio Free (2020-11-04T05:36:32+00:00) “He Doesn't Decide… We the People Do”: With Millions of Votes Yet to Be Counted, Trump Denounced for False Claim of Victory. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2020/11/04/he-doesnt-decide-we-the-people-do-with-millions-of-votes-yet-to-be-counted-trump-denounced-for-false-claim-of-victory/
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