Without putting forth any evidence, the president-elect says he actually won the popular vote.
Donald Trump tweeted without evidence on Sunday that millions of people voted illegally in November’s presidential election.
“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
There is no evidence to support Trump’s claim, which marks an unprecedented rebuke of the U.S. voting system for a president-elect.
Hillary Clinton is now ahead in the popular vote by more about 2.2 million votes, though Trump won the election by beating Clinton in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin.
Trump said on Twitter that he could have won the popular vote too.
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Trump’s critics have argued that Clinton’s popular vote victory raises questions about whether Trump has a solid mandate to govern.
Trump took to Twitter earlier Sunday to bash the Clinton campaign’s decision to participate in Green Party nominee Jill Stein’s call for a recount in Wisconsin. While there is no direct evidence of widespread voter fraud, Clinton’s campaign agreed to participate “in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides.”
The Obama administration has taken pains not to undercut trust in the electoral system, with a senior administration official saying recently that the election results “accurately reflect the will of the American people.”
Stories about 3 million illegal votes in the 2016 general election have been popular in some right-wing circles, popularized by Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and others.
The stories seem to have originated Nov. 13 with someone named Gregg Phillips, who claims to be the founder of a voting app named VoteStand and who was previously associated with Newt Gingrich’s Winning Our Future super PAC. No evidence exists that those stories are correct, and Phillips has declined to provide any evidence to reporters or PolitiFact (which ruled the theory false) to support his claims.
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In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Trump's pr strategy has never been to downplay bad press, it's been to bury it under something that will earn more clicks so people forget. https://t.co/BOuHCeLaov
— Peter Hasson (@peterjhasson) November 27, 2016
Two reactions to Trump's "I won the pop vote" tweet
1. omg
2. What bad thing is about to happen that he's trying to distract us from
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 27, 2016
Trump's likely trying to get in front of bad news by tweeting about the popular vote – but doesn't make it less of an attack on our system.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 27, 2016
You know it’s bad when only Obama is saying the right thing:(
BREAKING: #DonaldTrump alleges 'serious voter fraud' in Virginia, New Hampshire, California: https://t.co/VDPepsnD8R
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) November 28, 2016
I think Donald has decided that he really doesn’t want the job and is giving Hillary a reason to push for recounts. He’s given her the voter fraud ammo. “Well, we want to make sure this election was fair for everyone. And even Donald has said there was voter fraud. We need to recount every single vote!”.
It’s either that or he really is the most stupid man ever to be elected POTUS.
“Hillary, take this job! PLEASE!” Donald Trump, November 2016
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