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PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD Trump has claimed that “millions” voted illegally in the national election.
He also scoffed at Hillary Clinton’s nearly 2 million edge in the popular vote and returned to his campaign mantra of a rigged race even as he prepares to enter the White House in less than two months.
Trump and his lieutenants assailed an effort — now joined by Clinton — to recount votes in up to three battleground states, calling the push fraudulent, the work of “crybabies” and, in Trump’s estimation, “sad.”
The president-elect himself launched a Twitter offensive that spanned more than 12 hours yesterday, casting a shadow over the legitimacy of an election that he actually won.
“I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he tweeted in the afternoon before alleging in an evening tweet “serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California.” Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions seeking evidence of the unfounded claims.
There’s been no indication of widespread vote manipulation, illegal voting or hacking that materially affected the outcome one way or the other. It’s that very lack of evidence that suggests Trump is likely to prevail in recounts.
Yesterday, Trump tweeted part of Clinton’s concession speech, when she told supporters they must accept that “Donald Trump is going to be our president,” and snippets from her debate remarks, when she denounced the Republican nominee for refusing to say in advance that he would accept the Election Day verdict.
This came on top of his saying it was a “scam” that Green Party nominee Jill Stein was revisiting the vote count in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and as of Wednesday, held a lead of almost 11,000 votes in Michigan, with the results awaiting state certification on Monday. His Michigan margin was a hair’s breadth 0.22 percent of the state’s votes.
Clinton leads the national popular vote by close to 2 million votes, but Trump won 290 electoral votes to Clinton’s 232, not counting Michigan. She could conceivably tip the electoral balance in the remote event that all flipped to her in recounts.
Trump was mostly silent on the brewing recount effort until it became known that Clinton would join it, at least in Wisconsin. On Saturday, a day after Wisconsin officials said they would conduct the first presidential recount in the state’s history, Clinton campaign attorney Marc Elias said: “We intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides.”
Elias said Clinton would take the same approach in Pennsylvania and Michigan if Stein were to follow through with recount requests in those states.
That loosened Trump’s tongue.
“Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in,” Trump tweeted yesterday. “Nothing will change.”
He quoted from her concession speech — “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead” — and he concluded: “So much time and money will be spent – same result! Sad.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway said Stein, “the Hillary people” and others supporting recounts have to decide whether they are going to back a peaceful transition “or if they’re going to be a bunch of crybabies and sore losers about an election that they can’t turn around.”
Priebus, on “Fox News Sunday,” called the effort a “total and complete distraction and a fraud and something that they should drop.”
Clinton’s lawyer said her team has been combing through the results since the election in search of anomalies that would suggest hacking by Russians or others and found “no actionable evidence” of an altered outcome. Moreover, Elias said, Trump has a vote lead even in the closest states that well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount.
But “we feel it is important, on principle, to ensure our campaign is legally represented in any court proceedings and represented on the ground in order to monitor the recount process itself,” he said.
Trump beat Clinton in Wisconsin by fewer than 22,200 votes, less than 1 percent of votes cast. He won Pennsylvania by some 70,600 votes, just more than 1 percentage point over Clinton.
Might as well just criminalise depression while you’re at it too.
@Jamie McCormack: You don’t think talking depressed people into committing suicide is wrong?
@Boutros Boutros-Ghali: Of course it is, I hadn’t made that connection though. Fair point.
@Jamie McCormack: You should try thinking, it’s great.
@Boutros Boutros-Ghali: easy to do when your not suffering from depression!
@Ashling Visser Bishop: All the more reason to criminalise those who would try to talk depressed people into committing suicide.
@Jamie McCormack: There’s quite big difference between tragically succumbing to your own depression, and taking somebody else, somebosy who is likely also very vulnerable, with yoym
How on earth is making a suicide pact a criminal offence going to help stop people from doing it?? If they genuinely want to prevent people from committing suicide then they need to understand what’s driving people to it in the first place and then provide support. FFS what they gonna do follow you to the other side with a court summons?!
@Alison O’Connor: I agree, it’s a stupid approach. What is life without quality of life? Maybe they have terrible palliative care or something? Loneliness if a wife or husband dies, maybe? Or it might be poverty that drives some to it? Yes, I’m certain they could do more for their citizens if they listened to them. But who the heck is going to confide in their nurses if they’re considering what’s been turned into a criminal act?
@Alison O’Connor: it’s cheaper than investing in mental health. Korea is an even lore neo liberal kip than Ireland is and culturaly they tend not to care about anyone not “economically viable”.
S Korean society is basically based on slave labour. There is so much pressure on young men in particular to study and become a “salary man”. They only have one day off a week and during the week it is from 6am to often 9pm. At the same time pretty young women are worshiped and envied by both men and women, at the same time women do not have military conscription. Not so pretty women take out loans for plastic surgery and then wait for a rich man to marry them. It is a pretty messed up place.
You seem to have everything understood about Korea ? Koreans have 2 days off…The pressure it high to study though, that’s clear, but they work from 9am to 6, sometimes later
@Séamus McCallion: ‘A pretty messed up place’ is a sweeping generalisation for a country of over 50 million. Korean society has its problems like most developed countries, a high suicide rate the one that grabs all the headlines, but it’s a wonderful country of wonderful hospital people. I lived there, and with Koreans, for almost a decade and know what I’m talking about. You clearly do not, however.
@davidMbyrne.com: ‘hospitable people’ even!
@Séamus McCallion: North korea is a lot better dispite all the media attacks.
He’s typing this from his mommy’s spare room. I live in Busan, I’m curious where he gets his made up thoughts on Korean society from. Maybe he was left broken hearted by a pretty Korean girl ?
Made up thoughts? No. I am friends with a Korean couple who tell it as it is.
@Stephen Kennedy: The west through the eyes of north korea. Youtube.
You should take a trip out of Ireland sometime to open your mind for yourself. It seems you don’t actually know anything about Korea.
A Korean couple who left Korea and are in Ireland, talking negative about the place :o Sounds like me talking about Ireland after a few pints
@davidMbyrne.com: good man Dave but left you forget everyone here knows everything better and our society is always correct
@davidMbyrne.com: your experience of a section korean life doesn’t make u an expert..a little knowledge and all that.
@Stephen Kennedy: Actually they live in Seoul right now. I agree there are many great things about Korea but for the average person life is very tough with no safety net whatsoever.
Sure it’s been an offense, here (actually wonder if it still is) that’s why we say such & such “committed” suicide, because was (or is) a offense.
@Censorship is modern day book burning:
So you would say John/Mary “committed” suicide instead of “is” (or “are”) suicide?
Is English your first language??
@Joe Phillips: Is it yours?
@Boutros Boutros-Ghali: evidently not
I’m living in Seoul at the moment. Suicide is a big problem as they don’t support those who suffer with depression! There are no / very few groups or charities that help with depression or suicide. Also, they have little to no support for the elderly – hence the high rate in that age group. Ireland is so far ahead in their acceptance of the illness and in trying to help those in need.
Suicide pacts are evil things and this may help the rate to fall but they really need to focus on the causes!!!!!
Correct, but in Korea you can be operated on within the first visit of GP, in Ireland you wait 4 years. Old age is a big problem here tho..I do agree
@Stephen Kennedy: Some aspects of life in South Korea are very good – I agree ! but it is such a superficial society! anything that may be seen as a weakness is bad! so sad
Night out in Itaewon sorts that out
@Stephen Kennedy: hahhah – that’s where I live :)
I’m dying to see how that’ll work out.
So why a picture of a shopping street in Seoul. You wouldn’t head an article on irish suicide with a tourist shot of Grafton Street…
Punishable by death…..
I had heard that South Korea’s setting out to boost their life expectancy rates to better than North America’s. Well, there goes South Park!
@Fiona Fitzgerald: all they have to do is wait. Longevity is in decline in the USA. 78 at the moment and dropping
Anyone caught organizing these will get the death penalty
punishment will be the death penalty
Theres a reason we work 9-5 because because 9-6 might kill a niga .
Dave chappelle
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