US President Donald Trump has escalated the baseless claim his opponents are trying to subvert the 2020 US Presidential Election, straight-up accusing a nebulous “them” of trying to “steal” the vote.
Taking to Twitter this afternoon, Trump claimed somebody – presumably Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden and his party – of trying to swipe the insanely tense election.
“I will be making a statement tonight,” Trump tweeted, adding it was “A big WIN!”. He followed up with the wild accusation that “they are trying to STEAL” the election.
“We will never let them do it,” Trump said. “Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
The tweet appears to be reference to mail-in ballots, a form of voting many analysts believe was favoured by Biden supporters this time around.
While the polls are now officially closed, the counting of postal votes after the fact is extremely legal.
States have varying rules on the process, but the count is expected to carry on in some key states well into the evening.
There’s no evidence votes have been cast or sent after the polls closed.
Regardless, Trump has long spouted the evidence-free claim that mail-in voting is subject to bulk voter fraud.
Notably, Twitter itself called out the dodginess of his claim. The tweet is now censored, with Twitter claiming the message may contain “misleading” info.
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
Stunningly, Facebook has also slapped its own label on Trump’s post.
“Final results may be different from initial vote counts, as ballot counting may continue for days or weeks,” the Facebook warning says.
At around the same time, Biden issued a considerably more normal address to supporters.
Appearing before a bunch of parked cars in Delaware, Biden said he still believes there’s a chance for a juicy Democrat win.
“We knew this was going to be long,” Biden said, referring to today’s gruelling slog. “But look: we feel good about where we are. We really do.”
Biden: ‘Your patience is commendable … We feel good about where we are. I’m here to tell you tonight we believe that we’re on track to win this election … It ain’t over ’til every vote is counted’ pic.twitter.com/FGj7wQqOJq
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 4, 2020
At time of writing, Biden holds 224 electoral college votes, while Trump has 213 in his grasp. The first candidate to 270 wins. But, as you may have guessed by now, it may be a while until we figure out exactly how this shakes out.
