Trump goes caps lock crazy and claims Dems are "trying to STEAL the Election" as Twitter flags tweet
Aux Features election 2020
So, how was your election night?
Yes, it would have been nice for the Democrats to sweep Florida, North Carolina, and maybe even turn Texas blue. It would have been a resounding rebuke of the current administration—a cathartic reassurance that our country would not stand for another four years of Donald Trump. That didn’t happen. (At press time North Carolina was still within reach for Joe Biden, but hopes of ousting Lindsey Graham from the Senate were dashed fairly early on in the evening.) Still, Florida was never a must-win for the Biden campaign; they instead focused their efforts mainly on Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania—all states that may not have final results until Wednesday morning, or days later.
But Arizona is looking like it will flip, and Biden himself expressed surprise Tuesday night that he has a legitimate shot at taking Georgia once the absentee ballots are counted from the Atlanta area. On the other side of the race, the close nature of the vote in the Peach State is a point of concern for the Trump team. “12:38am text from Trump campaign staffer: “Momentum has clearly shifted to Biden… Georgia is….. oof.” Washington Post reporter Jaqueline Alemany tweeted Tuesday evening.
Though, predictably, Trump was publicly projecting dictatorial madness. “A big WIN!” he tweeted before following it up with an even more grandiose claim: “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!” That second tweet earned Trump his latest of many Twitter warning labels.
We’d link out to his tweet, but Twitter has actually blocked that function since they “try to prevent a Tweet like this that otherwise breaks the Twitter Rules from reaching more people.”
Trump’s latter point is certainly one that will be contested in the courts over the next few days, but most political pundits are urging patience and calmness until all votes have been counted—and that Biden’s path to 270 electoral votes is still a possibility “I am optimistic about this outcome,” Biden told supporters in a short speech just before 1 a.m. ET…. And so we breathe.
See you all this weekend, when we’ll hopefully have an actual answer.
119 Comments
It’s madness that this is as close as it is. I’m trying not to freak out. But seriously. It’s insanity that we keep going through this broken-ass process every four years without trying to fix the system in the interim.
I’m kinda freaking out. And the system is not going to change while the winners benefit from it.
I already freaked out and left the country.
Wow, to where?
Man you should have taken me with you lol
Where did you go? I’m currently researching Library Science graduate programs in Ottawa.
Have you come back since Biden won?
you’re talkign about changing the system to fit the outcome you want vs your “side” finding a way to win within the rules. It’s happened dozens of times before just do better next time.
I’m freaking out. And that previous sentencte was as close to sobriety as I am capable right now.What was my point again?
Its not looking good for Joe. CNN currently has him a good amount behind in Michigan, Wisconsin AND Pennsylvania, with over 60% votes in all three.He basically needs all three and Nevada/Georgia to get to 270.I’m beyond disgusted right now. This should not be this close, and now even if Biden manages to win a close election, we are now guaranteed months of vote challenges by Donald. Plus, no Senate majority.No matter how you look at it, this has been a disaster for the Dems. Trump couldn’t have screwed up any more in the past year, just last week his last attempt at setting up Joe backfired spectacularly, and not only is there no Blue Wave coming to take over the Senate, but based on those latest counts in those crucial states mentioned above, Trump is looking at a win.Just disgusting.
Nah (assuming NE-2 & AZ which have been called by most still hold) then if NV: any two out of three of WI/MI/PA (even the smaller two).
Else if GA: one of MI or Pa or WI+NV.
Regardless, it shouldn’t even be this close.I’ll take any victory I can, but it just shows the state of our country when people still turn out en masse to vote for this clown.
Pennsylvania isn’t going Biden, not looking good for the other 2 either.Fuck this.
Apparently those percentages are of in person, on the day voting, not of postal and absentee and supposedly they have been breaking Democratic in a big way in PA, MI, WI. Here’s hoping all of the above is true!(Maybe also in GA in a big enough way too, insanely enough but I’ll believe that when I see it.)Also, thanks to AZ and NE-2 of all places, if confirmed, the Democrats only need two of PA, MI, WI to win (just!).Either way, it’s going to be a squeaker!(Very unfortunately.)
Blame places like the AV club that kept pushing that Biden was the most electable.
I was one of them. But I don’t think anybody else on that Dem primary podium(s) would have fared any better. Trump is just apparently too popular.
Stop. Jfc you’re crap is all over this post.
Don’t you have a Trump rally to get ready for
The amount I’m not a Trump supporter. You on the other hand… Like angry stupid libertarian or something? Maybe just on the path there via Rogan fandom?
Notwithstanding that I’m commenting in this section, I come to the AV Club for the non-political content. I imagine most of do.
… All I have. Nothing. Left.
While this is a disaster, Trump is only looking at a win if he can pull off dozens of court victories in a row, which is still a lot harder than he thinks it is.
this is exactly how the system is supposed to work. it’s not broken the dems just lost the past two times.
Loot me something good tomorrow, Yanks!
Changing the current system would require amending the constitution, and since the current system favors Republicans (not that it always will), and 2/3rds of states don’t have majority-Democrat legislatures, not to mention it also had to go through the U.S, House & Senate, I’m not at all surprised nothing has been done in the last 4 years (or the last 20, when this happened in 2000).
Yeah all these last few weeks I kept hearing about record turn outs for early voting and absentee ballots and I thought “this is if, everyone is fed up and ready to kick his ass out”. Instead it’s neck and fucking neck. What am I missing with Trump that makes others actually want to vote for him?
What am I missing with Trump that makes others actually want to vote for him?It’s not what you’re missing, it’s what you have: a heart.
There are people out there who haven’t lost a job or had someone they care about get or die from Covid-19. Some of those people probably voted for Trump.
Yep. Literally, if this was just a popular vote, Trump would of been blown out and have virtually no shot to win (losing the popular by nearly 4 million votes). But because of the racist and broken Electoral College, he has a chance
Not surprised, but very dissappointed with the results in Miami-Dade which absolutely decided the election for Trump. My neighbor had 3 signs for each conservative candidate running this year on his yard making for a total of like 9 or 10 signs. He’s a mentally ill shut-in and apparently there are hundreds of thousands more scuzz where he came from.
When polls show that just 2% percent of the hispanic vote likes the term LatinX yet places like AVclub use LatinX to decribe the bad guys in a crappy movie like Peppermint maybe just maybe it has an effect. (not so much this specific review but more this viewpoint overall to the padanic police)
Are you drunk or something?
No, he’s ‘Winning’.
Jim is a trolly troll, and yes, he’s probably drunk.
to the padanic policeActually, that’s “pedantic”.
Maybe he meant Satanic
It’s “panda picnic”.
I always thought that term was stupid too. But that’s no excuse for falling for the spectre of socialism.
Why even respond in good faith to this idiot’s spam comments?
Deep down I feel I have more in common with this guy.
It’s all we had/have … Gratifying, huh?
Apparently Ché Guvera flags at BLM rallies scared Cuban-Americans into voting for Trump or something else I read on Twitter
Doesn’t help that people think anyone left of Mussolini is socialist I guess.
I doubt these morons even know who that is. They only know Chavez and Castro and know nothing of Europe.
Guess reading is hard for them
I sure hope that thing about Ohio deciding every election since 1944 besides Nixon v. Kennedy doesn’t apply this year for some random reason.Otherwise my yearlong cynicism was right.
Right now the country is in the hands of Michigan and Wisconsin.
the doughy, ashy hands
A literal repeat of 2016:Trump is winning this, and I really don’t know what to say to that. Just “fuck it”, I suppose. My state went blue, like expected, but eh, those rust and bible belt states will again decide this election.
“A literal repeat of 2016:”Except the part where both candidates improved their numbers, states were flipped for the first time in 30 years, and Biden wins.
Maybe it was not a great idea to tell possible supporters to go fuck off? Or maybe not call the second largest voting block a name only 2% like? Or to hire as outreach to this second larget group a person who said vote whoever in 2016 and whose father supported death squads against latino groups?
Well, guess I’ll just do it again: fuck off, bootlicker. How you could possibly fucking think DJT would help people of color is fucking beyond the pale. Fuck you and fuck off.
If only literally every single American didn’t read and form their political opinions from the A.V. Club, Biden would have won in a landslide.
Yep. Only response this stupid fuckshit deserves.
This is bullshit trolling.
There have been a lot of these troll accounts that have been ungreyed lately. I wonder why the AV Club is doing it.
It’s probably that this guy has two accounts: one normal and ungreyed and the other a burner account. That way he can say all the racist shit he wants on the burner and get it immediately ungreyed.
Do you have any evidence of that? That would be an interesting strategy to make moderators of this blog aware of…
Sorry to derail the thread, but speaking of getting out of the grays, how does one do that? I feel like I’ve earned the right, haha!
“possible supporters”
You know, no one actually cares if people say Latinx, right? It’s in fact very commonly used in Latin America these days. And you understand that Florida Cubans aren’t representative of anyone other than Florida Cubans, right? And that Spanish speakers aren’t some sort of monolithic bloc, right?
Go to sleep now Jim.
AV club is at fault for pushing Biden instead of an electable candidate.
Come on, man. Don’t fall into that category. It’s not the non-voters, or the people that voted for Kanye, or the people that abstained that got Trump elected, it’s the the literal 10s of millions of people that voted for Trump that got him into office.It is what it is and now, with no more rallies or talks about “winning”, we get to see Trump truly unleash and screw his base. It’s something I didn’t care to see, but was curious to see nonetheless.
…with no more rallies…Oh, he’ll still hold rallies. First a round of “victory” rallies then about one a month thereafter. He needs them to feed his fragile ego and demonize he perceived enemies. Of course, fewer rallies means more time for golf on the taxpayer dime.
Maybe. But he’s gotta do something.I suppose he can reiterate his moon base and mars mission nonsense. Or just go with old faithful and say, “ cut taxes, increase military budget, build wall, more border patrol, yadda yadda, I’ll pay for all this with magic.”His supporters don’t care. You’re gonna see a slew of em here in the greys in the next few weeks. None of em voted, but they’ll all say some “Trump won” nonsense inferring that he’s gonna make life grand for only people that voted for him.It’s weird, they act like under Trump that things have been glorious. Well, if it’s glorious then what are you bragging about? If Trump is so great and has made everything great, then shit is great for everyone, right?
Magic and cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Shh, don’t tell em that. It’s the democrats that “tax and spend.” Republicans can cut taxes and spend, and it’ll work, Trump told me so.
Nah. I bought that logic in 2016, because Hillary really did seem just that bad, and it was possible to pretend that people didn’t know what they were getting into with Trump.In 2020, after four years of Trump and almost a year of the goddamn plague, and with high voter turnout, I think it’s time to admit that half of the country is just actively down for what Trump is doing and a better Dem isn’t going to sway them away from Big Strong Daddy. They’re not supporting Trump in lieu of a better option, they’re just supporting Trump.It’s time to face that maybe, between Trump’s turnout and the increasing popularity of QAnon, large chunks of people are just dumb as shit.
Honestly, I don’t think that being “dumb as shit” is really a cause or an explanation.Evil plays a huge role. A lot of policies and beliefs are only defensible if you enjoy the legitimacy of harm. If it’s a motivation in itself. If you desire to be freed from the cumbersome weight and complexities of empathy and mutual responsibility. It’s really basic, but some political and social stances or interpretation of the world are less dumb (dumb can be benevolent and tolerant) than simply mean (dehumanization, cancellation of having to care, as its own reward).
Yeah, I mentally lump “evil” under “dumb as shit” but clarifying that, yes, a shitload of Americans are also just evil is an important admission.
on behalf of all the outsiders looking in, I’ll say, you are very very correct.
In
2020, after four years of Trump and almost a year of the goddamn plague,
and with high voter turnout, I think it’s time to admit that half of
the country is just actively down for what Trump is doing and a better
Dem isn’t going to sway them away from Big Strong Daddy. They’re not
supporting Trump in lieu of a better option, they’re just supporting Trump.It’s
time to face that maybe, between Trump’s turnout and the increasing
popularity of QAnon, large chunks of people are just dumb as shit.You are not wrong. (Also, large chunks of people are, if not dumb as shit, at least focused on priorities we don’t share to the exclusion of literally all else, including having a functioning, built-to-last federal government; or cynical enough to value their specific political goals over all else, i.e. the Mitch McConnell Move, which is kind of just the same thing again.) But be slightly reassured that Trump is at least headed toward another crushing loss in the popular vote. Probably bigger than 2016, once all votes are counted. While these idiots and shitheels are a massive and dispiriting problem, the electoral college is just as much to blame if he wins (and already to blame for this being a close contest that will take days to resolve).I wish this election had been a full-throated rebuke of Trump. That it’s not has made me lose what little faith in the American electorate I had left. But at this point all I really care about is that Biden somehow pulls it out, the Dems win a majority or tie up the Senate, and we start reforming the larger systemic problem that allowed this jackass to be in power in the first place. If the EC was disposed of or at least adjusted proportionally, the GOP would stop sending nominees like Trump, having clear evidence that he only commands a minority of voters.
bernie bros are still a thing? huh
That’s a weird way to spell “white racist Americans”
Your entire commentary is just shitting on things with an agenda. Why?
Nah, roughly half of Americans are at fault for being absolute dogshit.
Who in the Dem primary field would have done better?
Yeah, at the end of the day, Trump is going to have received this year the 2nd or 3rd largest vote total in American history. He got his vote out in numbers much higher than predicted.
Biden got a good chunk more out, easily the record highest vote total, his problem wasn’t really “will voters show up to vote for him” it was a weird distribution that left the EC close.
And please tell us, who was the electable candidate?
Man, what kind of readership do you think AV Club has? I mean, I doubt that even 1% if the voting population of the US reads this site.
Im so drunk I don’t know up from down. Oh gooooooooood this year.
I’m also very drunk.
I’m as think as you drunk I am.Furthermore, pobody’s nerfect.
He’s basically up and said that votes from the military shouldn’t count. Ladies and gentlemen, your Commander In Chief.
Anyone know where I can buy a corkscrew big enough for the top of my fucking head?
Come on, Seppoes. Don’t fuck it up for the rest of us.
Things are bad enough, but then you go and make me read Australian slang?
I prefer Septics.
As a South Carolinian, I knew the state would go red, there wasn’t a chance in hell otherwise, but I really thought we had a shot at ousting Lindsey and frankly that’s the biggest bummer of the election for me. Like no lie, even if Trump wins, I’ll still be more mad about Graham.
Did you see his victory speech? That little sniveling, spineless weasel. Saying that donating to Jaime Harrison was the “worst return on investment” ever. I think he had a comment about California, too.
Uh, Lindsey, you were on Fox News two weeks ago, begging for money. But then again, you have no shame, so all’s fair in love and war or something!
I only caught the tail end of it but his eyes looked like he’d just put in eyedrops and
I’m not sure if he was trying to fake tears or if he was actually
tearing up because he was afraid he’d lose. Regardless, I’m glad I
didn’t see it because I could go my whole life without listening to that
shit talk one more time and die a happy man. Because say what you will
about Trump, god knows I will/have, but I genuinely dislike Lindsey more. He gives off a different scumbag
energy than Trump does. Like, if I had to describe it, I feel like Trump really believes his own bullshit and thinks he’s untouchable, but Lindsey knows he’s a lying shit but doesn’t care because as long as he goes right back to kissing Trump’s ass, he’ll stay in power.
Oh, I’m right there with you. Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell far outweigh my hatred of Trump.
They actually know how to play the game, and they’re good at it, and it’s fucking scary. And yeah, Lindsey just has that extra bit of vomit on top of the diarrhea sundae that is the GOP.
Right. For those of you who are emigrating in disgust, I have a deal :Move to Switzerland, of all places, and I buy you a drink here.
Honestly, if I’m the head of a foreign conglomerate, I’m stepping up U.S. recruitment efforts and poaching talent. We deserve to be bled dry.
Good point. I take it back.For those of you who are emigrating in disgust, I have a deal : Move to Greece, of all places, and I buy you a drink there.(Yes, the current Greek government is pretty trumpian, but still, the country could do with some some brains after the economic crisis chased all of them away.)
I can guarantee you that Canada will be ramping up its efforts to recruit talent from the US should Trump win. There was a massive brain drain after his first win, and it’ll be even worse this time.
Saw an article the other day that stated as much—Canada is also extending citizenship to more foreigners in an effort to get them to stay.O, Canada! Here I come!
I think the math is pretty simple: Obama (and by proxy the Libs) won two elections, so it was imperative that Trump win twice, thus sticking it to the Libs.That’s all this has ever been, really. Mitigating their fear of a changing nation and handing them back the keys to the car. They know, deep down…coal ain’t coming back. Their towns ain’t coming back, their kids ain’t coming back, the Oxy ain’t going away. What they CAN do is wake up each morning in their shitty crumbling house, look out the window, and at least smile contentedly knowing that out there on the coasts, a lotta pundits and pink-haired Twitter people are very angry and sad.I would like to say that I was lucky and left America years ago, but really I left it for London – where Labour seems determined to lose every election for the next 1,000 years. If you thought the Democrats were bad…
I live in Australia, where Labor also seems to be the party determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory despite the right wing candidate being an unstable idiot. So I can feel some of your pain.
I live in Australia. We won’t get to choose. Trump’ll feed everyone pain. Except the Russians. They get ventilators …
It’s scary how many Septics from both all over the spectrum still don’t understand that the US doesn’t somehow magically operate in a vacuum that doesn’t affect anywhere else on the planet. GFC, anyone?
I sincerely blame the Greens for that horseshit. They don’t want to rule, they don’t want to take responsibility, they just like playing kingmaker.The Adani Grand Sneer didn’t help, either.And I agree with them on the vast majority of their policies, but until they get serious, and stop fucking about with being a Senate party, they need to get the fuck out of the way. Hell, Scomo wasn’t even meant to win the last election. The Libs didn’t want him to win – that’s why they put him up as the candidate.No one predicted him winning. Not even the TAB, the most accurate poll of all.
I worked the polls yesterday in Indiana, and I can attest that this is true. White people came out of the woodwork to vote for Trump. Many – MANY – actually said as they went into the booth that the only reason they came and the only box they were going to check was for Donald Trump.
Well, of course they’ll do that for their lord and savior.This exact same thing happened four years ago, and apparently no one to the left of Newt Gingrich learned anything from it.People will come out to vote for someone they worship.
Remember, in an democracy with an actual popular vote election and not a racist, outdated and broken Electoral College, there would of only been one Republican in the last 8 elections to win the Presidency. Think how broken your system is when the Democrats won the popular vote 7 of the last 8 elections, and lost multiple of those, and have only put 3 of the current 9 justices on the Supreme Court. Or how there are 4 more Republican Senators in the Senate currently that represent nearly 15 million people less than their Democratic counterparts. Thats minority rule, which should never exist in a democracy
never underestimate the power of fear, narrow mindedness and bigotry. i am far from surprised which helps blunt disappointment. just be prepared for the onslaught that insures this outcome next election cycle as well.
Come on, folks. You all saw how 2020 was trending. Why would you expect anything different?
Because, like every election everywhere, we’re cursed with optimism that maybe the awful candidate will lose, because they’re awful, and we hold out hope that the awful evil idiot people won’t be smart and organized enough to vote for the awful candidate. But we live in hope, because without the hope we’d probably just end it all.
I spent the day intentionally avoiding any news coverage and, in the evening, started re-binge watching the UK series The Fall. I’ve still got the back half of the The Fall to finish tonight, so I can watch that depressing, infuriating (but excellent) series instead of the disturbing, infuriating show that will be on display on network and cable news channels.
If you had any shred of hope left in the American people, this experience should have put that to bed. This is who we are. Trump country.
i remember when the tea party was a thing, and i went to their boston rally (yes, liberal boston) to see what the fuss was about. even way back then, i could kinda see where things were going, post-obama.
i also had to endure an extremely screechy performance by victoria jackson. that was also terrifying, but mostly to my ears.
Really, really wanted to believe that there weren’t quite so many utter dogshit people in this country.We will break our own legs before we ever allow ourselves to substantially move forward.
oof
Fun fact: A big part of the reason Trump won (and will again) is that media outlets (including the AV Club!) realized that simply including the word “Trump” in any headline or article gets more clicks. Of course, I have no doubt the writers think they’re doing the Lord’s work by speaking out against the Evil Orange Man. But the people who sign their checks know what’s up, and couldn’t care less who’s the President as long as people stay glued to their laptops.
Ah, also : Apparently, Joe Biden will win the elections.So, maybe, dunno. Just thought it could be worth mentioning at some point, in the conversation. In case anyone is interested. By that.
Because:1. Its not exactly a sure and confirmed thing yet. Don’t wanna jinx it.
2. We still lost the Senate and McConnell is still there. Gonna be a whole lot of nothing going on with a Biden Presidency until the midterms.
FUCKTRUMPFUCKTRUMPTUCKFRUMPFRUMPTUCKFUMPTRUCKnah.FUCK TRUMP.