Trump and Biden React to the Electoral College’s Decision
Even though President Trump has so far unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the election, he continues to allege voter fraud and refuses to concede, despite yesterday’s decision.
Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2020
Notably, electors awarded 306 votes to Biden and 232 to Trump, which were the exact same numbers that gave Trump the victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. At the time, Trump called this 74-vote margin a “landslide.” CBS News has noted that the final electoral vote count of 2016 was 304 to 227 “when two ‘faithless electors’ didn’t vote for Mr. Trump and five defected from Clinton.” Nevertheless, 306 and 232 were the numbers Trump was referring to when he claimed a “landslide” victory since the Electoral College had not yet voted when he posted the following tweet:
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
Despite losing by this exact same margin, the president still claimed a landslide victory this election cycle in a tweet posted today.
Tremendous problems being found with voting machines. They are so far off it is ridiculous. Able to take a landslide victory and reduce it to a tight loss. This is not what the USA is all about. Law enforcement shielding machines. DO NOT TAMPER, a crime. Much more to come!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2020
Now that the votes have been cast, the Electoral College will send them to Congress, and members of Congress will officially count them on Jan. 6, 2021. Vice President Mike Pence will announce the results. You can learn more about the Electoral College process here.
In a statement he made in response to the Electoral College’s decision, president-elect Joe Biden noted the parallel between the electoral votes from this year and those from 2016. “At that time, President Trump called his Electoral College tally a landslide,” he said. “By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then. And I respectfully suggest they do so now.”
