Donald Trump Mocked For Praising Republicans Who Blocked Certification, Not Realizing It Was Already Reversed
Donald Trump was apparently not fully up-to-speed regarding Tuesday’s major election story.
The president was mocked after he took to Twitter to praise the decision of a pair of Michigan Republican leaders to block the certification of results in populous Wayne County. As it seemed, he didn’t realize that the two had already reversed course and certified them. Joe Biden won there by a nearly 40-point margin, netting hundreds of thousands of votes that helped him win the state.
As the Detroit Free Press reported, the two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers initially refused to certify their final tally, sparking national controversy. But the two quickly relented, joining the two Democratic members of the board in certifying them a few hours later on Tuesday night.
Trump did not seem to receive the update. The president took to Twitter close to 30 minutes after the 9 p.m. re-vote that reversed the initial decision, praising the now-overturned move and repeating claims that there was widespread fraud benefitting his opponent.
Well, it’s really quite simple. You just can’t have more votes than people! https://t.co/kVtop3WsLp
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2020
As Politico reporter Kyle Cheney noted, Trump and his top allies had been heralding the move as an apparent victory in their mostly losing battle to challenge the outcome of the race.
“For 2.5 hours, Trump allies trumpeted what they thought was a major procedural win: Michigan’s largest county had refused to certify election results. Shortly after 9pm, county election officials reversed and unanimously approved the results,” he tweeted.
After the initial move was blasted by critics as an attempt to overturn the outcome — reportedly disenfranchising voters in the largely Black area of the state — many poked fun at the president’s celebration of the outdated news.
Who wants to tell him they already reversed their decision and have voted to certify the results? https://t.co/2aaVftPR6o
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) November 18, 2020
LOLOLOLOLOL this is going to age badly. pic.twitter.com/O9sgpAQdTs
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) November 18, 2020
“It aged badly, very fast,” one person tweeted in regard to Trump’s ill-timed praise. “Even avocados take longer…”
Trump has come under fire for pushing unfounded claims of massive fraud. He has refused to concede the race to Biden, instead insisting that he would win once all “illegal” votes are thrown out. But his campaign has been dealt a series of court losses as they attempt to challenge vote counts and make claims that Republican poll watchers were prevented from overseeing the counting.
The Michigan controversy came amid allegations that some top Republicans have been meddling in state-level vote counting. That included South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who came under fire for allegations that he pressed Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find a way to throw out legally cast ballots. Biden won narrowly in Georgia, which has since gone to a full hand recount of the vote before certifying the race.
