Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

CNN Fact-Checker Compiles All the Times Trump Bragged About His 2016 Margin Now That Biden Might Match It

CNN Fact-Checker Compiles All the Times Trump Bragged About His 2016 Margin Now That Biden Might Match It
Win McNamee/Getty Images // Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images


Since his upset victory in 2016, President Donald Trump has frequently bragged about the electoral margin by which he beat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.


Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million votes, but narrowly lost crucial swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, leaving the projected electoral college at 306 \votes to Trump and 232 to Clinton (two electors didn't cast votes for Trump despite their state's vote, while five did the same for Clinton, leaving the final certification total at 304-227).

For years, Trump would claim that he won the electoral college by the "biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan." Like 20+ thousand of the President's other statements since inauguration, this was false. Only four years before, former President Barack Obama won the electoral college with 332 votes. In reality, Trump's electoral victory was by the 46th largest margin of 58 elections.

Flash forward to 2020.

Votes continue to be counted in four states, the most crucial of which is Pennsylvania, which Trump can't lose and in which Democratic nominee Joe Biden's lead is growing.

In fact, Biden is leading in all four of the outstanding swing states: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

If these leads hold, which many are expected to, the initial electoral tally will be:

306 for Biden, 232 for Trump.

In other words, Biden is currently on track to win against Trump with the same number of electoral votes that Trump won in 2016.

CNN Fact Checker Daniel Dale noted this and reminded people how frequently Trump sensationalized his 2016 victory margin.


The rundown included Trump gems like:

"And then it got bigger and bigger and wilder and wilder, and then we won by a lot. Don't forget it was 306 to 223. That's a lot. Remember?"

And his claims of a "massive landslide victory":

"We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College."

One that "the people haven't seen in a long time."

"We had a tremendous landslide, Electoral College victory the people haven't seen in a long time."

People were excited to see the karmic potential margin.





Except, unlike in 2016, the 2020 likely electoral winner will have won the popular vote.




Votes across the nation continue to be counted.

More from People/donald-trump

Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Ethan Hawke Shares Important Lesson He Learned From Robin Williams On Set Of 'Dead Poets Society'

Actor Ethan Hawke has become a Hollywood legend in his own right, but his career started with being a child actor learning from the greats, like Robin Williams.

The two co-starred in Dead Poets Society, one of the greatest films of the 1980s. It was a breakout role for Hawke and one that solidified Williams as a dramatic actor after a career mostly focused on comedy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Screenshot of California's statement
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; cdss.ca.gov

Blue States Are Taking A Page Out Of Trump's Playbook With Alerts About SNAP Benefits

President Donald Trump and his administration are facing criticism as blue states post alerts about the loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as a result of the Trump administration's failure to spend contingency funds to feed people on the program, a decision that is resulting in a nationwide hunger crisis impacting millions of families.

State officials have announced plans to inform visitors that if they’re alarmed by the pause in SNAP benefits beginning November 1 due to the shutdown, they should direct their frustration at the Republican Party.

Keep ReadingShow less
Photo of a female hand holding up a pink paper heart that is on fire.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Signs A Relationship Is Over Even If The Couple Hasn't Broken Up Yet

Love is a many-splendored thing... until it's not.

Not all love stories have a happy ending.

Keep ReadingShow less
Morgan Freeman; Diane Keaton
Arnold Jerocki/WireImage/Getty Images; Pierre Suu/Getty Images

Morgan Freeman Reacts To Learning Diane Keaton Said He Was Her All-Time Favorite On-Screen Kiss

On Thursday, veteran actor Morgan Freeman was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the host had news to share with the Oscar winner.

The late actress Diane Keaton named Freeman as her favorite on-screen kiss. The pair starred as a long-married couple in the 2014 film 5 Flights Up.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz; Marjorie Taylor Greene
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Ted Cruz Slams Marjorie Taylor Greene For Becoming 'Very Liberal'—And People Can Not

Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz criticized his GOP colleague, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, for being "too liberal" after she criticized their fellow Republicans over wages and healthcare amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Cruz specifically cited Greene’s criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and noted that, back in July, she became the first Republican in Congress to describe the crisis in Gaza as a “genocide.”

Keep ReadingShow less