President Donald Trump is continuing a days-long Twitter tirade to sow mistrust in the ongoing processing of ballots in the 2020 election between him and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
As expected, in-person election day votes favored Trump in a number of states after the Trump campaign spent months disavowing the 100+ year old institution of voting by mail,\ in preparation for an unprecedented amount of pandemic-induced mail ballots.
Mail ballots, also as expected, are leaning toward Biden, which is why Trump and his allies are urging officials to stop counting ballots in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, where Trump's lead over Biden narrowed to 200 thousand votes with over 500 thousand left to count.
Trump cannot win the election if he loses Pennsylvania.
Trump frantically tweeted in all-caps to "STOP THE COUNT!"
STOP THE COUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2020
But while Trump is still scrambling to win Pennsylvania to have even a chance for a second term, the presidential election is a nationwide vote—and Biden is currently leading in a number of states.
If the count were stopped now, Biden would win Nevada and Arizona, giving him 17 additional electoral votes to the 253 he's already won.
That brings Biden to the magic number of 270 electoral votes: the sum needed to win the White House.
People reminded Trump of this.
If you stop the count, right now, Biden wins with 270 electoral votes--with leads in AZ/NV, plus the states where he's already the projected winner.https://t.co/o3V53MqBsb
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 5, 2020
Bold move when you are losing https://t.co/sBT4z6l91r
— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) November 5, 2020
IF WE STOPPED COUNTING RIGHT NOW, YOU WOULD STILL LOSE YOU ILLITERATE CLOD. https://t.co/jKtEy8EL8y
— Brittany Curran ❤️🇺🇸❤️ (@BrittanyCurran) November 5, 2020
It's very strange to see a candidate for office seek to stop the count of valid ballots, in general, but especially when he is behind. If the count were (improperly) stopped today, we would have a new president on Jan. 20, 2021.
— David Becker (@beckerdavidj) November 5, 2020
Trump's critics soon made a mockery of the bizarre tweet.
the people of Transylvania in the 1400s https://t.co/aDnHxTAJC2
— ⋆⋅ Toast ⋅⋆ ☭ (@Cinnam0nT0astle) November 5, 2020
me when my mom starts counting the amount of missing assignments i have https://t.co/p5A0ZNGpJT
— editor toby (@TUBB0INN1T) November 5, 2020
We've stopped him, Sir! https://t.co/ElUHng06A5 pic.twitter.com/x9B5hkVzd8
— Josh Potter (@J_Potter) November 5, 2020
when u were winning in mario party but then they start counting the bonus stars https://t.co/4qBhbLohvi
— cool zelda fan (@coolzeldafan) November 5, 2020
Me stepping on the scale: https://t.co/nSPaJrVee7
— Larri🤪 (@larrian23) November 5, 2020
Votes across the nation continue to be counted.