Daily US Times: Donald Trump has confirmed the worst fears of his opponents and other experts by making a false victory declaration in the US presidential election on Wednesday morning and threatening to plunge the nation into a constitutional crisis.His opponents has condemned his for doing so.
Results so far show his opponent Joe Biden, with an edge in the race to 270 electoral college votes after flipping the Arizona state, but it could be days before the outcome is known.
In a statement, Biden campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said: “The president’s statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.”
That the Republican president had been widely predicted to make a baseless assertion of victory and resort to the courts to stop votes being counted did not make his speech at the White House any less shocking. Some likened the move, unprecedented in the history of America, to a presidential coup.
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, condemned the president, tweeting: “Once again, the president is lying to the American people and acting like a would-be despot,” adding that “We will count every vote. And ignore the noise.”
President Trump spoke in the east room with numerous US flags behind him and flanked by two TV screens, which had been showing his favourite channel Fox News. Around 150 guests were standing little physical distancing and with few face masks. Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr and other family members sat in the front row.
Amid the whoops and cheers, Trump said: “Millions and millions of people voted for us tonight, and a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people and we won’t stand for it.”
There is no evidence for Trump’s allegation of disenfranchisement.