President falsely declares victory

Donald+Trump+speaking+with+supporters+at+a+campaign+rally+at+the+Prescott+Valley+Event+Center+in+Prescott+Valley%2C+Arizona+on+Oct.+4%2C+2016.

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona on Oct. 4, 2016.

President Donald Trump has declared election day victory, even though there are upwards of 5 million votes yet to be counted in key battleground swing states.

Things were looking up for the president early as he pulled out victories in every state he won in 2016, with an exception in Arizona. Four key states– Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia– are leaning in favor of the president.

Yet with nearly 5 million votes still to be counted in these states, Trump made a statement at the White House where he declared election night victory.

In the statement, Trump said that voting should continue in Arizona, a state where he’s losing, but should stop in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia, states where he’s up in narrow margins. Before this, the president tweeted saying, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the election. We will never let them do it! Votes cannot be cast after the Poles closed!” There has been no evidence that whatever “they” he was referring to was attempting to “steal” the election. And it should be noted in the tweet he misspelled “poll.”

This is turning out to be one of the closest elections of our time, so it is crucial that every single vote is counted. If a  tie in the Electoral College, which is unlikely but possible, were to occur, the House of Representatives would decide who the president would be.

But just to clarify, Donald Trump has not won the presidential election.