Donald Trump says 'it's statistically impossible that I lost' in bizarre 46-minute speech from White House
President Donald Trump, who is tirelessly trying to turn around the results of the November 3 presidential election but with little success, appeared in a video on Facebook seeking the poll outcomes to be “overturned” and conceded that his remarks would be “disparaged”. He even said that it is “statistically impossible” that he didn’t win.
The Republican leader, who has refused to acknowledge that he has been defeated in the election by Democratic party contender Joe Biden, launched a bizarre tirade in the 46-minute video. He spoke before the cameras from the White House and the video showed repeated editorial cuts that were awkward.
“Even what I’m saying now will be demeaned and disparaged,” he said while making claim after claim about 'voter fraud' many of which have already been debunked. He said it “may be the most important speech” he has ever made and then tried once again to show that the election was fraudulent and urged the Supreme Court to intervene.
'I don't mind if I lose an election'
“This election was rigged. Everyone knows it. I don't mind if I lose an election, but I want to lose an election fair and square. What I don’t want to do is have it stolen from the American people,” the 74-year-old said.
The video saw as many as five edits in the first three minutes. Trump even displayed a chart during his speech to show how the election was ‘stolen’ but a rise in votes he pointed to was identified as Milwaukee County (Wisconsin) votes being counted once they started coming in. Biden, the President-elect, performed well there, keeping up with the tradition of other Democratic candidates before him.
The incumbent sued officials in Washington on Tuesday, December 1, in a last-ditch effort to reclaim the key state that he lost this year. He sued the state’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers and election officials a day after Evers and the head of Wisconsin’s Elections Commission certified Biden’s win. Trump and his legal team have failed to get any legal remedies despite trying hard to prove that the 2020 election was compromised.
On Wednesday, December 2, Biden’s vote approached 81 million, taking his lead over Trump to more than six million. His lead in the electoral college was shaping up to be 74 (306 against 232).
Citing the “unexpected success all over the country” and also “in Washington”, Trump said: “It is statistically impossible that the person - me - that led the charge lost. The greatest pollsters, the real pollsters - not the ones that had us down 17 points in Wisconsin when we actually won, while the ones that had us down four or five points in Florida and we won by many points or had us even down in Texas, and we won by a lot - not those pollsters but real pollsters that are fair and honest.” He added: “We can’t understand a thing like this: it's never happened before you led the country to victory and you were the only one that was lost. It's not possible.”
Trump lost the election even though the Republicans maintained a narrow lead in the Senate and flipped a number of seats in the House. But according to the president, the election was a “total catastrophe” and the results could not be trusted.
During his speech, the president also seemed to link his efforts to overturn the results to his own legal situation. "Now, I hear that these same people that failed to get me in Washington have sent every piece of information to New York so that they can try to get me there," he said, referring to prosecutors who have been probing his firm over possible allegations of insurance or tax fraud.
Trump's words came a day after Attorney General Bill Barr, one of his closest allies all this time, said there was not enough proof of fraud to alter the results. "Maybe you'll have a revote, but I don't think that's appropriate. When those votes are corrupt, when they're irregular, when they get caught, they're terminated, and I very easily win," the president said.