Trump trolled for mispronouncing Quinnipiac amid false claims, TV networks cease broadcast: ‘Makes my ears bleed’
President Trump finally broke his 36-hour-long silence in a new speech from the White House, which, according to fact-checkers across various publications, was riddled with inaccuracies. The current president started off with an attack on the 2020 election polls conducted by Quinnipiac University. A Twitter user posted the clip of Trump speaking about it saying, "TRUMP: Quinnipiac had Biden up by 5 points in Florida — and I won Florida easily. They were off by 8 points. They had him up by 4 points in Ohio — and I won. They were off by 12.2 points." Apart from attacking Quinnipiac, a university in Hamden, Connecticut, Trump also mispronounced its name causing the institution to trend on Twitter.
TRUMP: Quinnipiac had Biden up by 5 points in Florida — and I won Florida easily. They were off by 8 points. They had him up by 4 points in Ohio — and I won. They were off by 12.2 points. pic.twitter.com/P3CONZq8Ey
— August Takala (@AugustTakala) November 5, 2020
One Twitter user wrote, "President Trump has harsher words for Quinnipiac's "election interference" than he's ever had for Vladimir Putin's election interference," while another, pointing out the mispronunciation, said, "Okay, mispronouncing Quinnipiac is the last straw." Another added, "I’ve heard nearly every mispronunciation of Quinnipiac imaginable but that’s a new one," while a different user tweeted, "Oh my goodness Trump just butchered Quinnipiac's pronunciation in a way I've never heard." Another user said, "As someone who grew up near Quinnipiac this makes my ears bleed."
President Trump has harsher words for Quinnipiac's "election interference" than he's ever had for Vladimir Putin's election interference
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) November 5, 2020
I’ve heard nearly every mispronunciation of Quinnipiac imaginable but that’s a new one
— Corey Hersch (@CoreyHersch) November 5, 2020
Oh my goodness Trump just butchered Quinnipiac's pronunciation in a way I've never heard :joy:
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) November 5, 2020
As someone who grew up near Quinnipiac this makes my ears bleed.
— Janie (@JanRN610) November 6, 2020
But, in a more worrisome moment, Trump continued to assert that he'd win the election if the "illegal votes" weren't being counted prompting several major news networks to cut short his speech. Talking once again about election fraud and illegal ballot-counting – something Trump has been tweeting and retweeting about – he said, "If you count the legal votes, I easily win." MSNBC was the first news network to interrupt Trump's speech to fact-check his claims. A user wrote, "MSNBC is the first network to pull away from Trump's speech after he says "if you count the legal votes, I easily win." Brian Williams: "There are no illegal votes that we know of. There has been no Trump victory that we know of." You can watch Trump's inaccuracy ridden speech in the tweet below.
MSNBC is the first network to pull away from Trump's speech after he says "if you count the legal votes, I easily win."
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 5, 2020
Brian Williams: "There are no illegal votes that we know of. There has been no Trump victory that we know of." pic.twitter.com/SNZHlR8VFJ
The clip of Brian Willians, MSNBC anchor, interrupting the president's address was tweeted by a user with the caption, "WATCH: "OK. Here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States but correcting the president of the United States," Brian Williams says on MSNBC moments into the president's statement tonight."
WATCH: "OK. Here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States, but correcting the president of the United States," Brian Williams says on @MSNBC moments into the president's statement tonight. pic.twitter.com/2AliTQuSsr
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 6, 2020
Trump has continually alleged that local elections officials have accepted ballots after Election Day to manipulate stats in favor of Joe Biden, a statement not backed by any factual evidence. States like Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania are taking longer to declare final results because of absentee ballots causing Trump and his loyalists to cast doubt on the vote-counting process. The president was leading on Election Night in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania before absentee ballots started getting counted. Michigan and Wisconsin have been called for Biden while and Georgia and Pennsylvania are yet to declare final results.
Earlier Trump claimed that he "won the state" of Michigan and "did likewise" in Wisconsin – both false statements. He also said, "We were winning a lot and then our numbers started getting whittled away in secret." No secretary of state in any of the key swing states has backed Trump's claims of voter fraud.
Biden, on the other hand, urged Americans to be "calm", saying, "Democracy is sometimes messy, so sometimes it requires a little patience. But that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years with a system of governance that has been the envy of the world." He then said, "In America, the vote is sacred. It's how people in this nation express their will. And it is the will of the voters, not anything else, that chooses the president of the United States of America."