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Trump slammed for declaring premature victory as he seeks to move SCOTUS, Internet says 'it's everything we feared'

Within minutes of his speech, several people took to social media to denounce the president's attempt to disenfranchise voters who voted by mail

President Donald Trump, early Wednesday morning, November 3, addressed the nation post-Election Day, falsely claiming victory in the presidential polls despite millions of votes yet to be counted. Within minutes of his speech, several people took to social media to denounce the president's attempt to disenfranchise voters who voted by mail, and many saw the speech as "a call to action" to his base to not accept the outcome of the current election.

The Republican, in his remarks from the White House, attacked legitimate vote-counting efforts, saying: "Millions and millions of people voted for us. A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people." Trump insisted that the states where vote tallies currently show him leading should be called in his favor despite significant votes yet to be counted. "We were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything. And all of a sudden it was just called off," he said, and claimed fraud without any evidence. "This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country," Trump claimed. "Frankly we did win this election," he said.

The president also stated that he would move the US Supreme Court to stop "all voting." He said: "We'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at 4 in the morning and add them to the list... as far as I'm concerned, we've already won."

Social media users were taken aback by Trump's speech while many said they had anticipated this would happen. One user wrote: "No one should look at Trump's speech as bluster and lies. It was a call to action to his base to not accept the results of this election. This could get very ugly very fast." Another said: "This speech & rationale just given by President Trump to disenfranchise voters who voted by mail is the path to authoritarianism. His supporters are now going to get violent in his defence against the will of the American people if the final count favors Biden." A third wrote: "One important thing. Trump has not made that speech because he's confident he can win legitimately. It's clear he's afraid when the votes are counted Biden will win."

There were some to whom Trump's speech sounded more like a concession speech: "I'm honestly not trying to be contrarian here, but that sounded as close to a concession speech as you're ever going to get from Trump." A fifth wrote: "This Trump speech is reckless and irresponsible. We've never seen a sitting president in modern history come out on national television and undermine the integrity of the election process while the votes are still being counted." One likened Trump's comments to those of a dictator: "Trump’s speech is everything we feared. He is declaring victory. And he is equating counting votes with fraud. He is placing America on its most dangerous trajectory in centuries. His comments are those of a dictator trying to circumvent the will of the people."

Benjamin L Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer who co-chaired the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, also appeared to denounce Trump's comments on Wednesday as he told CNN that the president should “let all the votes be counted." Ginsberg, while talking to CNN's Jake Tapper, said: "If you have objections to either the particular ballots or to the process, then you have remedies after the fact from each state individual contests laws or recount laws if the margins are close enough."