In an unexpected nail-biter of an election, the presidential race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden remains without a clear winner.
As expected, an unprecedented number of pandemic-induced mail ballots has delayed the verdict as these votes are counted. Thanks to the Trump campaign's months-long smears against the 100+ year old voting method, most of these mail-in votes lean blue while in-person votes are leaning red.
In another expected move, President Donald Trump addressed the public in the early hours of November 4, where he falsely declared he'd won the election, dismissing the millions of mail-in ballots still to be counted that could undo his lead across an array of swing states.
Calling the democratic process "a fraud on the American public," Trump vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court:
"We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at 4 o'clock in the morning and add them to the list."
Because ballots have been counted after election night in every election in every state, Trump's reason for bringing the matter to the Supreme Court is baseless. Voting has already stopped, but counting has not.
A CNN's reporting on Trump's statement captured that uncertainty in a chyron.
A+ chyron game pic.twitter.com/Ccd2cXkmUz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 4, 2020
People applauded the network for highlighting Trump's lack of standing to bring the issue to the nation's highest court.
“UNCLEAR WHY" TRULY MADE ME LAUGH ON THIS MORNING THANK YOU https://t.co/9RhxTwC4zT
— DestinyRachael 🌟 (@destinyrach) November 4, 2020
Best headline I've seen from CNN in ages! https://t.co/H7iZKtrjmQ
— G U T T E D! (@KiirIsNotMyPres) November 4, 2020
Why has “unclear why" made me laugh constantly for 10mins😭😂 https://t.co/cGQtifBNGO
— Becks Craig (@BecksCraig18) November 4, 2020
lmaooo they said your guess is as good as ours https://t.co/lFyeq8wYIL
— The Black Beverly Hills (@babyy_gg) November 4, 2020
“unclear why" sums up everything https://t.co/etk6Hq0xVf
— Sarah McGrade. (@sarahmcgrade17) November 4, 2020
CNN chyron writers weren't the only ones baffled by Trump's intentions.
Trump can't just go to the Supreme Court, and right now it's not clear why he would be going to court at all.
Let's call Trump's claims of “fraud" what they are—lies. He is willing to destroy voters' faith in our system of government to help himself. https://t.co/Y5B5kUjDpv
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) November 4, 2020
Given what he said, Trump's lawyers would now have to defend the concept that each person's vote is not equal to every other vote. That is fundamentally inconsistent with the equal protection clause and with Supreme Court precedent.
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) November 4, 2020
GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsberg says on CNN that there's no way for Trump to do what he just claimed he would do — go to the Supreme Court and ask for it to stop the counting of ballots.
— Ben Pershing (@benpershing) November 4, 2020
Several hours later, it remains unclear what grounds Trump campaign would go to Supreme Court on, aside from possible dispute over late-arriving mail-in ballots in PA, which would not affect counting of mail-in ballots received on or before election day https://t.co/N1sUh7xQPX
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) November 4, 2020
Biden campaign attorney Bob Bauer said that if Trump goes to the Supreme Court, "he will be in for one of the most embarrassing defeats a President ever suffered before the highest court of the land."
@DonaldJTrumpJr/X
@DogRightGirl/X