Donald Trump goes on a Twitter rant about Stein & Clinton’s recount efforts

Last week, I mentioned that Hillary Clinton was being urged to challenge the vote counts in several swing states, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Poll-analysts noted that there seemed to be some odd inconsistencies in several Dem-leaning precincts, and various groups were encouraging the Clinton campaign to file requests for state recounts. Well, long story short, Jill Stein took up the recount mantle and ran with it, raising millions of dollars over the course of the holiday to support her campaign’s recounts in a few states. Over the weekend, we also learned that the Clinton campaign was joining/helping the Stein campaign in the Wisconsin recount filing. So far, so good.

Everything that’s happening is above board, and everything is being done within the scope of the law. It would have been easy enough for President-Elect Trump to either ignore it, or to brush it off as just part of the post-election clean-up. But no. Not our thin-skinned, baby-fisted president-elect. On Sunday, Trump had an absolute meltdown on Twitter in which he seemed to say that millions of Clinton-voters voted illegally.

In case you couldn’t follow the Orange One’s train of thought, he’s saying that because Hillary Clinton conceded to him on Election Night, that means she doesn’t get to request any recounts or anything. He also threw out the Twitter conspiracy theory that “millions” of Hillary supporters voted illegally, of which there is no factual basis. It pains him so much that he lost the popular vote and he’ll do anything to try to convince people that his victory is somehow more legitimate. What’s weird is that if Trump really believes that millions of people voted illegally, surely a nation-wide recount would help put everyone’s mind at ease?

Photos courtesy of Getty.

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245 Responses to “Donald Trump goes on a Twitter rant about Stein & Clinton’s recount efforts”

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  1. Senaber says:

    for my daily morning dose of WTF…

    • DeniseMich says:

      You know another well-known egomaniac is being evaluated for mental illness. Should we start asking for Donald Trump to have an evaluation?

      • Belle Epoch says:

        Seriously! He is mentally unfit! Is there a process for dealing with a crazed PEOTUS?some are saying he has early dementia and that’s what he needs his family with him. It’s definitely weird!

        Making up the “millions” of fraudulent votes is 100% delusional. He is not based in reality and has to get out NOW! But how?

      • DeniseMich says:

        Well, the last president believed to suffer from early dementia during their term was Regan.

      • Radley says:

        I was just thinking, will Orange Apocalypse be the first President to be 5150’d? Of course, it’ll be the “flu”, “exhaustion” or “dehydration” publicly. But I can totally see him having a meltdown of such severity that he temporarily will be unable to do the job. Well, he’s already incapable of doing the job. But y’all know what I mean.

      • Nic919 says:

        Since Reagan had Alzheimer’s , he definitely would have had dementia symptoms in the later part of his presidency. Trump is demonstrating obviously mental illness even before he starts.

        They should have mental fitness examinations by third party doctors before nominations can be approved. No way should trump have ever run for office.

        That and mandating that income tax returns be produced.

      • Otaku Fairy says:

        A few days ago I found myself thinking something like that too, but just didn’t say anything about it because I thought the timing would have been inappropriate.

      • North of Boston says:

        The problem is that it would require actual adults who have the best interests of the country (or the Earth in general) to step in and start the process.

        But judging by all the factions that are ramping up their own craziness, and staking out their own power positions/money grabs (McConnell, Bannon, Conway, Reince, the “religious” right, the alt-right (aka Neo-Nazis), Kushner, and the Children of the Corn) they are not going to step in as long as there is a trough of goodies they can be slurping up.

        The fact that no one in his inner circle has yet helped him come to the realization that his tweet rants are not good for anything or anyone (aside from feeding his ego and his apparent minute-to-minute dopamine addiction “Oooh I posted another good one, Yay ME! Ooh there I go again, posting another good slam, Yay ME! Ooh look, 10 retweets and a headline Yay ME! must do it again, and again and again and again Yay ME!” ) indicates that there is no one who can influence him that is in any way a grown up with the best interest of the country, the populace or the long-term survival of the human race in mind.

        This is going to be a long, ugly process. Hopefully, we all survive and live to fight another day.

      • jwoolman says:

        Maybe put Donald and Kanye in the same hospital room? That would keep them both busy.

    • Shambles says:

      Because the best way to discourage recounts is by questioning the legitimacy of the election he won…….

      • MC2 says:

        Naw, he is doing this to lay groundwork to continue the crosschecks that gave him the election (and are total crap). He will use this later to try and suppress the votes he didn’t get- minorities.

    • Saks says:

      So he continues to be the Schrödinger cheeto, now saying he totally legitimately won and to trust the election but also that people voted illegally and that it was rigged.

      I really hope that his stupid claims lead to do the election again. Also does this dumbass thinks he could have actually won California or NY?!

    • Nicole says:

      I cannot believe we essentially sold our future to a corrupt and idiot businessmen

    • Tiffany :) says:

      I am surprised he hasn’t named George Zimmerman to a cabinet position yet.

      Trump has shown himself to be just as ignorant, unprepared and lazy as I expected him to be. I am not enjoying being right in this scenario!

    • Lahdidahbaby says:

      WTF is right, Senaber! When he thinks he’s losing, it’s all “rigged,” but when he wins, it WASN’T rigged after all. Now, when he worries that his coronation is possibly being put into jeopardy, Okay then, it’s all rigged again.

      Who’s to say any alleged voter fraud wasn’t BY THOSE WHO VOTED FOR HIM? Apparently for Emperor Orange, it’s only fraud if the votes were NOT for him.

  2. lightpurple says:

    Well, if you didn’t vote as the fascist dictator wishes, then your vote is illegal, right? Isn’t that how it works?

    I watched that meltdown occurring on Twitter as it was happening yesterday afternoon. The initial responses were to call him out on it but he kept right on going. Who is letting that jerk near a phone?

    • Sixer says:

      That is, indeed, how it works.

      You must have realised by now that the will of the people can only be expressed once and can never change. Brexit means Brexit. Trump means Trump. Democracy is not an ongoing process. It stops once the correct will of the people has been expressed.

      • ls_boston says:

        Retracting comment. Missed the sarcasm on first reading.

      • Sixer says:

        Ha. Sorry if I was too dry about it! The same thing is happening here in Britland. Apparently, the ongoing process of democracy stopped the morning after the Brexit vote.

      • Becky says:

        I really have to view this loon as entertainment now otherwise it’s too depressing. We have 4 more years of this?

        Sixer, it’s Brexshit now, i.e. we’re up s*** creek without a single market paddle.

      • Shambles says:

        Becky, I hope it’s not 4 more years of this. I’m hoping against all hope something comes of these recounts, or from the electoral college. It’s not over until the First Lady President sings.

      • Becky says:

        Shambles, me also but I have a feeling the GOP power players will get him impeached before his 1st year in office.

    • Londerland says:

      Who IS letting him near a phone?! Why hasn’t anyone in the Republican Party tried to get this idiot to act like an adult, let alone the President Elect? It boggles the mind that he’s so thin-skinned, and so incapable of restraint.

      • Kitten says:

        I love it. Let him Twitter away so the entire world can see what an unhinged moron he is.

        Now all the people who kept reassuring us that he would start acting “presidential” after his win can eat their words. Hate to be a broken record but when someone shows you who they are, BELIEVE them. This man is not capable of changing his heart and soul. He’s always been a nasty, tantrum-y, vindictive piece of work and getting into the Oval Office won’t change that.

        I’m proud to have contributed to the recount campaign. Very impressed with Miss Stein.

      • lightpurple says:

        Because I seriously believe Paul Ryan thinks he can use this to his advantage further down the road. As it stands now, Trump is pretty much going to sign any piece of legislation Ryan puts in front of him, no matter how draconian it is, no matter how many people it hurts. But if and when Trump does something Ryan doesn’t want, he’ll use all this crap for impeachment and removal. Until then, the GOP doesn’t care. They get to control the entire government with nothing to stop them from tearing everything apart.

      • vava says:

        I think it’s great he keeps on tweeting! It just gets more and more outrageous.

      • Esmom says:

        I know, it’s crazy that no one can convince him to step away from the Twitter but I agree that it’s great that he’s doing it. It just reinforces to the world what an immature buffoon he is. Not that any Twitter rants will make his supporters back off, unfortunately.

      • lightpurple says:

        @Kitten, somebody in the Globe’s comment section last night accused the Globe of making it up and then went on with “…but…Hillary!”. The trumpets are in complete denial over the insanity of their beloved leader.

        My boyfriend sent Stein flowers yesterday.

      • Sadezilla says:

        In a normal universe, I’d be happy to let the geriatric toddler (credit: Kaiser) tweet himself into political obscurity. But what scares me is that so many people believe his ridiculous lies. He would have won the popular vote but for millions of illegal votes? I wish he would get seriously called on these dangerously untrue statements. But a not-so-small segment of the population would rather vote for him than a capable public servant, because emails (and misogyny).

        I’ve considered donating to an ethics in journalism charity, but I can’t find many on the charity rating website I use. Would it be better to buy a sub to the NYT or the Post, even though I won’t use it?

        I just want to find a way to stop these insane misinformation wars. Word of mouth is not working with people who refuse to deal in facts.

        Edited for clarity

      • jwoolman says:

        They did confiscate his phone for a few days before the election. But I guess that is hard to do now that he is PEOTUS. Let him tweet. He’s revealing his tortured thought processes (or lack thereof) that way.

        Honestly, the only reason to diss a recount is because you’re afraid you didn’t really win. We always counted ballots twice in grade school…

        The affidavit Jill Stein provided with her petition for recount in Wisconsin is very interesting reading. Details about what can go wrong with those machines from an expert who has been concerned for years and an account of what almost happened in Ukraine last Spring. The Russians apparently accidentally prematurely reported on the result they expected from the infected machines…. But the Ukrainians had realized what was going on and so the election process survived.

      • robyn says:

        He’s doing it to distract and it’s working as always. Frustrating because we focus on the minute by minute details rather than the big picture of the possible fraud and ethics violations.

      • Elle R says:

        Sadezilla: This isn’t quite what you have in mind, but I donate to the Guardian newspaper. They do some good investigative reporting, and I like that their website is open to everyone without article caps.

        https://membership.theguardian.com/us/supporter?INTCMP=DOTCOM_HEADER_BECOMEMEMBER_US

      • QQ says:

        His advisors are simply letting Him tweet to distract him from their agenda

      • SusanneToo says:

        @QQ. Advisors or handlers?

      • Sadezilla says:

        Thanks Elle R! I’ll look into it.

      • steerpike says:

        Elle, I just donated to the Guardian too and am planning on donating to the Daily Kos. I also have an online nyt subscription. I think that one of the most important things that we can do right now is to support independent journalism.

  3. Talie says:

    Clinton won the way he wanted to “win.” He would’ve preferred to lose but win the popular vote, so he could crow about rigged this and rigged that until his death bed…without having to do any of the work of being president.

    • jwoolman says:

      Well, they could just trade votes and be done with it….. Donald gets Hillary’s popular vote and Hillary gets Donald’s electoral votes. The Donald could go back to his favorite activities and The Hillary could go to the White House, risking a hurricane from the simultaneous sighs of relief all over the country.

      • Who ARE these people? says:

        That is exactly what should happen, with the added benefit of being able to conclusively link an extreme weather event to human behavior.

      • Lama Bean says:

        A hurricane from simultaneous sighs of relief? 😂😂😂 made my morning.

        I believe the last tweet is the only one from DT. I think the rest are Kellyanne. The tweets are coherent and are long quotes. DT never tweets something that long. Doesn’t have the attention span. She’s starting to talk crazier by the day.

      • MC2 says:

        Yes! And he could start his tv channel all about the right wing conspiracies & fake fb posts and they would have been happy!!! Damn it 2016!

      • Trashaddict says:

        Why, when I think of Kellyanne, do I think of Goebbels?

    • pinetree13 says:

      Brilliant Talie, I agree. He wanted to “win” not be president and if the roles had been reversed he could have been a martyr adored by his legions of followers and started up his new TrumpTV. Being criticized all the time (which is what happens to every leader) is going to drive him insane.

      • America as we know it says:

        I wonder how all this tweeting is going to affect his Presidential duties. Will he be tweeting about executive orders he will or will not sign? How rude a certain foreign politician was to him during their meeting? His national security plans? Sorry Prime Minister, can’t talk right now, I need to tweet our meeting to my followers ASAP!

  4. Ashamed 2 b a Fl girl says:

    It seems that all of Trump’s life, if he said it then it is so. He is in for a rude awakening when/if he actually does take office.

    • steerpike says:

      I am hoping for the day when the republican congress challenges him on something. THAT is a twitter rant that I am looking forward to. 🙂

  5. original kay says:

    I cam across this yesterday, it’s well worth the read.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-false-claim-millions-popular-vote_us_583b5ed0e4b09b605600e42a

    The media simply has to step up.

    As for Trump and his rants, what can be said? He’s everything he’s already shown us, so no surprise he’s being a complete hypocrite about this, lying and twisting facts. He’s a horrible person.
    His post about Castro’s death, just replace Castro with Trump. History will not be kind to Trump but it does little good for those of us living with it in the present.

    • SusanneToo says:

      This is also relevant. I have renewed my subs to The Atlantic, The New Yorker and Mother Jones and taken out subs to The Nation and The New Republic. I trust they will continue stellar journalism.

      http://thinkprogress.org/the-systemic-media-failure-of-the-trump-transition-1bdb46167d8#.hekdg8nw4

      • Kitten says:

        The New Yorker and MJ have been EXCELLENT in their coverage of Trump and the election in general.

      • lulu3 says:

        I subscribed to the NYT and the Guardian. The latter does an amazing thing called the Counted, which follows up and tries to put a name, a face and an explanation behind every person killed by US police forces. Makes interesting reading.

        https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/counted-us-police-killings

        I feel strongly that we got ourselves into these messes (Europe, the US, the world) by giving up on our politicians. Low expectations. Not believing in the system. General apathy regarding the inequalities in our world. Now, as it all comes crashing down, I think we need to do what Sanders is suggesting and become active. Subscribing to and showing support for newspapers. Reading articles and reading staying informed. Speaking out. Protecting and defending the more fragile groups.

        We don’t really have a choice – it’s time to grow up.

      • wolfpup says:

        Yep. You really do have to grow up. Some of us are used Up.

    • Esmom says:

      I think the media is stepping up. On this “illegal voting” crap, NPR did a nice in-depth piece about how there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. And that Trump’s” info” about this comes from a right wing website, shocker.

    • MC2 says:

      Yes! And we need to give the media our money & support. I had no idea. The web, fb and free sites (love you CB) have killed some good journalism. They need to step it up & so do we so they can.

      I subscribed to the New York Times (great emails condescending the news) & Washington Post this past couple weeks and people are going to be getting some good subscriptions in their stockings this year!

  6. Liz says:

    Worrying that the next leader of the free world will straight up lie about the democratic process because he doesn’t like the results. He’s acting like an autocrat, denying reality to pamper his ego.

  7. Maya says:

    I feel sorry for women and minorities in US. The republicans now have the House, Senate, Presidency and Supreme Court.

    The world will survive but I pray that you guys will survive 4 years of hell.

    A genuine question – I read that according to the constitution, the president is not allowed to own business or properties. That is the Electrol College votes for him on the 19th then they are breaking the law and being unconstitutional. Is that correct? Is there are loophole that the Dems can use to force the EC voters to not vote for Satan?

    • Cannibell says:

      “The world will survive but I pray that you guys will survive 4 years of hell.”

      Thanks, Maya. Us, too.

      The president can own business and properties if he puts them in a blind trust. Someone else is in charge and he has no access, knowledge or control over what’s happening with them. But he’s talking about turning them over to his children, which is NOT the same thing. I have no idea what’s going to happen, just that it is probably going to be terrible. Sigh.

    • swak says:

      I believe he was told he should put his business holdings into a trust for 4 years but he refuses to do that. One reason I read for his decision is that his children would then be out of jobs. Supposed Eric, Donald Jr and Ivanka are suppose to be taking over and running them. And we already know Donald Jr. is trying to get a position within the White House. Don’t know much about the EC myself but I’m sure there are some CBers that do.

    • lightpurple says:

      I think that even the turning it over to his children is a lie. He clearly has no clue that the presidency is an actual job. He seems to be treating it more like he’s chairman of the board or something. He continues to conduct business with his Indian business partners, he is encouraging foreign diplomats to stay in his hotels AND the Secret Service had to rent an entire floor of Trump Tower. Yes, our tax dollars are paying for an entire floor of Trump Tower and I don’t believe he is charging us a discount rate. There should be NO charge at all. Yet, those who worship him swoon over “he’s not taking the salary.” A year’s rental of a full floor at Trump Tower likely exceeds that $400,000 salary.

      • jwoolman says:

        Not surprising that he’s charging the Secret Service for a floor in his hotel. He charged them for riding in his private plane during the campaign. He held campaign events at his properties and charged the campaign full price, so this is business as usual for Trump. Republican business people are just as horrified as everybody else by his behavior in such matters, but he won’t listen. This whole PEOTUS thing has revitalized his DC hotel, which was floundering trying to fill rooms even at deep discounts. He spent too much getting it ready (not really being good in business) and was warned that he would have to charge too much to break even. Now he can get the money out of the Secret Service and diplomats who think that’s the only way to get favors from him. One of them said quite openly that he figured going to another hotel would not make a good intro to the new Prez.

      • lightpurple says:

        @jwoolman, not a floor in a hotel. An office floor in Trump Tower where he lives, so they can guard him and that family of his. He is making us, the taxpayers, pay over a million a year for office space to him just because they refuse to move to Washington DC. If Melania would move, they wouldn’t have to do this. So much for blind trust for his financial dealings. I don’t want to hear any of the trumpets claim he isn’t taking a salary.

      • jetlagged says:

        It kills me that once he is sworn in, he will be granted Secret Service protection for ten years after he leaves office, no matter how long or short his term is. He’ll also get a pension and funds for an office staff and other expenses. We the taxpayer will be paying him for the rest of his life.

      • Rachel says:

        I read it was two floors at $3,000,000 annually.

      • KWM says:

        The best part, he doesn’t even own Trump Tower, right now it is technically owned by GMAC Financing as they hold the 100 million dollar note on the building. God my dream is they call in the note and make him pay up the full amount. He is such a successful business man he should have no problem coming up with the 100 million to pay it off………

    • RussianBlueCat says:

      I did read how Donald Trump leases the property where his Washington DC hotel is located from a government agency. So he would be in charge of that agency and that would be a conflict of interest. The article was in the Washingn Post. I would not be surprised if there are more instances of conflict of interest for Donald Trump

    • MC2 says:

      I feel sorry for us too…..The loop holes in the electoral college are there but have not been used & would be kind of a sh7t show if they were. Laws are up for interpretation & could you imagine the uprising if the electoral voters went against the state’s (believed) votes? Bad news. Even if they should it would be terrible. We even know that Russia influenced the election but off to Black Friday shopping! The FBI vetted Trump as okay to be president before the election (my eyes hurt from that side eye I just did). Voting suppression was huge but already happened (votes were challenged and thrown out) & won’t change during the recount. Our checks & balances are not working. The only hope I see is some proof of hacking or voter fraud in the recount that is huge or an impeachment after he becomes president. They can use his business dealings to try and impeach him but the likelihood of using it to get the electoral college to flip is too much of a pipe dream.

      Our laws are there, tools in a box, but you have to be willing to pick them up & use them. I don’t think we are.

      • wolfpup says:

        There are no challengers in Drumph’s world – as he shreds the personal life, of all that oppose him. No one has an answer to his nastiness – a little girl who said that he raped her, is non-sequitur. So are all his contenders in the Republican party, that he says he is a part of – while we watch them bow and scrape before evil, for their own purposes. They will use him; that is the deliciousness of cynicism – the Republicans are cynics, pure and simple . How does one nasty man, destroy so much reason? Lies – it is all about the lies.

        I do blame the media, for letting him have free notoriety, without a slip of responsibility. Who are the owners of media? – that is how a free society is slipping into the hands of corporations, that we now call a citizen.

  8. t.fanty says:

    Don’t be distracted. This is to throw the media off the substantive new reports about his vast global conflict of interests. The man is going to lay waste to the constitution and his Twitter rants just keeps people away from the topics that matter.

    • lightpurple says:

      Also to throw attention off the fact that a federal court ruled last Tuesday that Wisconsin had engaged in unconstitutional practices to suppress the vote in democratic areas in 2014 and 2012 and those unconstitutional practices were still in place for the election in 2016.

    • M.A.F. says:

      He does this all the time. After the settlement of Trump University the media just started to cover it but he changed the subject when Pence went to watch Hamilton and that is all anyone would talk about-Pence v. the cast of Hamilton. He will continue to do this every time. And what will the media do? Nothing.

    • Lynnie says:

      Is he going to court today for the alleged rape of a 13 year old girl?

      • lightpurple says:

        Case was withdrawn after she received death threats.

      • T.Fanty says:

        No, she withdrew the complaint. A situation that is also as shady AF.

      • bleu_moon says:

        Deleted- you guys beat me to it. 😉

      • Lynnie says:

        Awww 😢. I hope she’s doing okay

      • nicegirl says:

        Good grief I am saddened by this – that gal needs our support more than ever now and I bet she is in hiding – I hope she did not sign a confidentiality agreement – if she only withdrew the case, maybe she will recount her experiences publicly someday and the court of public opinion will end up backing her up and provide her with some sense of justice. This is a travesty, this disgusting man in charge of our country, who has hurt so many women.

      • Betsy says:

        @Lynnie – she’s in her 30s now, I think. I do not believe that time automatically heals all wounds, but I do hope inthe intervening years she’s found good help.

  9. swak says:

    “What’s weird is that if Trump really believes that millions of people voted illegally, surely a nation-wide recount would help put everyone’s mind at ease?” Totally agree with this. This count could also show major fraud on the Republican side and he can’t have that happen. He doesn’t want the vote looked at too closely as who knows what that will find. Either way he’s going to complain.

    • Esmom says:

      I completely agree, too. He seems to possess no logic whatsoever and is a moron to not even realize what he’s doing with the Twitter s%^tstorms he stirs up.

      • MC2 says:

        I posted up above but I think he doesn’t care about the recount but will keep feeding this story of illegal votes to suppress minority votes later. He’s proven to not be as dumb as we think……he is going to use this recount to further the divide & there will be fake fb posts about the recount uncovering millions of votes by minorities who “keep moving around & registering in each place” that is all fake. They will share that stuff like idiots. We will all laugh and roll our eyes. Then he will grown the interstate check program, have his people contest more votes by people with similar names (see people named Garcia, Rodriguez, etc) & throw out even more votes in four years.

      • TrixC says:

        He’s not interested in logic, he showed during the campaign that if you repeat something enough times people will start to believe it, even in the absence of any evidence. It’s a tactic which was also used to good effect by the Leave campaign in the UK.

    • lucy2 says:

      He knows that statement is baseless, but that his supporters don’t care.

  10. Patricia says:

    Your last sentence is exactly what I thought when I first read his rant. How can you say you KNOW that there was voter fraud and then have an issue with an audit? It’s crazy and scary that we can’t expect basic logic from our president elect.

    And why is he continuing with the divisive language about “the democrats” as if they are some horrible conniving group of subversives? Donald, you ARE the president elect and that includes every citizen. You are soon president of everyone who voted so stop it!
    I swear we are headed for a civil war due to this kind of thing. It’s horrendous.

    • Esmom says:

      I know, his comment about the “demoralized Dems” was so petty. And so expected at this point, I guess.

    • Kitten says:

      Well the Dermocrats didn’t organize this recount nor did they actively push for it (is anybody surprised by that?) but essentially the Green Party with Stein at the helm were the ones who mobilized, as well as the American public who donated.
      (I hope everyone here donated BTW)

      They just didn’t STOP it from happening. Clinton’s reps tweeted something to the effect of “we’re getting blamed for something we never started” or some such cowardly nonsense.
      So predictable. Sigh.

      • SusanneToo says:

        I donated and on Thursday it was fun watching the total climb steadily. One million, two million, three million, four million, up, up, up.

      • jwoolman says:

        I don’t think the Democrats are being cowardly. They did analyze the situation and decided the odds were against uncovering votes in those states. They decided it was best to accept the election results as called by the media in the wee hours of November 9.

        It’s best for a third-party candidate to call for the recount anyway – she has standing to do it, and getting donations from people like you and me sends a message more powerful than the Dems just using some of their funds.

        I don’t know if a recount can change who gets the electoral votes. Pennsylvania will be a big problem because so many of the machines did not have paper backup. Unless hackers made mistakes, their work might be undetectable. Malicious software can self-destruct after the polls close. Machine malfunctions might be easier to detect with another examination. But the recount may point us in useful directions for maintaining the integrity of future elections, starting with the obvious need for paper backup. I’ve felt that starting back after the hanging chads 2000 election, when I walked into the polling place and for the first time saw all those machines. I felt right then that we could no longer trust election results. I’m a techie myself and know too much about what can go wrong, intentionally and unintentionally.

      • Kitten says:

        Me too, Suzanne! I loved seeing that.

        @JWollman-The GOP would have been ALL over a recount if the situation was reversed. Their base would be calling for blood. I personally don’t think it should fall to a third-party candidate to organize a recount but perhaps that’s what was agreed to between both parties so that the Dems could save face should the recount fall short of the desired outcome.

      • paranormalgirl says:

        I donated as soon as I was able to.

    • isabelle says:

      He is taking all of his information from Alex Jones, Info War who has said everything Trump Tweeted. The media needs to call him out on it. So nothing he says is going to make sense.

      • pinetree13 says:

        OH GOD NO! PLEASE NO! Alex Jones is SUCH a moron. UUGGGHHHH!!!!! I’ve watched some of his Info War videos on feminism and they are so barbaric and offensive. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  11. JudyK says:

    Trump is an absolute INFANT w/ accompanying temper tantrums, zero impulse control, and no attention span. I’m so fearful for our country.

  12. minx says:

    He sickening, an idiotic fraud.

  13. Tulip Garden says:

    I honestly don’t understand how either side can prove election fraud. Of course, if dead people are on voter rolls or voter rolls aren’t checked as the voting is done that is one thing. Or if machine hacking can somehow be proven, I guess that would do it. But, we as voters don’t tie our name to our vote. So who is to say, “nope, I didn’t vote for him/her? My vote wasn’t recorded correctly?”
    TBH, I don’t see how this re-count will work. Are we going to do every county/state? Are we just going to ask for a complete paper ballot, voter registered re-do?
    I see the passion on both sides but, man, we are looking like a newly founded republic/democracy. It is embarrassing. Surely, we should have this most important of rights institionalized, protected, and infallibly correct by now.

    • lightpurple says:

      So far, the only state where a recount has been requested is Wisconsin, where the deadline expired Friday. Only candidates for an office have the right to request a recount. Reform Party candidate Roque Delafuente and Green Party candidate Jill Stein requested a recount in Wisconsin. Stein went further and asked for an audit, which is a more thorough reconciliation of ballots than just a simple recount. Stein plans to ask for recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania this week. Those who ask for a recount have to pay a fee to cover the cost of the recount, and the fees are steep. Stein has raised the money to cover the cost. Personally, I think Ohio and North Carolina should be recounted as well as there have been stories of voter suppression.

      If Trump wants recounts in those states he claimed were problematic (NH is one), he can do so. He’ll have to pay for it. Unless he is willing to do so, he should keep his twitter fingers busy doing something else, like accepting presidential security briefings, which he is not doing.

      • Stacey says:

        I agree with your entire statement.

        This past week Trump had 5,000 of his votes thrown out in three rural Wisconsin counties because they were declared phony. His lead over Hillary in Wisconsin is only a little over 22,000. And this is before the recount. There are reports that as many as 300,000 people were denied the right to vote in Wisconsin.

      • siri says:

        Actually, it seems to be the other way around- a recount is more rigorous than an audit. In a recount, all ballots (including those that were originally hand counted) are examined to determine voter intent before being retabulated. To that, the county boards of canvassers will examine other documents, including poll lists, written absentee applications, provisional ballots and rejected absentee ballots before counting the votes. Auditing is exclusively aimed at the voting equipment of random reporting units within a state, and is therefore selective.

    • Kitten says:

      It’s my understanding that the issue isn’t “voter fraud” but “election fraud”, no?

      • lightpurple says:

        Yes. Hacking and other issues with the ballots and machines. There are also issues with voter suppression but the FEC has to do investigations and that takes a long time. Wisconsin will likely be investigated for voter suppression due to the recent court decision that found unconstitutional voter suppression but those findings won’t actually overturn anything. They’ll just make it clear the election was rigged in Trump’s favor.

      • siri says:

        It started with a group of data experts and lawyers warning about the possibility of a foreign government hacking voting machines. The argument was that they found suspicious patterns in voting results in Wisconsin (which other data experts have ridiculed, saying they can be explained away by education and race variables). In the meantime, one of the people from this group, computer scientist J.A.Halderman, has stated that the election probably wasn’t hacked, but the only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence. The group has urged Clinton to ask for a recount when she lost, but she obviously declined, because her team didn’t find any irregularities. Neither did the Obama Administration: “The federal government did not observe any increased level of malicious cyber activity aimed at disrupting our electoral process on election day.” “We believe our elections were free and fair from a cybersecurity perspective.”

    • jwoolman says:

      That’s why we need paper backup for machine voting. The voter should have something tangible in their hands that they can double-check on the spot and stick in an envelope and hand in for safekeeping in case of a recount (which I believe should be done every time routinely).

      We also have to work against voter suppression efforts long term, but it won’t do us any good to get people into the polling places if we can’t trust the vote count. The recounts are also important. I wish we could recount more places, but deadlines have passed for many states and these were the three identified by IT experts as showing some curious anomalies worth looking at more closely.

      • swak says:

        I did paper vote for two reasons. 1. it was quicker and I had two kiddos with me and 2. I really don’t trust the machines – something can go wrong and I wanted to make sure my vote did not get compromised in some way.

      • Tulip Garden says:

        Yes, that sounds easily done, fair, and reasonable to me. Maybe then all of this can be avoided.

  14. Monsi says:

    The tweet in which he says that he won the popular vote, if you deduct the ” illegal” votes is actually very scary (having no evidence whatsoever) ….if he question the legitimacy of the election that made him president, how is he going to face the reelection? I can see him as incumbent President questioning the legitimacy of the voting process if he loses the reelection…. And that’s very dangerous

    Where do the leaders of the Republican party draw the line? Where does the media?

    • Miss Melissa says:

      He should be DEMANDING an investigation into voter fraud, if he thinks this is true.

      If he doesn’t believe it, then he should STFU.

  15. Lolo86lf says:

    He is just awful. He makes me sick to my stomach and the thought of him being POTUS for 4 years is revolting. What a narcissistic a-hole.

  16. HK9 says:

    If he won fairly the recount will simply reveal that fact. He needs to stop ranting on twitter and concentrate on how he’s going to run the country. Does this man not know what his job description is??

    • Shambles says:

      “If he won fairly the recount will simply reveal that fact.”

      Makes you wonder why he & his people are so flipped out about it… hmmm.

      Also it’s rich as hell that Kellyanne Conway went on Meet the Press to literally call recount-supporters “crybabies,” while her sugar daddy was on Twitter throwing an actual tantrum.

      • HK9 says:

        Trust me, I too wonder why he’s so freaked out about it. I’m really interested to see how this plays out.

      • robyn says:

        No respect for Conway … she sees a legitimate question from media as “badgering” and deflected throughout the entire campaign. Guess that’s what Trump loved about her.

    • lightpurple says:

      I’m pretty sure he has never read any part of the Constitution of the United States of America, which contains the job description.

  17. Amelie says:

    Here’s another view from article by Philip Bump:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/23/attention-democrats-theres-still-no-good-evidence-the-election-was-rigged/

    The consensus is still that the results will not change so the question is what is Stein’s motive for the recount? What is Hillary’s? Yes, they both have motives.

    Should President-elect Trump stop with the Twitter nonsense? Yes.

    PE Trump’s statement about illegal votes is not without basis. In my state, illegals can get a (temporary) driver’s license that looks remarkably similar to a (permanent) driver’s license. When I was at the polling place to vote in the general election, I asked the election judges about verifying documentation provided for same day registration and specified the temporary license and no one had any idea what I was talking about. So, this stuff happens.

    • Adele Dazeem says:

      Amelie
      I guess we were posting at the same time and had similar feelings. I agree he’s acting like an idiot but I don’t see the point of the recount. It doesn’t change the fact we have a LOT of crazies around us either.:/

    • SusanneToo says:

      What also happens, Amelie, is that Republican controlled states closed nearly 1000 polling places before the election to make it more difficult for the “wrong people” to vote. Thanks to their gerrymandering, they know where the “wrong people” are located. A pol in NC even admitted that was the purpose. IMO, that constitutes voter fraud also.

      • RS says:

        I agree, anecdotal evidence is not convincing evidence. Not on a large scale. That’s why, in science, results have to be verified and confirmed on a larger scale. States admitting voter suppression with hard evidence to support it is. And there is no harm in confirming results and making sure our systems weren’t hacked. Whatever the results, isn’t it better to know whether there is a weakness in the system or not?

      • Cate says:

        I agree that voter suppression is a huge issue that has not been reported on enough. I’m not sure what a recount is going to do about that though–if you didn’t cast a ballot due to suppression efforts, there’s nothing available to recount. I do hope this recount effort will cast more light on the various things wrong with our current election setup and perhaps Stein will use excess money (if there is any) to mount court challenges to some of the crazy and unconstitutional gerrymandering that has gone on?

    • doofus says:

      “illegals” is not a noun. it’s an adjective. your tone exposes your bias.

      and yes, his claim of illegal votes is without basis. as is yours. your anecdotal “evidence” is pretty weak. poll workers are not “election judges” and are not the same folks that take documents and register people for same day voter registration so it’s not surprising they don’t know about temporary licenses. you have zero proof that “this stuff happens”.

      • Amelie says:

        Illegals is a (plural) noun.

        Poll workers where I am located are either election judges or equipment people. They do review the docs for same day voting. Therefore they absolutely should have been informed on the difference in a temporary and permanent driver’s license.

        FYI, the Dems have a long history in certain Dem strongholds of voter fraud, ie, dead people continue to vote. This activity is not news to anyone.

        I try to make my posts as benign as possible and although I don’t detect any particular “tone”, my apologies if anyone is offended.

      • Shambles says:

        According to the Miriam Webster dictionary, illegal is an adjective. Adding an S to it does not make it a noun. Using “illegals” as a noun is like using “blacks” to describe people of color, which reduces them to nothing but their skin color. Or using “gays” to describe gay people, which reduces them to nothing but their sexual orientation. Or “females” to describe women, which reduces them to nothing but their reproductive organs. It’s dehumanizing.

      • Lambda says:

        the Dems have a long history in certain Dem strongholds of voter fraud

        Prove it!

      • lightpurple says:

        @Amelie, oh, do please give me a citation from one of the only two reliable sources on such voter fraud? Those sources would be either the FEC or a court ruling? Please? Thank you!

        Also, do you realize how much would be involved in dead people voting? First, you would have to know a person died. Second, you would have to know that the name had not been removed from the list by one of the usual methods such as an annual voter census or a nursing home or family member reporting the death or whatever mechanisms the town has in place. Third, someone of the same gender as the deceased would have to go to the polling place and sign in as that person and they would really have to hope that the poll worker checking them in didn’t know the deceased. The idea of this happening by the thousands is downright hilarious. Doubtful it could ever happen at my polling place. The ladies working the tables have been there forever and know the regular voters.

        Also, it sounds like you don’t have very many people working your polls. Are the lines ridiculously long? That sounds like voter suppression right there.

      • doofus says:

        no amelie, it’s not a noun. people like you, who like to demonize immigrants, have tried hard to make it one, but it ain’t happening. you can call them “undocumented” if you want, but the term you use is clearly one that is used by anti-immigration folks to dehumanize them.

        what state are you in that has a voting location AND a voting registrar, with the workers sharing duties, in the same location? that’s highly unlikely and, I’m betting, inaccurate. tell me more about these “temporary” licenses, and how they are similar to the permanent ones. If these “temporary” licenses exist, I’d bet they’re very clearly marked as such, and if examined closely (like registrars are supposed to do!) would be easily distinguished from each other. so, what state is it?

        “the Dems have a long history in certain Dem strongholds of voter fraud, ie, dead people continue to vote.”

        BULL CACA. as Lambda said, PROVE IT.

    • Lambda says:

      Amelie, you did not prove that anything happened, unless you draw your conclusions in a bizarre fashion. If two sets of documents are similar and some officials did not know about x (in your sole account), it’s embarrassing to reason that voter fraud happened.

    • bleu_moon says:

      @Amelie- Please explain to me why an undocumented immigrant would risk arrest and deportation just to cast a ballot? Don’t most illegal immigrants try to keep their head down and not attract attention?

    • noway says:

      The reason for the recount is two fold. One our lovely President-elect before the election said there was voter fraud. Well I would like a recount just to prove Trump’s original “the election is rigged” paranoia was just that paranoia.

      In addition, the DNC was hacked by the Russian government according to US intelligence, and for whatever reason Putin appeared to take a vested interest in our election and had a preference for Trump. It’s possible, since several areas used electronic voting machines they were hacked. This is the part the Clinton campaign is most interested in, probably because their emails were hacked too. I am sure they don’t believe it would alter the election, but probably want to know for sure that this couldn’t happen. I think as a voter, and since part of the public is willing to pay for it we should look and eliminate these crazy theories. Keep in mind the voter margin was small, not quite small enough for a recount, but pretty close. Look people on here and Trump think it is possible over 2 million+ illegals voted to give Hillary the popular count. Sorry to say mathematically it’s far more likely the 150,000 vote difference that made Trump win the electoral college was tampered with. Granted odds are high on both.

      Now Stein is involved probably because she might want to seen as the person who is sticking up for the voting process. Honestly, I wouldn’t have a problem if Trump paid for recount in a few states if he lost by the amount Clinton lost and won the popular vote by that much. You kind of owe it to the over 50% of the voters who supported you. My problem with Trump and the election is rigged is he said it before it began with no close elections or anything. I know people say this seems like sour grapes, but Trump said this before the election began. Sorry that is different.

    • ls_boston says:

      Amelie, what do drivers licenses have to do with voting rights? Even permanent drivers licenses don’t give you the right to vote. Legal aliens can get perm drivers licenses – but they can’t vote. You have to be on the voter rolls to vote – for which a US citizen – not a perm drivers license holder.

      I well believe your election judges didn’t know what you were on about with temp vs perm drivers licenses and voting

    • MC2 says:

      Thanks for doing your civic duty to uphold the racist idea that ‘illegals’ are running around voting multiple times. It’s been looked at and it’s a false narrative to try and get American citizens that are non-white to not vote the one time they have every right to or contest their vote so it’s not counted. You asking to bring more scrutiny to people of color & insinuating that it is a rampant issue is false, gross and I hope nobody acted on your beliefs.

      You said- “When I was at the polling place to vote in the general election, I asked the election judges about verifying documentation provided for same day registration and specified the temporary license and no one had any idea what I was talking about. So, this stuff happens. ”

      They did not know what you were talking about because this stuff doesn’t happen! It’s been looked at and it is false, voting twice is extremely rare & the person arrested for voting twice in this election & others intimidating voters were Trump supporters. You saying that it happens because you asked “election judges” and they are not acting on racist, xenophobic paranoia is not proof of anything wrong with them…..

      You are not benign at all and you can try in your comments but you are taking actions in your life to support a racist agenda of voter intimidation & suppression. Gross.

    • Jessica says:

      For God’s sake. It does not. If your name is not on the registration list, you vote and sign an affidavit. They check it after. Are you American because you obviously know very little about the American voting process?

      • Jessica says:

        I’m also a JD licensed in two states with a JD from Georgetown and worked on Capitol Hill for five years. I might know just a bit about what I write.

    • lightpurple says:

      He just named Tom Price as Secretary for Health & Human Services. Tom Price who wants to swap out the ACA for no protections with those with pre-existing conditions, no mental health parity, high deductible ($12,000 a year) medical savings account plans and “buying across state lines,” which will get you health insurance that covers nothing in your own state and more “tort reform” despite the fact that every almost every state already had some form of tort reform and the ACA included it too (BTW, tort reform helps the malpractice insurers and nobody else) and he wants to replace Medicare with a voucher program for the barest minimal scope of Part A services only, eliminate disproportionate share payments to hospitals that serve high numbers of uninsured or poor and eliminate Medicaid. Hundreds of millions of people will lose access to health care under these proposals, not to mention the tens of thousands who will lose jobs in health care. So, please excuse me that I’m not happy that he might build you a tunnel or a wall somewhere.

  18. Adele Dazeem says:

    As much as I am HARDCORE PRO HILLARY ANTI TRUMP…(And think this tweet fit is yet another embarrassment for our country)….

    I kind of don’t feel this recount is going to do us any good. It feels like reopening a wound I’m trying desperately to close. The analysts have already said it’s a slim chance anything comes of it and all it does is give more grist for the crazy Republican mill in my opinion.

    Am I defeated mentally? Yes.

    • SusanneToo says:

      Let it bleed.

    • Amelie says:

      Thanks for your post. I have been thinking a lot about the divisiveness of the election and what it produced in the country post election. I frankly began thinking about the Civil War and how it divided, families, neighbors and the nation. The seasoned pols need to step up and publicly counsel folks to move on. VP Biden, who has been in the game for a long time and who is a decent guy, was blunt in talking about the failure of the Democrats to reach out to the working class. Other analysts have stated that Hillary was the wrong candidate. The move by Tim Ryan to run for House minority leader is also a recognition that there is something that needs to be addressed in the Dem party. This stuff is all about ebb and flow and the pendulum is swinging back to the conservatives in the U.S. as it is in many western nations. My recommendation is that folks try to put PE Trump’s nonsense on the back burner and focus and any good policies etc that he can offer to the country i.e.s huge infrastructure program). And, someone needs to take his Twitter account away from him permanently!

      • lightpurple says:

        And are we to ignore the bad policies that are about to be forced on us? Should we just shut up and die as they move to deprive millions of us of medically necessary health care and steal our Social Security from us? Sorry but I will not go willingly or quietly into that poverty and death Paul Ryan wishes for me. I gave Trump his chance and he blew it within days. Yesterday’s garbage about our votes being illegal was a fascist insult to all good people. And he has no money to pay for that huge infrastructure program.

      • SusanneToo says:

        The trumpists, who voted for a lying, cheating, defrauding, mocking, alleged rapist who sent out dog whistles to the worst of the racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic citizens of our nation, bear no responsibility, huh? Not at all surprised at your post.

      • Lambda says:

        Conservatives, huh? You say potato, I say fascist. I will NOT be moving on.

        PS, explain how your “PE” is going to pay for the infrastructure re-haul.

      • Amelie says:

        What I think is reasonable at this point is to recognize that PE Trump was using classic negotiation technique (business school grads will know what I am talking about) in his campaign per his extreme positions (building a wall, DCing Obama care on day one etc).He has already shown that he is backing away from campaign “promises”. Other pols do this as well. And, I personally do not see the point in objecting to policies that have not manifested themselves yet.

        This has nothing to do with his deplorable rhetoric which caused substantial damage and which he now has to accept responsibility for and repair (good luck at this!)

        I also think that inflammatory language anywhere on anyone’s part only fuels more division in the country.

      • bleu_moon says:

        I was raised blue collar/working class in a rural area. Kindly do me a favor and put a cork in this “salt of the earth” stuff. Yes, some people were decent, but this idea that as a class they are inherently noble and Dems were “out of touch?” Ppptttttt.

        So why did the working class vote for Trump?
        “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” -Lyndon Johnson

      • Sixer says:

        Amelie – but that’s not how democracy works! Democracy is SUPPOSED to comprise of government and opposition. That’s the point of it. Or else you’re in a dictatorship! Every citizen should oppose any policy put forward by government with which they disagree. The opposing party should try its hardest to block or amend any legislation put forward by the governing party that affronts the opposition party’s principles.

        These are checks and balances. This is the way democracies remain stable.

        Honestly: you have this entirely backwards.

      • Kitten says:

        I’ve never seen that Johnson quote before. Thanks for sharing…

      • lightpurple says:

        @Amelie, we have had this discussion about you thinking we should wait until policies develop before. Paul Ryan is the Speaker of the House today. Paul Ryan will be the Speaker of the House on inauguration day in January. Ryan’s health policy has already been put in writing. Congress has already approved it several times. Ryan plans to introduce it again and have it on Trump’s desk on Inauguration Day. Here it is. http://www.speaker.gov/confidentamerica

        That thing will do incredible harm to this country and I, for one, am not going to sit quietly while Paul Ryan allows insurance companies to discriminate against me for being a cancer patient, destroys the Medicare program into which I have been paying since I was 16 years old AND shuts down several hospitals in my state. But you feel free to wait and see if you’ll survive all that before you speak up.

      • lightpurple says:

        @Amelie, this link is to HR 2653, a bill the House and Senate approved but Obama vetoed. They plan to reintroduce it and vote on it and have it ready for Trump’s signature in the first two weeks of January. I have no need to “wait and see” on this one. This is pure evil with the intent to enrich the insurance lobby while depriving millions of Americans, yes, working, tax paying Americas, of medically necessary health care.

        https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2653

      • doofus says:

        “I also think that inflammatory language anywhere on anyone’s part only fuels more division in the country.”

        well then, Amelie, you really shouldn’t use the term “illegals”, dontchathink?

      • steerpike says:

        Amelie, Thank you for your kind recommendation that we put PE Trump’s “nonsense on the back burner” and focus on the good policies that he can offer. I’m so sorry, but as long as PE Trump is in direct conflict with the U.S. Constitution and engaging in conflicts of interest never seen before in the White House, I just don’t feel comfortable with that. I’m glad that you are apparently so comfortable with blatant corruption worthy of the worst banana republic, but I’m afraid that I have too much respect for our constitution to do likewise.

      • Amelie says:

        Doofus:

        “illegal(s) used as a noun is correct. It may also be used as an adjective. My hard copy Websters has illegal listed as a noun (and adjective) and so do on line dictionaries. What the word means is someone who enters the country illegally. I get there are those who consider this term non politically correct, but that is their view.

        I get that you challenge my comments about what an election judge does. Well I worked as one some years back. I received training prior to working at the polls so I speak from experience. And re: voter fraud, I knew someone who was a dem operative; I heard stories of what was done. Am I going to prove this to you with details? No, I am not.

        What I will offer is that we are nearly three weeks out from the election and many appear to be just as upset as when the results became known in the wee hours of 11/9. It’s clear that the tone here on the thread is combative. Anyone with a view that differs from challenging the vote count and bashing Trump is dog piled on. I wish no one here ill will, but have nothing more to say than I wish you all peace.

      • Lambda says:

        So, Amelie, we’re supposed to trust, again, your anecdotes and hearsay as evidence for your unfounded generalizations about voter fraud. Temporary driver IDs are similar to permanent IDs, so, trapeze vault, illegal immigrants voting by the millions. A Dem operative confided in you (sure, hon) about shenanigans, hence the Dems have “long history” of voter fraud. I’m not sure if all this is naive or insidiously malevolent, but I am sure that it is poorly explained. And that’s what folks are pointing out, not that, OMG, you have different view.
        Also, after voting for a most divisive human fart, I can’t see how you can complain about divisions.

      • lightpurple says:

        @Amelie,

        “And re: voter fraud, I knew someone who was a dem operative; I heard stories of what was done. Am I going to prove this to you with details? No, I am not.”

        Excuse me but you argued that democrats have a long history of voter fraud and the dead voting. That would indicate a lot more evidence than what some “dem operative” may have told you. I asked you to cite either from FEC findings or court decisions. Those are the only reliable sources on this.

        “What I will offer is that we are nearly three weeks out from the election and many appear to be just as upset as when the results became known in the wee hours of 11/9. ” Sorry but that does not answer any of the questions put to you and it is an offer many here are not willing to accept.

        “It’s clear that the tone here on the thread is combative. Anyone with a view that differs from challenging the vote count and bashing Trump is dog piled on.”
        You were quite combative when you pretty much told us all to suck it up and think of all the wonderful things he is going to give us like “infrastructure” when I know quite well McConnell isn’t interested in infrastructure but they are all interested in punishing me for daring to survive cancer.
        “I wish no one here ill will, but have nothing more to say than I wish you all peace. ”

        Anyone who voted for Trump, Ryan, or McConnell wished ill will on all Americans, particularly those of us with health conditions. We are putting a deranged idiot in the White House. Peace is quite unlikely.

        Now, I gave you links to what Ryan, McConnell, and Trump plan to do on Trump’s first day in office. Would you please respond to that? Thank you.

    • pinetree13 says:

      I agree completely Adele. I don’t understand the point of the recount. To me it does kind of look hypocritical since we all criticized Trump for saying he might not accept the results of the election.

      • jwoolman says:

        Recounts are a normal part of our election process. I would have no trouble with a candidate saying ahead of time that he intended to ask for recounts in close cases. That’s a good thing.

        But Trump was making veiled and not so veiled threats about other responses by his followers if he didn’t win and just vaguely saying he wouldn’t accept the results unless he won. People were clearly fearing that shootings and riots were being encouraged and expressing fears about going anywhere on Election Day. That’s unacceptable and I never heard any candidate talk that way before. I’ve been voting since the early 1970s.

  19. Rhiley says:

    In theory I wish Jill Stein would spend this money to fight voter suppression rather than doing this recount, but it irritates trump so much, I am now all for the recount. One more observation: What the heck is going on with Kellyanne Conway? Do you think she wants out, or is she purposefully trying to create chaos so we won’t focus on the fact that trump doesn’t know what he is doing?

    • Kitten says:

      Yeah it’s win-win. Just the fact that it drives Trump batshit crazy makes it totally worth it.

    • lightpurple says:

      I think Kellyanne is feeling herself being shoved aside.

      • Rhiley says:

        Yeah, there is talk that she is pretty much being left out at this point, which if she could be bought, may be very revealing. Thinking that everyone has a price and if the price is high enough she could probably write a pretty good tell all or give an interesting sit down interview. I actually think she is very smart and is one of the reasons why trump won. I think she can be pretty loyal too but surely she has a price.

  20. Kate says:

    I don’t think there’s any point in the recount, or rather, I don’t see how anything can come of it. If Hillary had fought the result immediately then sure, maybe, but it was pretty clear from the way she handled her election night event and delayed her concession speech that she spent that night deciding whether to fight it or concede, and she chose concede.

    It would take something very extreme to walk that back, and while I’m sure there were issues this year, I haven’t seen any suggestion of issues beyond that which are present in every election.

  21. Greeneyes says:

    I can’t help but feel very uneasy and very afraid of where the next 4 years will lead find in the US. Trump has no intention of conducting the position if President with the protocols that are in place nor does he seem to care about the Constitution, amendments, or anything. Trump only cares about what Trump wants and needs at any given moment & to heck w/ the consequences or damage left behind. He could care less about America & it’s people, he only cares about himself & maybe that top 1%. You know he will not work w/ anyone he feels has slihted him, Romney will not be Sec of State, Trump is just trying to make him jump thru hoops & humiliate him, I honestly am afraid he will gonthru Hillary & Bill’s life & foundation hoping to find something to go after them (word has it he already asked other countries to do so). So even in public when Trump smiles, waves, and makes positive comments (w/ or w/o a lil shade), you know inside he is foaming at the hands with nasty tweets just busting to let you know how he really feels. This will be done against anyone the next 4 years, no matter who they are. How many officials in other countries will be offended, how many dirty deals will he make, how many secrets will he out to spite someone & put them in harms way… you don’t know what kind of childish retaliation the Orange one will do next. I do not see this man giving up the title President in years or even 8, he already acts like it’s his yo do with as he pleases (meeting w/ other world leaders, conducting personal business during those meetings, having family members present, putting family in top positions, not putting his businesses in blind trust or stepping down from his businesses, etc), and he has teen been sworn in yet.

    • Sam says:

      Actually Nikki Haley criticized him left and right and he just appointed her as the UN Ambassador.

      • Rhiley says:

        SC is my home state and we think he did it not to “promote” Haley, because really it would suit her better in the long term to remain governor especially if she wants to run for a higher office (which she does), but instead to promote his buddy McMaster who has wants the governor spot. McMaster loves trump and has from the word go. Haley took the bait.

      • Snowflake says:

        @ childhood
        Wow!

      • Olenna says:

        @Rhiley, how devious is that! I have no sympathy for Haley, though.

    • Greeneyes says:

      @Rhiley… exactly. Put her in a position so he could help his friend into power.

      @ Sam Let’s be honest Trump does Not hold the UN in high regard or respect its organization. How many times has he said we will split from it during his multiple position shifts? So I don’t think Trump considers this a promotion for Gov. Hailey, in fact I would be willing to bet he sees it as a demotion, should he make good on his threat Gov. Hailey would have no position. One thing I think we can all say about DT, he does hold grudges & he is unpredictable. So you never know…

  22. PlaidSheets says:

    Absolutely! I am also of the opinion that your opinion is nonesense and should never be seen by anyone ever. See how that works? Just because you have an opinion, doesn’t mean that it should considered or given the full weight of a thought out, fact-based one. Opinions contradict and it’s up to the blog owners to chose where they want to come down on any particular topic. They do not owe you anything. Especially to be balanced for the sake of balance– that’s how climate change deniers get their say even when the vast majority of the scientific community have accepted it as fact.

    *your opinion doesn’t bother, and I actually enjoy it as shining example of entitlement among other things.

  23. Juliette says:

    Anyone hat would be openly racist, mysoginistic, bigoted as he has been doesn’t deserve a chance. He mocks the disabled, admits to groping women. No. No benefit of the doubt.

    On top of that he lacks any experience In diplomacy, foreign affairs and sides with dictators.

  24. somelikeitpink says:

    okay question for the people who know stuff about this..

    In theory.. since hillary has conceded – if the recounts showed a different outcome would she still even be eligible?

    • lightpurple says:

      Yes.

    • Lambda says:

      The concession is not legally binding.

    • jwoolman says:

      The media made the call. Nothing is official until the Electoral College votes on Dec 19 and Congress certifies it Jan 6. Some states are still counting ballots (such as absentee). The recounts must be completed before the EC meets.

    • Scout says:

      A concession is strictly PR so that both sides theoretically “unite” and move forward, it’s in no way legally binding. What is legally binding is if the Trump campaign had knowledge of or took part in aiding people to hack the vote systems in key states so as to give him a favorable outcome.

  25. robyn says:

    Trump disqualified himself in so many different ways, too numerous to mention here, and is far too easy to normalize for the lazy media and short attention spans of most people. The fact that he got any votes at all is shocking and hurtful. It seems more likely that Russia helped in more ways than we already know and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if electronic votes were changed in his favor. Otherwise, I would have to assume that American’s would prefer a nasty bigot as president to a strong experienced woman with a solid record of public service. That stinks!

    • Scout says:

      Right? Like, I NEED to know that this was all a huge error and that people really aren’t this obtuse or selfish. It’s not even about Hillary being elected (despite me needing that with every fiber of my being), I just need to have some faith restored in humanity,

  26. swak says:

    Off topic, but can we talk about Trump’s choice for Sec’y of Education – Betsy DeVos? I am really glad that I’m retired from teaching at this point. My grandson wants to be a teacher but at this point I really want to discourage it. If you thought our education system was bad, it’s going to get worse if this person is in charge.

    • Elle R says:

      His entire cabinet is an abomination! His choices are so awful that part of me feels like he’s doing anything he can to get the electoral college to vote for Clinton.

  27. Bonbons says:

    Trumps a buffoon, no question. Clintons a liar and a hypocrite. So much for it being a “direct threat to democracy” to not accept results.

    I don’t know whether to ask Santa for a 2016 do-over……or a FF to 2021.

    • robyn says:

      Trump is a far bigger liar than Clinton could ever hope to be. She wanted to help her country and she was capable of doing it. This irrational “dislike” of her is shooting yourself in the foot.

    • lightpurple says:

      She has not done anything hypocritical. A federal court just ruled that one of the state’s in question suppressed votes in the last two elections and the same unconstitutional system is in place. Other data shows new inconsistencies in that state and for several other states. She is not the one who requested the recounts/audits and money was raised for those audits from millions of voters in an extremely short time. She is standing up to ensure the integrity of the electoral process when the recount is done, she will accept it. All candidates have a right to a recount and or an audit. Trump’s issue was something completely different. He indicated that he would not accept as valid any result that did not have him winning and that goes beyond a recount. Indeed, he indicated yesterday that he did not accept the results in many of the states he lost.

      • Kitten says:

        NOOOOOOO! Don’t take away their false equivalencies–that’s all they have left 🙁

        The world will go to shit over the next four years and we’ll still be hearing “But Clinton….”

      • Shambles says:

        You are far too patient and far too decent, LP. Thank you for advocating for the facts. Unfortunately, this poster will be back on tomorrow’s Trump post with the same false equivalence.

    • Shambles says:

      Take your false equivalence over to Breitbart or Fox News.
      I’m not going to waste the energy trying to explain why Trump and Clinton are in NO way on the same level, because several other posters have already tried to explain it to you and you just don’t care to listen. You’re still back on every Trump post spouting that sh!t.

      • SusanneToo says:

        It’s funny how one person is always here to spout breitbart and there’ll be a second person giving their oh, so cool, trump support, then the next day that second person will have a different name and the day after that yet another name and so on. Hmmm.

    • Elle R says:

      Over two million Americans are not having their votes counted because of their geographic location. Congressional gerrymandering has been a major issue since 2010, especially in states like Michigan (look at total votes cast by party versus who got sent to Congress), which effectively nullifies the voice of the majority of citizens in those states. Add to that the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act and the false narrative about voter fraud. And then if that’s not enough, the President-Elect has shown a frightening lack of understanding about the powers of the office and the Constitution, all while appointing people who believe it’s legal to disenfranchise millions of Americans.

      There is a direct threat to democracy, but it’s not questioning some screwy voting numbers.

    • Bonbons says:

      It’s going to be so much fun to watch melt down number 2 when the the recount shows again that Trump won the electoral college and thus the presidency . I’m just going to grab my popcorn and sit back for the second Show.

      • lightpurple says:

        So, you enjoy watching the president-elect have meltdowns? Nobody is expecting the recount to change much. I do have to wonder about those who oppose it. Why do they dislike the idea of fair elections? Why do they dislike the idea of accuracy?

      • Bonbons says:

        Nope, Didn’t vote for DT or HRC. Libertarian voter. It wasn’t a protest vote (not that it matters)…..every policy based political assessment I take aligns me there,

        But I do find the histrionics of all this……well mind boggling in its hypocrisy on just about every level (and every place) that exists.

      • lightpurple says:

        I didn’t say you voted for either of them and given that your second paragraph answers my initial question quite fully in the affirmative, your answer should have been “yes”, not “nope.”

      • Elle R says:

        I’m all for popcorn for celebrity gossip, but this is maybe not the time to be so flippant. People are understandably concerned about Trump in the White House for a multitude of reasons.

        I don’t see this as hypocrisy at all. If this were 2012 and Romney had won, I think you would have seen a lot of disappointed people, but not this level of concern because this level of concern wasn’t warranted.

      • Kitten says:

        A “Libertarian”, eh?

        So you voted for the dude who doesn’t know where Aleppo is and couldn’t name even one foreign leader? Yikes and LOL

      • Bonbons says:

        Light purple…..your point is well taken. When you have a crazy man elected president who drunk tweets, people going ballistic on all sides, the party of “love trumps hate” and inclusiveness ate up with hateful histrionics and attacking differences of opinion small and large, a former candidate who previously said “not accepting the election results is a direct threat to democracy” now choosing to do so……

        Yeah, all is left is either participate or pop some popcorn.

        I just decided. I’m asking Santa to FF to 2021.

        @kitten. Wasn’t happy to vote for Johnson but I have every hope he could correctly identify (non) sniper fire upon landing, doesn’t participate in “pay for play” with a foundation, etc. so how much foreign govt backed fund raising do you think the Clinton foundation will receive NOW, eh? But yeah……no reason to be suspicious of that 😱

        There is plenty to throw at everyone on that2016 ballot, hence my decision not to relive 2016 and ask Santa for 2021instead.

        At least my guy isn’t a direct threat to democracy as defined by your gal. Can’t say that about the other 3 at this point (HRC included )!😎

      • lightpurple says:

        You don’t seem to get my point at all what with being so histrionic about others being histrionic. I wouldn’t count on this country still being recognizable in 2021 but you go right on ahead and skip to that time. Good luck.

      • Bonbons says:

        Light purple. I got it, In fact, I conceded it! That is what my first sentence meant — your point is well taken.

        The fact that I choose To be sanguine (as much as is possible) in my acceptance of the election results is what differentiates me from most posters here, Sorry — not sorry for that.

      • Nic919 says:

        So I wonder when the first suicide bomber goes for a Trump hotel? I mean what is a better target than a large building with the name of the guy who openly hates Muslims. ISIS is not stupid and are planning this already.

        The extra security that Trump is going to cost him will cost billions. Hotels with his name outside the US are definitely targets, especially the one in Turkey, and no one is going to want his name on anything because it will cost too much for security. Trumps brand will be destroyed because of his own ego and greed. I will bring the popcorn out for that.

      • lightpurple says:

        And I am not sorry about my anger at anyone who stands by and munches popcorn while Paul Ryan readies his latest version of HR 3762 for Trump’s signature. I have a right to live and no, I’m not being histrionic about it, given that, for the past five years, Ryan has been trying to deprive me and millions of others of the access to the tools we need to continue living. I’ve read the legislative proposals. I know the cast of characters. And I see no reason for sanguinity.

      • robyn says:

        It’s sickening how someone can talk so lightly about eating popcorn during a recount and voting for someone who doesn’t know where Aleppo is while exaggerating HRC’s faults and taking Trump’s seriously unfit nature and authoritarian style, sexism and demagoguery in stride. It’s people like this who helped this most undeserving man to the top. Sad and scary. Fiddle or eat popcorn while Rome burns.

  28. Saks says:

    My country got screwed in 2006 after a rigged election (there is even a documental about it named “Fraude”), the “winner”, an alcoholic bigot, got us into the war on drugs and the hell we are living today.
    So guys, I really hope you can recount the votes and that that makes a difference.

  29. aquarius64 says:

    The new Twitter hissy fit is Trump’s ego run amok. He can’t stand the fact he lost by the popular vote and he fears the recount may overturn the results. US allies and enemies are seeing the meltdowns. SMH.

  30. joannie says:

    Just when I thought he couldn’t possibly be more despicable, he is.

  31. Elle R says:

    I’m starting to feel like those in power are scrambling for anything and everything to have the Electoral College elect Clinton.

    I do not like Paul Ryan, but I do think, in his own way, he’s an intelligent guy. He’s also as power hungry as Hillary, and so I imagine he recognizes that a Trump presidency would very likely end Ryan’s plans of eventually being president. Quite frankly, if I’m Paul Ryan, I’m pulling some Frank Underwood maneuvering behind the scenes to try and get Clinton into the White House. With her there, he can rail for four years about this election, oppose everything and do nothing while setting the stage for a 2020 presidential run.

    • lightpurple says:

      Ryan does not want Clinton in the White House. He wants a puppet so he can enact his schemes without anyone realizing he is the one who just denied heart surgery to their father or threw their grandmother out of a nursing home. He can do that with Trump or Pence as president. If they don’t follow his plans, he’ll impeach.

    • Scout says:

      Trump enabled Ryan to essentially have full control of the government. They retained the House and the Senate, in addition to getting their party’s candidate elected President. Paul Ryan is LOVING this. He can get away with anything over the next four years by blaming it on what an idiot Trump is. Heck, he’s one step from the White House as it stands. Trump flops and he’s VP. He couldn’t be happier.

    • Elle R says:

      Good points. Although I stand by my Frank Underwood comment – if anything, it’s even more appropriate. Ryan’s trying to figure out how to be a real-life House of Cards president.

      My only request is I’d like Kevin Spacey to play Ryan in the real-life version.

  32. Elizabeth Nocera says:

    What scares me is how is this childish man going to deal with a national crisis? If we get attacked is he just going to tweet about it for hours from his penthouse.

  33. LinaLamont says:

    Sorry if this has been posted… no time to read all posts.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-false-tweets_us_583b97c4e4b000af95eeaf53

  34. Harla Jodet says:

    Someone really needs to block his Twitter access.

    • Olenna says:

      Or suspend his cell phone service completely just like you’d do with an adolescent when they abuse privileges or can’t get their sh*t together.

    • Julia says:

      Agreed. He’s embarrassingly un-Presidential in his conduct, including his lack of self-control, erratic behavior and routine evidencing of his lack of qualifications for the job.

  35. reg says:

    Don’t forget this idiot sued a couple with a last name Trump so they could not benefit
    from his real estate empire, destroyed priceless statues at Bonwitt Teller during demolition and also sued someone for 250 million for stating his buildings are ugly’ that case was thrown out for 1st amendment. As you can see he intends to rule this country by twitter without press until he’s impeached or taken to a loonie bin. I wander what the proceeding are if he is judged to
    be mentally unfit.

  36. isabelle says:

    New York Times published a well investigated, several journalists investigated all over the world, hit piece on him before his Twitter rant. So once again he is distracting from what he is trying to cover up. The article was on his international business dealings, his already hiring of staff associated with them and how they can effect his Presidency. He does this to distract from what he doesn’t want the media talking about and its the NYT article published this weekend.

  37. Paula mind says:

    Well, congratulations america for this “president”
    The next 4 year will be an embarrassment

    Unbelievable how ridiculous a human being can be.

    • LinaLamont says:

      I don’t care about how ridiculous he is. I care about how dangerous he (this includes his “administraton”, supporters, media) is.

    • Amanda DG says:

      With how dumb half of the voting public was to elect him, I fully expect it to be 8 years. I’m so embarrassed for my country.

  38. Scout says:

    This idiot tweeted about the Wisconsin recount *13* times in less than 24 hours. As if that is not mind blowing enough, he said the election had been rigged – the same election that he WON. He has now validated recounts because he’s too thin skinned to focus on anything but his ego. THIS is the person who will be leader of the free world, ladies and gents. I give him 2 weeks before he Tweets classified information. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has been forwarding Putin his daily intel briefings through his own private server. But you know, let’s all unite and give him a ~chance.

    • SusanneToo says:

      Well, trump’s not reading the intel briefings-probably sending them to putin and then getting the Cliff’s Notes version sent back.

      • LinaLamont says:

        @SusanneToo
        I fail to believe that anyone is giving Trump real briefings. I believe there are 2 sets. He gets the non-working make-believe Playskool briefings. Pence gets the real ones.

    • lightpurple says:

      He has refused to accept the daily security briefings from the Obama administration so anything he has is from his own less than credible sources. Good luck to Putin with that.

      • Scout says:

        Oh I know, I’m just saying that the briefings he should be reading are being sent straight to Putin.

  39. nicole says:

    He is so childish, he cant stand the fact that Hillary won the popular vote, he will tell lies like this, because all his cult following beleive whatever he says, he is a complete clown, and I dont know how he is ever going to run a country, when he behaves the way he does.

  40. Josefina says:

    And this man will have access to nuclear codes.

    I know, I know, some of you may roll your eyes at this discussion, but just because it hasn’t happened in a long time it doesn’t mean it won’t happen ever again.

  41. Ninks says:

    A guy I follow on twitter calls him Trumplethinskin, which is genius.

  42. Amanda DG says:

    How can his supporters be this ignorant and blinded by his blatant lies and hypocrisy? I applaud Dr Stein for the recount effort and I don’t care if she has ulterior motives. I don’t expect the recount to lead to a Clinton victory, but if there is even a tiny chance that it might, then I am all for it and I happily donated to the cause. I do not want Trump as my president. He is disgusting. I still can’t believe this is really happening…a reality TV host is the president elect.

    • Jayna says:

      It won’t. Trump won by a wide margin of electorate votes. Gore not only won the popular vote, he lost the electorate vote only by like five, bush 271 to Gore 266. It was squeaky close. Not so for Hillary with 232 to Trump well over the needed 270, with 306. But Hillary winning the popular vote by 2 million makes a statement Trump can’t hide from.

      • Amanda DG says:

        As I said, I’m aware the outcome probably won’t change. However, it’s worth it for peace of mind. Plus, it’s great to get under Trump’s skin and watch him explode.

  43. yoon says:

    “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally” Godamnit, I hate this man so much. He just throws random shit out there whenever things don’t go his way, regardless of fact. It astonishes me that he got this far with this small a brain.

  44. Miss Jupitero says:

    And while The Cheeto Mussolini plays around onTwitter, North Korea will soon have a missile that can reach American ground. And when they do, we will have a president in office who has no political experience, and who routinely skips out on security briefings. This is terrifying.

  45. Betsy says:

    There is a 100% chance this election was rigged; Donald knows this, hence him braying about it for months. Whether or not they can prove it is another thing.

  46. Veronica says:

    Oh my God, he literally just implied that the election HE won was illegitimate. Oh my God, people actually voted for this man.

    Me? I totally gave $10 to the recount purely out of spite. I mean, the man told us the election was rigged. Let him reap what he sows.

  47. MFM008 says:

    I cannot believe this horrible creature will have anything to do with making judgments about all of our lives.

  48. robyn says:

    Okay so now DT wants to “prosecute” Hillary as punishment for going along with the recount. The man is an evil dictator. When is someone going to put HIM in jail for all his misdeeds?