President Donald Trump accused Fox News of playing a role in the difference between the results of the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, again pointing to his popular vote increase as proof of a disparity.
Fox News has, like other news networks, recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect after the Electoral College certified his election victory this week, a move Trump says happened “despite the fact that I went from 63,000,000 Votes to 75,000,000 Votes, a record 12,000,000 Vote increase.”
“Obama went down 3,000,000 Votes, and won,” he added. “Rigged Election!!!”
Perhaps the biggest difference between 2016 and 2020 is @FoxNews, despite the fact that I went from 63,000,000 Votes to 75,000,000 Votes, a record 12,000,000 Vote increase. Obama went down 3,000,000 Votes, and won. Rigged Election!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2020
The president’s claim was soon flagged under Twitter’s civic integrity policy, which prohibits individuals from spreading disinformation about elections on its platform. He was immediately criticized for continuing to dispute the results of the election even though no evidence of fraud has been found, all while the coronavirus pandemic continues to claim thousands of American lives each week.
“Every second of your day, every ounce of your being, should be focused on saving Americans, not this frivolous nonsense, you sore loser,” wrote activist Scott Dworkin.
Americans are dying. They’re dying. And you’re talking about Fox News and conspiracy theories. Shame on you forever. Every second of your day, every ounce of your being, should be focused on saving Americans, not this frivolous nonsense, you sore loser. You’re an abomination.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 16, 2020
Former New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse also weighed in, saying the president is displaying the behavior of “a selfish little boy who won’t admit he lost.”
“He is dividing our nation and sabotaging our democracy,” he added.
Deep down, Trump is a selfish little boy who won't admit he lost. He pushes delusional claims of massive election fraud that judge after judge has thrown out of court. He is dividing our nation & sabotaging our democracy. The selfish boy needs to grow up & accept reality—HE LOST
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) December 16, 2020
Another person pointed out that high voter turnout clearly didn’t favor the president.
It OBVIOUSLY depends on the number of people who voted.
More people voted in this election than ever before.
How is this complicated?
— Jay Lionel (@JayLionel7) December 16, 2020
Biden has received more than 81,000,000 votes––81,283,485 votes as of this writing––compared to Trump’s 74,223,744.
Trump has long described his first election win as a “landslide,” but has failed to note that Biden defeated him by the same electoral margin Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by in 2016. But even that is misleading.
Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight “found that the percentage of electoral vote won by Trump — 56.9 percent — was well below the historical average, 70.9 percent,” according to a Factcheck.org investigation conducted in 2016.
Factcheck.org continued, noting that “Silver found that Trump’s share of electoral votes ranked 44th out of 54 elections going back to 1804. Before that, he noted, “presidential electors cast two votes each, making it hard to compare them to present-day elections.”
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.