'Then Biden wins': Internet explodes after Trump demands vote-counting stop
On Thursday morning, November 5 — with former Vice President Joe Biden having won Wisconsin and Michigan and the vote counting continuing in Pennsylvania, Georgia and other states — President Donald Trump tweeted, "STOP THE COUNT!". And Twitter is blowing up with reactions from users who stressed that if the vote counting stopped in Arizona and Nevada — where Biden was ahead in the vote count — Trump would lose the election.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman noted, "If this happened, Biden would win based on what he has in now.
Twitter user Aaron Booth, @ActorAaronBooth, implied that Trump was shooting himself in the foot with that tweet, posting, "If counting stopped now, Biden would win Arizona and Nevada and therefore 270 electoral voted to Trump's 268. Trump's best chance would be faithless electors."
Emily C. Singer, @CahnEmily, a reporter for the American Independent, had similar thoughts, tweeting, "OK, then Biden wins." And BuzzFeed reporter Matt Berman noted, "If this happened right now, Trump would lose."
Reporter Neil King, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, wrote, "The Madness of King Donald." And CNN's Chris Cillizza posted, "This is fundamentally un-democratic."
Twitter user Michael Simon, @MBSimon, sarcastically posted, "*Offer not valid in Arizona."
@Paulyouk was outraged by Trump's tweet, posting, "Shutting down the vote (count) is full scale, 'democracy is dead' level authoritarianism, not 'authoritarian-lite.'" And political science professor Pierre Atlas, @PierreAtlas, tweeted, "The traditional American expression on Election Day is, 'Let the chips fall where they may.' The Trump re-election strategy: keep the chips from falling. This is not normal. This is un-American."
