Biden sees way to 270; Trump attacks election integrity
President Donald Trump is testing what lengths he can go in using the trappings of presidential capacity to undermine confidence in this week’s election against Joe Biden, as the Democrat gained ground in tight contests in a few key battleground states.
Along with his pathway to re-election appearing to shrink, Trump on Thursday advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud to falsely argue that his rival was trying to seize power. It amounted to a fantastic effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.
“This is a case when they want to steal an election, they want to rig an election,” Trump said from the podium of the White House briefing room.
The president’s remarks deepened a feeling of anxiety in the U.S. as Americans enter their third full day following the election without knowing who serve as president for another four years. His statements also prompted a rebuke from some Republicans, particularly those seeking to steer the party in a different direction in a post-Trump era.
Neither candidate has already reached the 270 Electoral College votes had a need to win the White House. But Biden eclipsed Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial Midwestern battleground states, and was inching nearer to overtaking the president in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where votes were still be counted.
It was unclear whenever a national winner will be determined after an extended, bitter campaign dominated by the coronavirus and its own effects on Americans and the national economy. The U.S. on Wednesday set another record for daily confirmed cases as several states posted all-time highs. The pandemic has killed more than 233,000 people in the United States.
Biden spent Thursday trying to help ease tensions and project a far more traditional image of presidential leadership. After participating in a coronavirus briefing, he declared that “each ballot must be counted.”
“I ask everyone to stay calm. The procedure is working,” Biden said. “It is the will of the voters. No one, not anyone else who chooses the president of america of America.”
Biden’s victories in the upper Midwest put him in a solid position, but Trump showed no sign of giving up. It could take several more days for the vote count to summarize and a clear winner to emerge. With an incredible number of ballots yet to be tabulated, Biden already had received more than 73 million votes, the most ever sold.
Trump’s erroneous claims about the integrity of the election challenged Republicans now faced with the decision of whether to break with a president who, though his grip on his office grew tenuous, commanded sky-high approval ratings from rank-and-file members of the GOP.
Democratic presidential prospect former Vice President Joe Biden joined by Democratic vice presidential prospect Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at the The Queen theater Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.
Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, a potential 2024 presidential hopeful who has often criticized Trump, said unequivocally: “There is no defense for the President’s comments tonight undermining our Democratic process. America is counting the votes, and we should respect the results as we will have before.”
But other people who are rumored to be turning over a White House run of their own in four years aligned themselves with the incumbent, including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who tweeted support for Trump’s claims, writing that “If last a day have made anything clear, it’s that people need new election integrity laws NOW.”
Trump’s campaign engaged in a flurry of legal activity to attempt to improve the Republican president’s chances, requesting a recount in Wisconsin and filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Judges in Georgia and Michigan quickly dismissed Trump campaign lawsuits there on Thursday.
Trump held a tiny edge in Georgia, though Biden was gaining on him as votes stayed counted. The same was true in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s lead had slipped to about 22,000 votes - and the race is destined to get tighter.
One reason is basically because elections officials weren't permitted to process mail-in ballots until Election Day under state law. It’s a sort of voting that has skewed heavily in Biden’s favor after Trump spent months claiming without proof that voting by mail would bring about widespread voter fraud.
Mail ballots from over the state were overwhelmingly breaking in Biden’s direction. A final vote total might not exactly be clear for days as the make use of mail-in ballots, which take additional time to process, has surged as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Trump campaign said it was confident the president would ultimately grab a victory in Arizona, where votes were also still being counted, including in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous area. The AP has declared Biden the winner in Arizona and said Thursday that it had been monitoring the vote count since it proceeded.
“The Associated Press continues to view and analyze vote count results from Arizona because they can be found in,” said Sally Buzbee, AP’s executive editor. “We will follow the facts in every cases.”
Trump’s campaign was lodging legal challenges in a number of states, though he faced long odds. He would need to win multiple suits in multiple states in order to stop vote counts, since more than one state was undeclared.
A number of the Trump team’s lawsuits only demand better access for campaign observers to spots where ballots are being processed and counted. A judge in Georgia dismissed the campaign’s suit there significantly less than 12 hours after it had been filed. And a Michigan judge dismissed a Trump lawsuit over whether enough GOP challengers had usage of handling of absentee ballots
Biden legal professional Bob Bauer said the suits were legally “meritless.” Their only purpose, he said “is to create an opportunity for them to message falsely about what’s taking place in the electoral process.”
