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Republican incumbent Donald Trump continues to see himself as the winner of the presidential election. “If you count the legal votes, I would easily win,” Trump said in a press appearance at the White House on Thursday evening, alluding to the bleak prospects for his re-election. He reiterated the accusation that “illegal votes” were being counted and that the Democrats were “trying to steal the election.
Trump listed his successes in the presidential election and referred to his performance in Florida and Ohio. He complained that his original leadership had been “pushed down” in several states and expressed fears that he might eventually “fall a little behind” even in the embattled state of Georgia. In contrast, in Arizona – where he apparently has nothing to complain about in the continuation of the count – he is “on the road to victory”.
Trump stressed that he wanted to “protect the integrity of this election. Without any evidence, the incumbent reaffirmed that the election had been rigged and stolen. He merely made sweeping accusations that massive use was made of postal voting and that votes were then accepted “without a stamp or signature”. He wanted an “honest count”, said Trump, who again promised a decision “before the highest court in the country”.
Outcome in four states depends on only 84,000 votes
The race between the Republican Donald Trump and the Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential election is becoming increasingly close. In the four contested states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, the two opponents were separated by a total of only 84,000 votes late Thursday evening (local time). The narrowest gap was in Georgia, where the count was most advanced, with 1,805 votes. Trump led there ahead of Biden, as he did in Pennsylvania with 24,484 votes.
Biden was ahead in Nevada (11,438) and Arizona (46,667). Only in Nevada did the gap between the two candidates widen, in all other states it shrank. The two western states (six and eleven voters, respectively) are, however, only side stages in the race for the White House. The incumbent Trump, who is trailing in the number of electors, needs victories in Georgia (16) and Pennsylvania (20) to maintain his chances for a second term.
In an interim calculation, Biden currently has 264 electors (including Arizona, which the news agency AP and the broadcaster Fox News had already awarded him on election night). Thus, a victory in Nevada, which is considered likely, is enough for him, since it is the only contested state that the hapless Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had already won four years ago. Trump had won Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. He was also successful in the rust belt states of Michigan and Wisconsin, which this time Biden was able to secure.
Trump kicks off wave of lawsuits
In view of the dwindling chances of victory in the U.S. presidential election, incumbent Donald Trump has his lawyers march in. On Thursday the Republican announced lawsuits in all US states, in which Biden “recently” claimed victory for himself. As on the day before, he cited electoral fraud as the reason, but again provided no evidence for the allegation.
The camp of his challenger Joe Biden was unimpressed. Victory is imminent, said his campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon. She called Trump’s actions desperate.
Even two days after the vote, the winner was still not known. The unclear situation exacerbated the tense mood in the deeply divided country. In several cities, both Trump and Biden supporters took to the streets for the second day in a row. It remained mostly peaceful, even though some participants appeared with weapons.
- hector pascua, with reports from news agencies and oe24.at. Graphic: Associated Press
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