Donald Trump gained 6.36 million more voters in 2020 compared with his successful 2016 campaign. Photo / AP
Donald Trump gained 6.36 million more voters in 2020 compared with his successful 2016 campaign. Photo / AP
Editorial
EDITORIAL:
Never mind the so-called mysterious "secretly dumped ballots" which dropped into Joe Biden's vote tally, as claimed by the Donald Trump camp, what about the 70-odd million votes for Trump?
"The pollsters got it knowingly wrong," Trump declared in his rambling press conference on Friday. "Media polling was electoral interference."
Trump said the polls were created as an illusion of support behind Biden which didn't actually exist. "They are what is called suppression polls," he said.
"There was no blue wave that they predicted ... instead, it was a big red wave."
Trump's allegations come straight from his playbook of obfuscation and blaming others. So wild were his remarks that one major US network refused to broadcast them, cutting away instead to experts fact-checking and dispelling them.
But one big question is: How did Trump get so many votes?
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This election, just as was the case in New Zealand last month, was largely predicted to be a referendum on Covid-19. Had the incumbent leader done well enough to be handed back the job to carry on?
This week, the United States of America hit more than 100,000 new cases in a single day - 107,872 on November 4 - a new high. The current wave has been climbing since September 8, and has not yet shown any sign of a plateau. There have been more than 235,000 deaths.
Focus Live: Defiant Trump insists election is stolen
A defiant Donald Trump addressed media from The White House slamming a "corrupt" mail-in voting system, media and the Democrat machine. Video / AP ...
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NOW PLAYING • Focus Live: Defiant Trump insists election is stolen
A defiant Donald Trump addressed media from The White House slamming a "corrupt" mail-in voting system, media and the Democrat machine. Video / AP ...
Out of 218 countries, the US is ranked ninth for the most deaths per million citizens. Worst nations include those who denied Covid-19 existed or had vicious first waves and have since completely recovered.
Early commentary on the election pointed out many of the states hardest hit with Covid-19 were voting for Trump.
It may well be that Republican voters believe Trump is not to blame for the response to Covid-19 in their state. They may have also misled pollsters when asked about who they were going to vote for.
Trump called the election "the greatest turnout of Republican Party history". The numbers bear that out. It also seems to be the most inexplicable.
As a notorious boxing promoter, who beat a murder rap twice, once declared: "Only in America."