2020 U.S.General Election Still Undeclared

On Wednesday, November 3, 2020, the United States has not declared a winner of the 2020 Presidential Election. The process essentially involves Americans voting for electors, the electors voting for the president, and then Congress declaring the winner. In addition to the Electoral College, certifying the winner of the presidential election involves the Senate, House of Representatives, and the National Archives.

As of 11.04.2020 several states were still counting ballots and electoral votes.

After months of sowing distrust and confusion, Donald Trump confirmed the worst fears of his opponents by making a false declaration of victory in the US presidential election at 2:21 A. M. He then threatened to plunge the nation into a constitutional crisis presumably using the Supreme Court, Republican Senators, and Attorney General William Barr.

Trump also turned to Twitter where his tweets were flagged as containing false information and tagged, "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process."

Vice President Joe Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a released statement, "The president's statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect."

Trump's early morning declaration had some senators, lawyers, and historians likened the move, 'unprecedented in American history, to a presidential coup'.

During his early morning rant, Trump had listed some correct state victories and some false claims of state victories. He also continued his rhetoric of unfounded conspiracy theories.

"And did I predict this, did I say this? I've been saying this from the day I heard they were going to send out tens of millions of ballots because either they were going to win or, if they didn't win, they'll take us to court," Trump said.

He added: "This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity – for the good of this nation, this is a very big moment – this is a major fraud on our nation.

Dillon, Biden's campaign manager, said: "The counting will not stop. It will continue until every duly cast vote is counted. Because that is what our laws – the laws that protect every Americans' constitutional right to vote – require."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York, tweeted: "Donald Trump's premature claims of victory are illegitimate, dangerous and authoritarian. Count the votes. Respect the results."

The Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar added: "The irony of worrying about people turning America into Somalia, while allowing Trump to do literally what Somali dictators used to do.

Historian Michael Beschloss posted: "Trump claiming a victory he never won, and saying he will take it to the supreme court. This is what dictators do. Stop."

Even conservatives expressed criticism, Justin Amash, a former Republican congressman from Michigan, tweeted: "That was one of the most dishonest and despotic speeches ever given by a president of the United States."

Ben Shapiro, an author and media personality, wrote: "No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has."

David Plouffe, a former campaign manager and White House senior adviser for Barack Obama, predicted "dark and scary days" to come.

Author Don Winslow tweeted, It shouldn't be this close. Not after caging children. Not after selling out our soldiers. Not after 230,000 dead. Not after 4 years of breaking every law on the books. It should not be this close.

To which actor Mark Ruffalo replied to Winslow tweet, "America is suffering a soul sickness. We have to understand the divisive and violent character of this nation. Repair and Heal the genocide and slavery that we are also founded upon. Give those things their proper place and honor so that we can become whole."

David Plouffe, a former campaign manager and White House senior adviser for Barack Obama told MSNBC: "It's one of the darkest hours the White House has ever seen, one of the darkest hours in American history ... Even if Trump's not successful, and I don't think he will be if the votes are there for Joe Biden, you're going to have to 40 to 45% of the country believing him, which is going to affect our democracy going forward."