Donald Trump calls for a revolution, are we surprised? Trump, a perennial critic of Barack Obama, predictably did not take news of the President’s re-election sitting down.
Last night, Trump broadcast several misguided tweets on the popular vote. “[Obama] lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!”
Next time, the Donald should hire a fact checker before tweeting. The President has won the popular vote in addition to the needed electoral votes. CNN currently has the President winning by over 2 million votes. Latest figures estimate 59.8 million voters for President Obama and 57.1 for GOP Challenger Mitt Romney.
New York Times political analyst Nate Silver expects Obama to eventually win by two or three percentage points, once votes from Democratic strongholds in California, Oregon and Washington trickle in from the West Coast.
Trump’s call for revolution is a dramatic way to ignite discussion of the Electoral College system, which in heated elections can theoretically cause a candidate to win the presidency without securing the popular vote.
Coming from Trump, a businessman and Republican, this call for “revolution” is odd though, as the only President in history to win in such a manner was fellow Republican George W. Bush in 2004. Thus, Trump’s comment that “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy” appears opportunist, rather than genuine.
While Trump’s Twitter page regularly displays mild buffoonery, his tone darkened last night, urging Americans to “march on Washington and stop this travesty.” Trump added they should “fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice.”
The tweets were later deleted, likely in a morning-after PR scramble.
Trump’s tweets caught the attention of many, including exasperated NBC News anchor Brian Williams. During last night’s election coverage, Williams remarked, “Donald Trump, who has driven well past the last exit to relevance and veered into something closer to irresponsible here, is tweeting tonight.”
Indeed, Trump proved himself something beyond a sore loser with his Election Night tweets, with language certainly unpatriotic and bordering on violent.
Perhaps NBC will take these remarks into consideration when evaluating Trump’s Apprentice contract, which is set to expire in Spring of 2013. Once a buzz factor for the network, Trump may now have become more of a liability.
At the very least, he appears to be adhering to the Charlie Sheen school of self-promotion, with no signs of letting up.
