WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump told Capitol Hill leaders Monday evening that he lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million “illegals” voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to three sources in both parties familiar with the meeting.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he lost the popular vote in November’s election because of voter fraud. There is no evidence of this, and none that millions of undocumented immigrants voted for Clinton. It’s a fixation for Trump, who won the election because of Electoral College votes, but has had trouble accepting that Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.8 million.
“I don’t think he was joking,” said one person familiar with what happened in the meeting. “He spent 10 minutes on his win and said he won the popular vote, except 3 to 5 million illegals voted for” Clinton.
Another source confirmed Trump used the word “illegals,” considered an offensive term for undocumented immigrants.
First off, the term “illegals” is just offensive. The President of the United States should not be using offensive language about any one.
Secondly, he didn’t win the popular vote because he got 2.8 million votes fewer than Hillary Clinton. Yet he won. Isn’t that enough? Must he whine over the popular vote while he sits in the White House? What kind of ingrate does that?
Thirdly, he lied. Yes, he lied. I don’t feel like making nice and calling it a falsehood. He has no proof or even hint or suggestion that illegal immigrants voted. The lying needs to stop and he will be held accountable for his lies. The continual, verifiable lies are obvious and undeniable. He doesn’t even care that we know he lies. I suppose in his mind, he excuses it because of the megalomania personality.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trumps-stock-in-dakota-access-oil-pipeline-raises-concerns/
Yes, he is an outright liar. Says he will release his taxes once audit is complete during election. Now says straight up he won’t. But even more troubling is his conflict of interests. He straight up personally profited from his decision to go forward with the South Dakota pipeline – and he knew it!! Where is the outrage from the Right on this problem.
Finally, is it just me or isn’t it a problem that a man being audited by the IRS is now in charge of the IRS? How much money is at stake in this audit? Of course, we don’t know!!
Fox guarding the hen house?
My fear is that the lies now matter. The man lies constantly – he has for years. By any unbiased evaluation he lies more than pretty much any political figure, and sticks to the lies when called out.
The disconcerting part is that he now has the U. S. Government and Republican Congress to back up his lies. His lies are repeated and backed up and will be used for policy. Climate change, social programs, border control, women’s and minority rights and foreign affairs are all subject to policy based on misinformation.
The major “fraud” that affected the election was the Russian-directed misinformation campaign and the voter restriction rules directed at minorities.
Middleman, your fears are very real. I share them. I am also concerned that we are no longer a trusted nation. What must our enemies and our allies think?
@MoonHowler
We’re looking at a major realignment in the world, with the US taking a back seat to China and Russia in trade and security. My sense is that our enemies and allies are preparing for that eventuality. Trump abandoning the TPP is the first step.
It is frightening. It also reminds me of what the German people must have felt like when Hitler came to power.
You may be shocked but I actually agree with you on a few things here. I do not feel that the term “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant” is offensive because according to the text of our laws that is the correct terminology to describe someone that is in this country illegally.
However, I personally do not like the term “illegals”. It is too general and broad brush like which does carry with it some negative connotations. I refrain from using that term and do not like my President using it either.
When it comes to the popular vote and the total number of illegal immigrants that voted I don’t fully trust his numbers. Did illegal immigrants vote illegally in the general election? Sure, I don’t think that anyone disputes the possibility of that happening. The question is, how many which is why I am glad that he said that he would open an investigation on the matter.
However, I would go one step further… In an interview on MSNBC (Rep.) Elijah Cummings suggested something that I think is a good idea. He said that President Trump should also look into “all of the people who don’t get the chance to vote or are denied the chance to vote”. I completely agree with that suggestion and I think it should be investigated fully. I feel that it would show voter id laws are not restrictive or discriminatory. Look at a country like India where the average annual income is $616 (or around just $1.73 a day) and they have national voter id laws.
Every wonder why so many dead people are registered voters? It’s because to remove them from the registry in most counties a family member has to come registry’s office and personally present a death certificate and request to have them removed from the registry. WTF? In IT security terms that does nothing to reduce the ‘attack surface’. Streamline a bunch of processes like this and it reduces the attack surface, or in other words, lessens the chance or opportunity for voter fraud. It’s not that hard…
I can’t disagree with much that you have said. “Illegals” is just ignorant and I have never heard anyone say it who wasn’t trying to be demeaning.
Trump should just leave well enough alone. He won. He didn’t win the popular vote. Get over it. He is being an infant over it. I think he is going to find that when he lives in a goldfish bowl some of his tantrums are going to backfire. One of his daughters, chief of staff and Treasury secretary are all registered to vote in two different states.
How do people unregister to vote? I never had my mother taken off the voter list and I doubt if she had my father removed. This should be easy. For that matter, funeral homes should be required to notify the city or county where the person resided. It would be even easier to have a state list of registered voters. Funeral homes notify. Done. One paper. The bastards charge enough as it is. One more step.
I don’t like the voting restrictions. I don’t think Virginia has been particularly draconian but NC and other localities sure have. I do not like having to bellow my name when the person sitting there has my id and the voting roster. I believe it violates my privacy.
Is there really a problem? Of course not. I mind Trump wasting the millions of dollars a full investigation is going to cost. He is paranoid.
I stayed quiet for a while and waited to see what would happen. Be a good citizen. Give the guy a chance. Enough of that.
So now I have to write it in my will to close my registration? He’s got friends and family who’ve been registered in two states!
My question is simply this. What kind of mischief is this intended to divert attention from?
Maybe the real purpose of the wall is to keep us in.
Lots of bright, shiny objects! What are they distracting us from?
I was asked by a close family member to give the guy a chance. My answer was emphatically NO. He had a chance, from the election to the inauguration. He continued to misbehave, reap embarrassment on the United States, and pick at people. He is a divider. He gets no chance from me and I have very few filters any more.
I have gone through and done round 3 of Facebook genocide.
He might even do a good thing every now and again. Too bad, at this point…its how he does it. I cannot stand to even look at him.
I agree, enough of that.
@Robin Hood
You certainly wouldn’t want to go overboard with giving the guy a chance. It has been about a whole week. How long can a partisan be expected to be a good citizen and keep quiet?
@Kelly_3406
I would say that Trump, through his actions of the past week, has already thrown away any good will his election may have bought him. Personally, I never said I would give the guy a chance (why should I given his campaign performance) but I certainly see why his honeymoon is over so quickly. You have no one but your president to blame for this reaction.
Kelly, he has had a chance. He blew it with me. I would have liked nothing better than for him to have acted decently after he won the election. If he fails, we all lose. He is failing.
Furthermore, if you really can’t stand someone, is that being a partisan? I disagree with Mike Pence on just about everything political. I still don’t think he is an evil person–just misguided. I don’t think Pence is mentally ill. You see where this is going….
He went to a ceremony to honor the sacrifice fallen CIA agents. Did he talk about them? Not much. Did he talk about himself? A lot!
He plans to pay for the wall by taxing Mexican imports. That means American consumers are supposed to pay for the wall.
Hillary’s not around anymore to make him look good.
The Russians own him.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
@Kelly_3406
I think we are in a very scary situation as a nation.
@Robin Hood
I have been very amused by the reaction to Trump.
Obama’s national security policy was an absolute disaster. He left the country in its worst strategic position in perhaps 50 years. Yet, I heard nothing but crickets about his failures.
Now Trump has taken power and continues to be obnoxious and crude. He broke some glass in his first week, but there has been no real strategic direction thus far.
Nevertheless, everyone acts like the sky is falling.
You’re going to get tired of dreaming up fake news and alternative facts to bash Obama so you can make Trump look better. The Mexican president is just the first world leader to dismiss this fool.
Good luck defending this clown. You’ll need a lot.
Kelly_3406,
It’s going to take a lot of fake news to make that fool look better. He was dissed by not one but two Mexican presidents!
Oh that’s what you all said about Bill Clinton. PUH-LEEZ. Who do you think got us in a strategic mess in the first place, by invading Iraq preemptively. Own it,
I sure don’t think Trump is funny. I wish I did think he was funny. He is obnoxious and crude. I will agree with you there and I think his policies are horrible.
Let’s direct this conversation to when Congress is going to see how dangerous he is and do something about it?
MoonHowler,
I do own it. We can disagree about the need to invade Iraq. But when Obama started his presidency in 2009, Iraq was quiet. US troops had quelled the Sunni Triangle, a relatively stable government was in place, Al Qaeda had been driven out, and sectarian violence was much reduced. US troops had won the war, despite the lack of planning by the Bush Administration.
Obama decided to withdraw US troops against the advice of the Pentagon. I said on this very blog in 2009 that it was a huge mistake. The stability provided by US troops deteriorated over time, and our victory was essentially thrown away. It also resulted in a power vacuum that allowed the genesis of ISIS.
The was the first in a series of strategic blunders by Obama. I can list many others if you wish.
Trump has yet to do anything this stupid. That’s not to say he won’t, but he has not yet.
@Kelly_3406
You do realize that in 2008 George W. Bush signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. It included a deadline of 31 December 2011, before which “all the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory”. The last U.S. troops left Iraq on 18 December 2011, in accordance with this agreement.
@Eric the Half a Troll
You do realize that every Status of Forces agreement has an end date which requires troops to be pulled out at that time? A new agreement was under negotiation by the Bush Administration which Obama declined to continue.
@Kelly_3406
Actually Bush was in no negotiations when he left. Obama did attempt to negotiate leaving a force of 10,000 Which al-Maliki supported. The Iraqi parliament did not support any residual force. Facing the prospect of a weak agreement that didn’t protect remaining troops the way the Obama wanted negotiations broke down. Further, there is no evidence that a force of 10,000 would have done anything to stabilize the country – except in your imagination, of course.
Eric the Half a Troll,
Obama put in a half-hearted effort to keep 10,000 troops in Iraq, which, as you say, would have done nothing. He should have been working to keep ~80,000 troops there. America had an interest (blood and treasure) in maintaining stability in a Iraq, but he capitulated.
There is no doubt that negotiations were tough. But as we have seen, Obama does not give up easily when he really wants a deal (e.g. Iran).
The American people didn’t want to occupy Iraq. they wanted to get out. It was costing our human resources and our financial resources.
Half hearted?
Bush had agreed to the pull out. Who knows what would have happened. Should we occupy a country to stabilize it? Hindsight is 20/20.
Trump has done so many things I find unacceptable, I don’t know where to start.
Let’s start with serial lying. Horrible. He is starting fights that simply don’t need to start.
@MoonHowler
We occupied Germany to stabilize it and the world is a better place because of it. There were a series of Status of Forces agreements that have kept troops in Germany to this day.
It is true that we do not know if things would have turned out as well as it did in Germany if troops remained in Iraq. But pulling them out virtually guaranteed the rise in terrorism and violence that we have seen.
I get that you don’t like Trump. But regardless of how many mean things he has said, he has no record as president yet. All this angst is a bit pre-mature.
Just what has transpired in the past week did it for me. He had a chance to redeem himself between election and inauguration. He did not.
I don’t think Germany after WWII can be compared to Iraq.
This is the classic Trump dodge. Don’t deal with current events. Ignore what Bush did, blame Obama for Iraq and throw the discussion off track. That’s how you avoid having to defend Trump’s foolishness.
Please stop wasting our time.
Kelly_3406,
@Robin Hood
Please try to learn something about history and national security, and stop whining.
There’s nothing of value to learn from your propaganda smokescreen and pointing out a diversionary tactic is not whining. What you hear is the sound of the air leaking out of your balloon.
Kelly_3406,
Robin Hood,
I am not attempting to divert attention; but rather attempting to get this group to judge Trump by the same standard that it judged Obama. So I bring up Obama’s record for the sake of comparison. It is pure partisanship to judge the two by different standards.
Here is yet another example of different standards. I just watched Nancy Pelosi rail against Trump for temporarily banning refugees from several countries until better procedures for vetting can be established.
Yet Obama banned refugees from Iraq in 2011 for a far longer period. There were no demonstrations against him and no claims that it was unAmerican.
This current kerfuffle is based either on ignorance or hypocrisy among those protesting the order.
Let’s hear what those improved vetting procedures were. What’s wrong with the way we were doing things? Who said anything was wrong with the old way? What problems have existed to date? Were any of those who went through old vetting found to be terrorists?
Perhaps there were no demonstrations because the policy was explained to the American people and our allies before it took place. People weren’t caught mid-flight nor were they held in a foreign country and not allowed to talk to lawyers.
There is no different standard for Trump than there is for any other American president. No other American president starts tweet wars with others.
Trump is a freaking disgrace.
Steven Miller who created the policy in the EO is a mere child and he didnt get proper authorization. He needs to be fired.
Plus he has a really crappy attitude.
When you see that you’re in a hole it’s time to stop digging.
Obama did his homework. Trump didn’t. That’s the comparative summary.
Kelly_3406,
Agreed.