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As cities across the U.S. faced a second night of protests against the election of Donald Trump, the president-elect broke his silence in a tweet claiming that “the media” was inciting “professional protestors.”
Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016
Protests took place in Denver, Oakland, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Philidelphia, Minneapolis, Dallas, New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. Police in Portland declared the protest there a riot.
The irony of Trump´s comments was not lost on those who noted Trump´s own repeated refusal to accept the results of the election if he were to lose. Trump said before Tuesday´s election that he would accept the results if he won, but that " I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result." Trump refused to condemn his supporters in armed militia groups who vowed to “march on Washington” if he lost.
Many have pointed to the fact that Trump was elected President despite losing the popular vote by over 300 thousand votes. That total is expected to rise as officials say there are an estimated 4 million ballots in the heavily Democratic state of California to be counted.
The President of the United States is officially elected by the Electoral College in December, where state delegates cast pre-allocated votes based on who won the majority of votes in their state.
While Trump made repeated and thinly-veiled racist claims about the election being “rigged,” many are looking to the role of the U.S. Electoral College and the extensive voter suppression laws passed by Republican state congresses as a sign of the systemic failure of the U.S. election system.
Over 2 million people have signed a petition on Change.org calling on members of the Electoral College to instead cast their ballots based on the popular vote.
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