Donald Trump Gets Roasted Over His 'Very Strange' Observation About Mail-In Ballots

Michael Hein

11/04/2020 12:06 pm EST

President Donald Trump posted misleading conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election on Wednesday morning, and Twitter was not buying it. The president was roasted in responses and retweets of his comment about the "VERY STRANGE" election results. To many commenters, there was nothing "strange" at all about the tally.

Trump's tweet misrepresents the process itself and disregards the input and explanation from election officials and experts. His tweet was flagged by the Twitter Safety team, meaning it cannot be viewed without first seeing a disclaimer that "some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process." Twitter users themselves did some amateur fact-checking that involved plenty of memes and take-downs along the way.

According to The Associated Press, the election results were delayed because state governments chose different ways of handling the increased volume of mail-in ballots, which were caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite ample resources for understanding this process, checks and balances on it and complete transparency, Trump continues to cast doubt on the election.

Critics had fun teasing the president about this, but many also voiced genuine concerns about it. They wondered what the impact might be on an already divided nation. Here is a look at the response to Trump's tweet on Wednesday morning.

Counting

Many people were surprised that Trump would admit to such a simple misunderstanding on a public forum, pointing out that at the heart of this issue is the simple act of "counting."

Analogies

To contextualize Trump's tweet, many turned to analogies like sports to argue that it lacked solid logic. They argued that Trump has already done all he can to "score points" in this "game," but he cannot do much to change how those "points" are counted.

Mail-in

While mail-in ballots have been politicized during this election, many critics pointed out how divisive it is for Trump to try to disregard them. Americans of any political persuasion could be legitimately fearful for their health right now, and their vote should still count — especially since it was cast in through an established and safe process.

'Censorship'

The president's supporters decried Twitter's disclaimer on his tweet as "censorship," though it is well within the terms and conditions of the platform. In previous cases, the president's tweets have violated the rules enough to get his account suspended altogether, though Twitter executives say they will not take that step because they believe it is better for the people to see what he has to say, as long as it is in the right context.

Thanks

On the other hand, many users thanked Twitter for applying disclaimers to this tweet and taking some editorial responsibility for the content on its platform.

Scared

Meanwhile, many took this tweet as a sign that the president is "scared" of the true election results, believing that the mail-in ballots will favor former Vice President Joe Biden. In general, political analysts have speculated that this will be the case.

Terrifying

Finally, although Trump is demonstrably wrong with his election conspiracy theories, many users commented on how "terrifying" it is to see a sitting president spread misinformation on this level. They feared for what his die-hard supporters would do if they were convinced by his tweets and not more reliable sources of information.

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