Top Trump tweets since Election Day 2020

- Tweet: For purposes of National Security, Section 230 must be immediately terminated!!!
- Total engagement: 501,400 (405,000 likes, 79,800 retweets, 16,600 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 26, 2020 at 11:11:22 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

A part of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, Section 230 states: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." In its essence, the act ensures that internet companies, including social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, are not held liable if users post something illegal or slanderous. Critics of Section 230, including President Trump, argue that the act can be used to justify politically partisan activity and to censor conservative voices.

- Tweet: Wow! It looks like Michigan has now found the ballots necessary to keep a wonderful young man, John James, out of the U.S. Senate. What a terrible thing is happening!
- Total engagement: 503,900 (413,400 likes, 75,600 retweets, 14,900 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 4, 2020 at 1:43:43 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

With the Senate up for grabs in the 2020 election, its races were watched just as closely as the presidential race. Michigan’s race, between Democratic incumbent Gary Peters and Republican challenger John James, was an especially close one, which ultimately came down to 92,000 votes. On Nov. 4, Peters took the lead in what, up to that point, had been a virtual tie.

- Tweet: Look at this in Wisconsin! A day AFTER the election, Biden receives a dump of 143,379 votes at 3:42AM, when they learned he was losing badly. This is unbelievable! https://t.co/nhiLMmyHBn
- Total engagement: 506,200 (368,500 likes, 117,900 retweets, 19,800 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 18, 2020 at 8:22:17 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Misinformation about Wisconsin’s vote count spread like wildfire around social media, and tweets like this one from Donald Trump served to further confuse the situation. Here’s what actually happened: Milwaukee and several other communities used one central location to count their mail-in ballots (which have been demonstrated to swing largely democrat). When they finished counting all the ballots around 3:30 in the morning on Nov. 4, they reported them all at once, which then led to Biden passing Trump (who’d held the lead thanks to the in-person ballots that had been tabulated and swung more Republican). Wisconsin wasn’t “finding” votes, merely still counting legal ballots that had already been cast.

- Tweet: Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!
- Total engagement: 507,300 (388,100 likes, 92,100 retweets, 27,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 27, 2020 at 10:56:13 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

The day before Trump sent this tweet out into the universe, the federal appeals court in Pennsylvania had issued a “strongly worded” rejection to a Trump case that claimed his defeat in the state had been caused by widespread fraud. Trump was particularly aggravated about the numbers that came out of Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold, saying that the city had “long [been] known as being politically corrupt” in another tweet. The ruling marked the Trump team’s 38th loss.

- Tweet: Nobody wants to report that Pennsylvania and Michigan didn't allow our Poll Watchers and/or Vote Observers to Watch or Observe. This is responsible for hundreds of thousands of votes that should not be allowed to count. Therefore, I easily win both states. Report the News!
- Total engagement: 512,700 (407,400 likes, 88,700 retweets, 16,600 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 11, 2020 at 7:13:08 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

A foundational part of the United States' democratic process, poll watchers, who come from both major political parties, are intended to ensure that there is no voter intimidation taking place at local polling places so that everyone can cast a free and fair ballot. PolitiFact determined that this November tweet from Trump about said poll watchers was false. Trump's own campaign team conceded that there had been a "non-zero number" of election observers in Pennsylvania and in Michigan complaints primarily stemming from the six-foot distance poll watchers were required to keep from ballot counters had already been dismissed by state courts.

- Tweet: So much credit to all of the brave men and women in state houses who are defending our great Constitution. Thank you!
- Total engagement: 516,200 (443,400 likes, 66,700 retweets, 6,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 28, 2020 at 10:49:03 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

This tweet came a day after members of the House and Senate in Pennsylvania passed a resolution that called for a withdrawal of the certification of the state’s votes as well as a slate of new electoral voters to be chosen (by the GOP). However, the impassioned plea didn’t go far, as many other leaders in the state stood firm in their refusal to tamper with the state’s democratic process regardless of whether or not they were pleased with its outcomes.

- Tweet: 700,000 ballots were not allowed to be viewed in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh which means, based on our great Constitution, we win the State of Pennsylvania!
- Total engagement: 519,300 (413,900 likes, 81,800 retweets, 23,600 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 13, 2020 at 7:28:15 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Trump spent weeks parroting this claim that Republican poll watchers weren’t allowed to observe the process in Pennsylvania, something that was already revealed to be patently untrue. That being said, even if these watchers had been barred from the counting rooms there is nothing in our Constitution that indicates Trump would be the automatic winner—at best, he could contend the election results.

- Tweet: My son Donald is doing very well. Thank you!
- Total engagement: 522,800 (477,400 likes, 39,100 retweets, 6,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 21, 2020 at 8:21:20 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

On Nov. 21, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., announced on Instagram that he had “the ‘rona.” Donald Jr., who clarified that he felt “totally asymptomatic” but was quarantining out of an abundance of caution anyway, was the latest member of Trump’s orbit at the time to be diagnosed with the virus.

- Tweet: Big voter fraud information coming out concerning Georgia. Stay tuned!
- Total engagement: 553,300 (461,100 likes, 79,100 retweets, 13,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 21, 2020 at 8:58:39 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Although it’s unclear exactly what information Trump was referencing with this tweet, it very well could be the “suitcase video.” The aforementioned video purportedly shows poll workers counting ballots from hidden suitcases after Republican poll watchers had left for the night. However, when taken in context, the video shows poll workers placing ballots in their storage containers, in full view of security cameras and the press, after they believed they could go home for the night and after many Republican watchers had already left (of their own volition, they had not been kicked out). After spending hours reviewing the videos, state officials found nothing fraudulent or nefarious about the poll workers’ actions.

- Tweet: Big press conference today in Philadelphia at Four Seasons Total Landscaping — 11:30am!
- Total engagement: 556,900 (467,400 likes, 69,800 retweets, 19,700 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 7, 2020 at 9:45:37 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

In what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity, the Trump team held a bizarre press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, not the Four Seasons Hotel as Trump's first tweet about the event had led many to believe. During the conference, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed widespread voter fraud and malfeasance throughout the state, both of which were later disproven. This all took place right after major media outlets had begun to call the election in Biden's favor.

- Tweet: Ballot Corruption will be exposed tonight at 9:00pmE on @SeanHannity on @FoxNews!
- Total engagement: 561,300 (453,700 likes, 91,100 retweets, 16,500 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 10, 2020 at 6:21:51 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

In the segment Trump was promoting with this tweet, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel revealed to Sean Hannity that she had 234 pages that contained 500 sworn affidavits of more than 11,000 incidents of voter fraud. If the numbers seem outlandish that’s because they are. Almost all of these affidavits were dismissed or deemed uncredible.

- Tweet: I have reversed the ridiculous decision to cancel Wreaths Across America at Arlington National Cemetery. It will now go on!
- Total engagement: 563,200 (478,000 likes, 73,500 retweets, 11,700 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 17, 2020 at 3:47:34 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Each year, the Wreaths Across America event places holiday decorations at the graves of servicemen around the country. Earlier this year, Arlington National Cemetery announced it would skip the event due to COVID-19 concerns. After a large outcry from the public, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy reversed the decision, thereby requiring the cemetery to come up with a safety-focused plan that would allow the event to go on.

- Tweet: Pennsylvania prevented us from watching much of the Ballot count. Unthinkable and illegal in this country.
- Total engagement: 568,000 (475,400 likes, 80,600 retweets, 12,000 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 9, 2020 at 3:17:47 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

When ballots were first being counted in Pennsylvania, observers were required to stand 20 feet away from the counters due to COVID-19 transmission concerns. The Trump campaign took issue with this, saying that observers couldn’t clearly see what was going on and had to “watch with binoculars.” A court agreed, allowing observers to stand closer but still requiring them to keep a six-foot distance. Even after this decision was made, Trump still continued to tweet claims that Republicans had been “prevented” from watching the ballot count, which was wholly untrue.

- Tweet: WE WILL WIN! https://t.co/rkd8vK6id7
- Total engagement: 569,000 (451,800 likes, 93,700 retweets, 23,500 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 11, 2020 at 6:04:47 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Trump retweeted this clip originally posted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino that encouraged others to “use the word impossible as nothing more than motivation, as he continued to meet with his team to discuss legal strategy. The meeting indicated to many that he had no plans to concede a race that had already been called for Biden (and therefore was all but impossible for Trump to win), a feeling that was further confirmed by this tweet.

- Tweet: Everyone is asking why the recent presidential polls were so inaccurate when it came to me. Because they are FAKE, just like much of the Lamestream Media!
- Total engagement: 577,500 (491,200 likes, 76,900 retweets, 9,400 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 11, 2020 at 6:48:57 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Presidential polls have been criticized by folks on both sides of the aisle in recent years for data that can be confusing, misleading, or not actually representative of a large cross-section of the public. Polls in the 2016 election cycle were favorable to Hillary Clinton despite an eventual Trump win. This cycle, polls were once again favorable to the democratic candidate, a fact that Trump apparently took as a personal attack and a sign that the media can't be trusted.

- Tweet: RIGGED ELECTION!
- Total engagement: 582,900 (482,600 likes, 79,100 retweets, 21,200 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 25, 2020 at 12:45:04 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

On Nov. 24 and 25 two major steps were made in the transition of power: the White House signed off of Biden receiving the President’s Daily Brief, and an Executive Secretariat team was created to help ensure the Biden team had everything they needed in order to effectively take over the office. Still, with his “RIGGED ELECTION!” tweet, Trump signaled once again that he wasn’t on board with the transition and wouldn’t be publicly conceding.

- Tweet: I’m not fighting for me, I’m fighting for the 74,000,000 million people (not including the many Trump ballots that were “tossed”), a record for a sitting President, who voted for me!
- Total engagement: 596,000 (496,600 likes, 84,600 retweets, 14,800 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 30, 2020 at 8:41:43 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

After two battleground states, Arizona and Wisconsin, certified their votes for Joe Biden pushing him over the required number of electoral college votes, Trump tweeted the above to let his supporters know that as far as he was concerned the fight was still far from over. Trump had cried fraud in both states, ignited legal battles to get vote counts overturned, and used his personal power to attempt to sway state leaders away from certifying the ballots. Still, governors Tony Evers and Doug Ducey proceed to validate the wins in accordance with state laws.

- Tweet: The threshold identification of Ballots is turning out to be even bigger than originally anticipated. A very large number of Ballots are impacted. Stay tuned!
- Total engagement: 602,000 (489,100 likes, 99,600 retweets, 13,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 9, 2020 at 2:36:26 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Many political pundits and internet dwellers were confused by this nonsensical tweet from President Trump. It’s not clear what exactly he’s referencing to with the phrase “threshold identification.” Some assumed he meant states were too lax in their requirements for mail-in ballots, others believe Trump meant more ballots than normal were deemed invalid, and still others think Trump was referring to the “normal threshold” of invalid votes as explained by The Electoral Knowledge Network.

- Tweet: Twitter is out of control, made possible through the government gift of Section 230!
- Total engagement: 602,900 (491,500 likes, 88,100 retweets, 23,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 6, 2020 at 2:23:33 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

The New York Times reported that by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6 (mere hours after this tweet was posted) Twitter had flagged almost half of Trump’s tweets since Election Day as containing disputed or misleading information. As a rule, Twitter doesn’t take down tweets that violate its terms of service when they come from world leaders; instead, the company began marking Trump’s tweets with a warning label when he broke its policies. The sitting president didn’t appreciate this treatment, and let the platform know how he felt.

- Tweet: Wow! Michigan just refused to certify the election results! Having courage is a beautiful thing. The USA stands proud!
- Total engagement: 607,900 (510,700 likes, 82,200 retweets, 15,000 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 17, 2020 at 9:11:08 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

This is one of those Trump tweets that isn't blatantly false but does indicate that the president is, at best, confused about what is going on. Here's the story: Michigan's Board of State Canvassers, who are tasked with certifying the state's election results, didn't meet until Nov. 23, so what Trump is implying here (that the state as a whole refused to certify the election results) is incorrect. Instead, he's likely referring to the fact that there was a temporary deadlock in Wayne County when two Republican members of that Board of Canvassers refused to certify the results. They later changed their minds.

- Tweet: It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!
- Total engagement: 608,700 (476,600 likes, 97,400 retweets, 34,700 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 25, 2020 at 4:08:07 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, had twice pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with Russian diplomats. The ensuing legal battle, which included Attorney General William Barr trying to shut down prosecution, dragged on for a great length of time. Finally, in late November, Trump offered him a full presidential pardon, something he’d been heavily hinting at for months.

- Tweet: BALLOT COUNTING ABUSE!
- Total engagement: 614,500 (521,300 likes, 77,200 retweets, 16,000 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 10, 2020 at 10:33:47 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

The day before Trump sent this tweet, Attorney General William Barr authorized federal prosecutors to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, something that isn’t usually allowed to happen before the election is certified. While no evidence of voter fraud existed at this point, the move, and Trump’s accompanying tweet, led many to believe that fraud was incredibly widespread and omnipresent. To date, there has been no indication that there was widespread voting fraud.

- Tweet: Just saw the vote tabulations. There is NO WAY Biden got 80,000,000 votes!!! This was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION.
- Total engagement: 626,900 (499,100 likes, 99,400 retweets, 28,400 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 26, 2020 at 10:44:23 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

President-elect Biden made history Nov. 25 as the first candidate in history to win 80 million votes, which handily secured him the popular vote. Trump also broke records, winning more than 73 million votes—the most a sitting president has ever taken home. Both of these records were made possible by the fact that the United States saw record turnout for the 2020 election.

- Tweet: A parade for me in Nigeria, a great honor! https://t.co/EHiSQMFvSZ
- Total engagement: 636,000 (505,900 likes, 85,200 retweets, 44,900 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 3, 2020 at 12:38:29 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Still confident that a win would be his, President Trump tweeted a video of the “first victory parade” thrown in his honor, which took place in Onitsha, Nigeria. Despite the many times he has disparaged African countries, millions of people on the continent still love him. Polls from early 2020 indicate that between 56–58% of Nigerians approve of Trump and his government.

- Tweet: "We believe these people are thieves. The big city machines are corrupt. This was a stolen election. Best pollster in Britain wrote this morning that this clearly was a stolen election, that it's impossible to imagine that Biden outran Obama in some of these states.
- Total engagement: 641,400 (511,900 likes, 100,300 retweets, 29,200 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 8, 2020 at 9:17:33 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

After he failed to find enough support for his baseless "stolen election" claims in America, Trump turned to the U.K. and its "best pollster" for validation. The pollster and article Trump is referencing is actually an opinion piece published in the "Sunday Express" written by Patrick Basham titled "Stalin said it's not important who votes but how they do the counting." In the article, Basham (an American) claimed that because Republicans held the Senate, held state legislatures, and gained House seats, it was illogical that they could have also lost the presidential race.

- Tweet: Our lawyers have asked for “meaningful access”, but what good does that do? The damage has already been done to the integrity of our system, and to the Presidential Election itself. This is what should be discussed!
- Total engagement: 642,100 (527,000 likes, 89,900 retweets, 25,200 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 4, 2020 at 6:24:59 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

As it became clear that Michigan would be a key state in the battle for 270, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit with the state government asking that the vote count be stopped until “meaningful access” was granted to Republican observers. The lawsuit led to an intense exchange at a Detroit area counting site where hundreds of Trump supporters showed up to watch the ballots being counted but found themselves barred from the room as their party had already surpassed the maximum number (134) of observers granted by the law. Upon being denied entry, they began a riotous protest that lasted for several days.

- Tweet: AMERICA FIRST!!!
- Total engagement: 642,500 (552,000 likes, 75,400 retweets, 15,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 24, 2020 at 4:46:56 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

The day after Biden formally announced his foreign policy picks Trump tweeted these two words, which sum up his foreign policy stance and have been an overriding theme of his administration. If he was attempting to point out the difference between him and the incumbent, he certainly succeeded, as Biden has been very vocal about rebuilding relationships with other countries during his tenure.

- Tweet: How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?
- Total engagement: 680,400 (547,100 likes, 86,000 retweets, 47,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 4, 2020 at 10:17:14 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

In this tweet, Mr. Trump appears confused that more Republicans didn’t vote via mail-in ballot, even after warning his party that they were a scam and were rife with fraud for months. Strategists knew for weeks before the election that mail-in ballots would trend Democrat, and had warned the public of the resulting blue and red “mirages” that would occur as votes were counted. For experts, this “devastating” change in percentage was not newsworthy or concerning, simply expected.

- Tweet: I had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by. Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward!
- Total engagement: 720,000 (573,700 likes, 99,700 retweets, 46,600 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 6, 2020 at 6:25:39 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Every state in the country has different rules about how, and when, mail-in ballots can be counted. Many states allow for them to be counted upon receipt or before Election Day, but others require that these votes not be touched until the day of, which was predicted to result in massive delays. Additionally, several states allowed votes to be counted that arrived in a specific window after election day as long as they had been postmarked by Nov. 3. Taken all together, this meant that as time went by in many states the Democrat-heavy mail-in votes changed who was leading.

- Tweet: RIGGED ELECTION. WE WILL WIN!
- Total engagement: 721,000 (603,700 likes, 92,700 retweets, 24,600 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 15, 2020 at 9:16:11 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

This tweet appeared in a string of early morning musings in which Trump stated for the first time that Biden had won the election—but only because it was RIGGED. He quickly backtracked the statement, deciding to simply focus on the “rigged” portion of his initial tweet and letting his supporters know his legal fight to dispute the apparent victory was not over. In the following days, the Trump administration filed lawsuits in a handful of states seeking to overturn or discredit their results.

- Tweet: The Media is just as corrupt as the Election itself!
- Total engagement: 723,900 (610,200 likes, 94,700 retweets, 19,000 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 21, 2020 at 6:13:41 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Trump has never had a good relationship with mainstream media. That being said, it's difficult to know exactly what made him upset enough to send this tweet, but it could be Fox News’ Tucker Carlson calling out Trump attorney Sidney Powell earlier that day. On his show, Carlson said Powell would not submit evidence to his producers supporting her claims o election fraud.

- Tweet: He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!
- Total engagement: 727,100 (571,000 likes, 108,900 retweets, 47,200 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 15, 2020 at 9:19:51 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Nearly one week after major news outlets had dubbed President-elect Biden the winner of the 2020 election, Trump acknowledged his opponent’s victory for the first time. The sort-of concession didn’t last long, however, as Trump quickly went on to tweet a string of other thoughts including the fact that he was not actually conceding and would continue exploring legal avenues for overturning the results.

- Tweet: Georgia will be a big presidential win, as it was the night of the Election!
- Total engagement: 742,900 (633,100 likes, 93,700 retweets, 16,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 9, 2020 at 3:21:43 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Days ahead of the post-election audit in Georgia, where votes would be counted and tallied by hand in order to ensure the state’s system was working as it should, Trump expressed his confidence that the event—mandated by state law—would prove he was actually the winner. In fact, the audit and subsequent Trump-requested recount only solidified Biden’s win and indicated that the original outcome had been right all along.

- Tweet: WE ARE MAKING BIG PROGRESS. RESULTS START TO COME IN NEXT WEEK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
- Total engagement: 756,400 (634,000 likes, 105,400 retweets, 17,000 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 10, 2020 at 8:43:35 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

As of Nov. 10, Trump had filed lawsuits challenging the results of the election in five different states. Nearly all of them had been rejected or dismissed by judges. Nevertheless, dozens more lawsuits were filed.

- Tweet: Big legal win in Pennsylvania!
- Total engagement: 781,500 (670,500 likes, 84,100 retweets, 26,900 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 5, 2020 at 11:07:27 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Trump technically had two legal wins in Pennsylvania on Nov. 5. In one case, a state judge ordered some mail-in ballots sequestered after the Trump campaign contested an extended correction deadline. In another, a judge allowed observers to stand up to six feet from ballot counters in order to get a better look at the ongoing process.

- Tweet: Where are the missing military ballots in Georgia? What happened to them?
- Total engagement: 796,000 (645,100 likes, 117,800 retweets, 33,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 6, 2020 at 12:38:17 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

As ballot-counting began to enter the home stretch in Georgia, Trump wondered why the state’s military ballots were “missing.” In reality, the votes weren’t missing at all—around 18,000 of them had already been received and counted. As for the 8,140 outstanding votes, one Georgia official assured the media that the ballots were likely still on their way from overseas and would be counted as long as they were received by day’s end.

- Tweet: They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!
- Total engagement: 817,800 (620,100 likes, 100,400 retweets, 97,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 4, 2020 at 11:55:31 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Throughout the election process, Trump complained about how long the vote counting was taking. He wasn’t alone—many Americans were also frustrated by the slow process. But an extended counting time is nothing new, nor is it in any way illegal, regardless of who the ballots are cast for. For example, in 1968 the New York Times published a “day after” report as well as final election results, which varied by as much as several percentage points in multiple states.

- Tweet: Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!
- Total engagement: 835,800 (669,700 likes, 114,300 retweets, 51,800 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 6, 2020 at 5:50:13 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

On Nov. 6, after he had been declared the winner in Pennsylvania, major news outlets including the Associated Press finally called the election in Joe Biden’s favor. Decision desks around the country do not call a race until it is mathematically impossible for one candidate to win. Legally Biden had no claim to the office yet, as votes had not been certified and electoral college votes had not been cast, but for all intents and purposes, he had clearly become #46.

- Tweet: STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!
- Total engagement: 837,300 (715,400 likes, 95,800 retweets, 26,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 9, 2020 at 7:31:44 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

The United States has spent the past several months eagerly anticipating the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine that could eventually allow us to return to our daily lives and routines. Pfizer announced on Nov. 9 that its vaccine was strongly effective, showing that those who had received injections were 90% less likely to get symptomatic cases of the coronavirus than those who hadn’t.

- Tweet: Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!
- Total engagement: 839,100 (684,600 likes, 119,900 retweets, 34,600 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 8, 2020 at 1:52:47 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Since 1848, with the appointment of the country’s 12th president, Zachary Taylor, the Associated Press, and other media outlets have called the winners of each presidential election. A longstanding and respected tradition in this country, the media’s announcement of the winner doesn’t carry legal weight but brings together the results of all 51 elections and quickly lets the public know who their next leader will be. When Trump won office in 2016, the Associated Press called the election well before anything was official.

- Tweet: I won the Election!
- Total engagement: 864,100 (680,700 likes, 97,100 retweets, 86,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 16, 2020 at 8:51:44 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

In the days after other world leaders began calling to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden on his win, Trump once again falsely tweeted that he had won the election. Among the leaders who reached out to Biden were close Trump allies British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

- Tweet: “REPORT: DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE. DATA ANALYSIS FINDS 221,000 PENNSYLVANIA VOTES SWITCHED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BIDEN. 941,000 TRUMP VOTES DELETED. STATES USING DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS SWITCHED 435,000 VOTES FROM TRUMP TO BIDEN.” @ChanelRion @OANN
- Total engagement: 864,500 (616,700 likes, 185,300 retweets, 62,500 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 12, 2020 at 11:34:00 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

A national coalition, which included the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Association of State Election Directors, released a statement in response to this Trump tweet and similar allegations made by other members of his party saying simply that the “election had been the most secure in American history.” The security group went on to explain that “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

- Tweet: THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!
- Total engagement: 937,800 (679,200 likes, 127,300 retweets, 131,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 7, 2020 at 4:53:34 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the need for remote voting, nine different states sent mail-in ballots to every registered voter without these individuals having to apply for an absentee ballot. So Trump’s tweet is factually correct. However, what is implied—that there was some sort of nefarious activity or that it allowed many voters to cast two ballots—is incorrect and a mischaracterization of the laws that allowed this to happen.

- Tweet: I WON THE ELECTION!
- Total engagement: 1,042,600 (717,400 likes, 111,100 retweets, 214,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 15, 2020 at 11:55:48 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Hours after his near-concession on Nov. 15, Trump ended the day by reminding his followers that he still firmly believed the election was his. By this point, the race had been called for Biden, and there was still no evidence of any voter fraud that could possibly overturn the results, making his claims completely baseless.

- Tweet: WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!
- Total engagement: 1,074,600 (943,800 likes, 106,500 retweets, 24,300 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 3, 2020 at 6:15:55 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

As polls began closing around the country on election night, Trump appeared to have been pulled in by a phenomenon that experts called “the red mirage.” In many northern battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Trump held on to early leads as in-person votes were counted first. This coupled with his lead in states he’d been expected to win, like Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee may have led the president to believe that victory was within his grasp.

- Tweet: I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!
- Total engagement: 1,088,100 (912,700 likes, 129,900 retweets, 45,500 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 4, 2020 at 12:45:53 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

Trump began his first post-election night statement with the following words “if you count the legal votes, I easily win.” The reality of the situation was that as of 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, Biden had won 253 electoral votes while Trump had only claimed 213. Neither man had decisively won the election, but Trump wasn’t even in the lead.

- Tweet: STOP THE COUNT!
- Total engagement: 1,181,100 (741,400 likes, 118,900 retweets, 320,800 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 5, 2020 at 9:12:37 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

There are avenues through which an election can be halted, but they require high levels of proof of fraud, interference, or other illegal activity. Boston University law professor Robert Tsai and political science professor Lauren Mattioli both agree that in this instance, with little to no evidence of nefarious activity, the Trump administration had neither the right nor the power to call for legally cast ballots to be thrown out or not counted.

- Tweet: 71,000,000 Legal Votes. The most EVER for a sitting President!
- Total engagement: 1,216,800 (971,700 likes, 156,000 retweets, 89,100 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 7, 2020 at 4:54:48 p.m. EST
- Link to tweet

By the end of the 2020 election, when every last ballot had been counted, Trump did indeed break records, driving in 73.6 million votes, the most ever received by a sitting president. The previous record had been set by Barack Obama in his second term when he garnered 65.9 million votes.

- Tweet: WE WILL WIN!
- Total engagement: 1,274,300 (1,024,000 likes, 164,300 retweets, 86,000 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 10, 2020 at 8:44:22 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

In a follow up to his “WE ARE MAKING BIG PROGRESS. RESULTS START TO COME IN NEXT WEEK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” tweet, Trump repeated to his followers that his primary goal was to overthrow the election results in his favor. His ongoing refusal to concede meant that Biden wasn’t granted access to funds that were necessary to begin his team’s assumption of power for days after his victory.

- Tweet: I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!
- Total engagement: 2,070,300 (1,188,000 likes, 188,500 retweets, 693,800 quote tweets)
- Date posted: Nov. 7, 2020 at 10:36:36 a.m. EST
- Link to tweet

The morning after the election was called for Biden, Trump’s loss was still front and center on his mind as evidenced by this tweet which declared “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Biden’s 306 electoral votes and 81.2 million popular votes said otherwise.