The new year is quickly approaching, and with it, a new administration that must face terror and other challenges around the world. But on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump was looking back to his upset victory in the 2016 campaign, still eager to rebut naysayers who’ve criticized him for losing the popular vote.
Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning, “Campaigning to win the Electoral College is much more difficult & sophisticated than the popular vote. Hillary focused on the wrong states!”
He continued, “I would have done even better in the election, if that is possible, if the winner was based on the popular vote — but would campaign differently.”
The President-elect was tweeting about his Electoral College strength as the final popular vote total was emerging Wednesday as states finished their count and Clinton’s whopping margin became clear.
Trump’s victory was sealed on Monday by the Electoral College, where he defeated Hillary Clinton 304 to 227, based on the results of the November 8th election. Seven “faithless” electors voted for other candidates, costing Trump two votes and Clinton four.
But while it was enough to secure Trump the presidency, he still lost some bragging rights, since he did get beat by Clinton in the popular vote by close to 3 million votes. That’s possible because Clinton lost narrow races in the crucial swing states that clinched the electoral map, like Michigan and Florida, even as she won by large margins in safe states with big populations, such as California.
Trump also tweeted Wednesday that he didn’t get enough credit for capitalizing on this quirk of the election system.
“I have not heard any of the pundits of commentators discussing the fact that I spent FAR LESS MONEY on the win than Hillary on the loss!,” he wrote on Twitter.
Trump, though, hasn’t always been such a fan of the institution. When the Electoral College sealed President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection — during which he also won the popular vote — Trump complained loudly about the system on Twitter, calling it “a disaster.”
“The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy,” Trump wrote in 2012.
Frustrated by Romney’s loss, he also tweeted, “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!”