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Trump’s Says Electoral College Win, Biggest Since Reagan-Lie Or Fact?

By Tito Ojo-Medubi
Published on: 21:04 PST, Feb 16, 2017

The President made a false claim Thursday that his victory last November was “the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan.”

According to CBS News, Mr. Trump’s assertion is wide off the mark. In 2008, President Obama defeated Senator John McCain with 365 electoral votes. In his second tenure in 2012, President Obama defeated his Republican rival, Mitt Romney with 332 electoral votes.

In 1988, Bush won the race to the White House with 426 electoral votes. In 1992, he was displaced by Bill Clinton who bagged 370 votes. In 1996, the former governor of Arkansas won again against Republican Bob Dole with 379 votes.

A reporter, Peter Alexander working for NBC News had pointed out to President Trump, his inaccurate statement. Even when Trump said he was “talking about Republicans,” he was told that was not also the case because George H.W. Bush won his own election with 426 votes.

Alexander who refused to back down countered President Trump, asking why the public should trust him after he had consistently accused the press of “fake news.”

“Why should Americans trust you when you accused the information they’ve received of being fake when you’re providing information that’s not accurate.”

The 70-year-old politician went on to dismiss the reporter’s statements, adding that he had been given the information.

“I was given the information…I’ve seen that information around. But it was a very substantial victory. Do you agree with that?”

This is not the first time that the 45th president of the United States has claimed this electoral margin. The billionaire businessman has also repeatedly said that he was elected with 306 Electoral College votes which is incorrect as well. In early January, the official results deemed that Mr. Trump won the November elections with 304 votes and the Democratic presidential aspirant, Hillary Clinton won with 227 votes.

The President had gone off script after his announcing that Alexander Acosta was his new Labor secretary nominee. The president again had used the forum to attack members of the press before he inaccurately talked about having the biggest electoral victory since Ronald Reagan.

After he wrongly overstated the size of his Electoral College win, CNN believes the president took the easy way out by blaming it on bad information. The president did not defend his argument and quickly moved on to another question. President Trump won enough states to garner 304 Electoral College Votes which places him as the 45th out of the 58 U.S presidential campaigns in terms of winning percentages. Mr. Trump got 56.9 percent of the Electoral votes, but lost the popular vote by 2.8 million.

Pundits say the sitting president continues to be haunted by the fact that he did not win at the ballot. According to them, this is the reason why he refuses to let sleeping dogs lie. Mr. Trump had called for a major investigation into allegations that millions of people voted illegally just to justify why he did not win the popular mandate.

The 70-year-old first made this claim when it became obvious that he would lose the popular vote even though he won the Electoral College. In a typical tweet, he had revealed that he would be “asking for a major investigation into voter fraud, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and …even those registered to vote who are dead.”

Observers say the president refuses to accept he lost the popular vote which hints at his consuming need to be seen as an individual who against all odds orchestrated a spectacular victory at the polls. This is the reason why in his first meeting with the intelligence community as president; he still talked about the crowd size at his inauguration.

Author of The Truth About Trump, Michael D’Antonio, points out that the president’s burning desire for legitimacy did not just emerge overnight. D’Antonio, says Trump has always been obsessed with recognition long before he became a successful businessman. The author attributed it to his over-expectant father who wanted nothing but absolute success from his son.

“He has absolutely done this his entire life—going back to childhood when he had to tell people he was the best baseball player in New York State when baseball is something they keep records on and they can prove it’s not true. He was raised by a very demanding father and his father did not tolerate anything but complete victory and success in everything that Donald did.”

[Featured Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Images]

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