The Trump team says the vote recount is a 'scam' run by 'sore losers' that will change 'nothing'

Donald Trump and Mike Pence
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter Saturday and Sunday to label recount efforts underway in Wisconsin and possibly Michigan and Pennsylvania a "scam" that will change "nothing" about the election results. Trump critiqued Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who is funding the recount project, as well as Hillary Clinton, whose campaign announced Saturday they would participate in any recounts Stein arranges. Sunday morning, Trump devoted several posts to highlighting Clinton's criticism of his own past interest in recounts.

See more

The full quote Trump shared over the course of several tweets dates from the third presidential debate:

"That is horrifying. That's not the way our democracy works. We've been around 240 years. We've had free and fair elections, and we've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election. President Obama said the other day that when you're whining before the game is even finished it just shows you're not even up to doing the job." [Clinton, via YouTube]

Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway also blasted the recount plan, calling its supporters a "pack of sore losers." "After asking Mr. Trump and his team a million times on the trail, 'Will HE accept the election results?' it turns out Team Hillary and their new BFF Jill Stein can't accept reality," she said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Stein pushed back against the Trump team Saturday afternoon, telling CNN her goal is to drive home "that having a secure elections process benefits us all," inviting participation from Trump, Clinton, and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.