Jake Tapper advises President Trump to 'stop whining' about the Electoral College


During his long, combative press conference Thursday, President Donald Trump once again rehashed the results of the November election. "I got 306 Electoral College votes," Trump said. "I wasn't supposed to get 222." He then noted that you only need 270 electoral votes to win — and as he had in the past, described his presidential victory as the "biggest win since [former President] Ronald Reagan."
Trump's claims are false on two fronts: He received only 304 electoral votes, and his victory margin in the Electoral College was the 13th-slimmest in history. When pressed on his verifiably false claims by NBC News' Peter Alexander, Trump merely said, "I was given that information":
Reacting to Trump's press conference, CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Thursday that Trump is "not dealing with the world in which we live." Tapper highlighted Trump's exchange with Alexander as evidence the president is "still fixated on whether or not he legitimately won the presidency." That's when Tapper turned directly to the camera to deliver some pointed advice. Watch below. Kimberly Alters
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
August 16 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include football season anticipation, and Donald Trump angling for Putin's autograph
-
5 hilariously cold cartoons about the Alaska summit
Cartoons Artists take on the Alaskan totem pole, a peace flag, and more
-
Sudoku medium: August 16, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Border agents crash Newsom redistricting kickoff
Speed Read Armed federal Border Patrol agents amassed outside the venue where the California governor and other Democratic leaders were gathered
-
Man charged for hoagie attack as DC fights takeover
Speed Read The Trump administration filed felony charges against a man who threw a Subway sandwich at a federal agent
-
Trump BLS nominee floats ending key jobs report
Speed Read On Fox News, E.J. Antoni suggested scrapping the closely watched monthly jobs report
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seat
speed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors