Trump declares victory in states he hasn't won
President Trump is just making up the election results as he goes along.
At around 2:30 a.m. EST, the 2020 presidential election's final results and races in key Electoral College states were far from decided. But Trump decided to declare victory in some of those still uncertain states anyway, particularly the tightly contested states of Georgia and North Carolina.
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.
When Trump spoke, nine percent of votes in Georgia still hadn't been tabulated. Many of those still uncounted votes are in Fulton County, the consistently Democratic area that contains Atlanta. Another five percent of votes still remained uncounted in North Carolina, where neither the presidential nor the Senate race have been given a final call.
-
The Salt Path Scandal: an ‘excellent’ documentaryThe Week Recommends Sky film dives back into the literary controversy and reveals a ‘wealth of new details’
-
AI griefbots create a computerized afterlifeUnder the Radar Some say the machines help people mourn; others are skeptical
-
Sudoku hard: December 17, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
US offers Ukraine NATO-like security pact, with caveatsSpeed Read The Trump administration has offered Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive from NATO
-
Hong Kong court convicts democracy advocate LaiSpeed Read Former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was convicted in a landmark national security trial
-
Australia weighs new gun laws after antisemitic attackSpeed Read A father and son opened fire on Jewish families at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing at least 15
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Benin thwarts coup attemptSpeed Read President Patrice Talon condemned an attempted coup that was foiled by the West African country’s army
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
