Trump's lead gets sliced in half in Michigan before a stunned CNN team's sleep-deprived eyes
Hang onto your coffee mugs! Early Wednesday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden cut President Trump's lead in Michigan nearly in half, leaving the bleary crew covering the election at CNN rubbing the sleep from their eyes to try to grasp what was going on.
CNN's Chris Cuomo and Phil Mattingly were routinely discussing Michigan's vote tally when their electoral map updated in real time to show Trump's roughly 60,000-vote lead sliced to 26,000, Mediaite reports. "Look," Mattingly said, momentarily stunned by the numbers, toggling with the map to confirm he was reading it right. "Donald Trump just took the lead. Donald Trump now ahead — didn't take the lead, sorry, it's been a long night. The lead narrowed. The lead narrowed."
Cuomo jumped in to clarify. "A little headline for you, since a lot of numbers come at once. We just had a change in the state of play in Michigan." According to both CNN and Fox News, that's major — because if Biden manages to beat Trump in Wisconsin as well as the Wolverine State, then he'll be "the next president." Watch the full clip at Mediaite. Jeva Lange
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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