election 2020

Ivanka Trump may have incidentally undermined part of the Trump world's election argument

November 11, 2020

.polaris__post-meta--date { display: none; } .polaris__post-meta--date.no-script { display: block; padding-left: 45px } November 11, 2020

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump's critics were quick with the sarcasm after Ivanka Trump proudly tweeted about her father's electoral victory in Alaska, which was projected by news outlets, including The Associated Press, on Wednesday.

I'm deeply confused, since this is a projection by the AP and not a certified final count. It's almost as if "the media can't call elections" is a new standard invented in bad faith to prolong an election dispute by a few more days. https://t.co/RI6tWNtfir
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) November 11, 2020

Uh oh - we've got another person relying on THE MEDIA, and not the vote certification, to decide who won an election. https://t.co/yEnfH3llJf
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 11, 2020

The reactions to Ivanka's tweet stem from claims by the president and his allies (Ivanka has mostly stayed out of the fray) that the media doesn't determine the results of an election, which is technically true, but ignores the fact that networks and other news sources are merely projecting the victor after leads in counted votes become insurmountable. Regardless, by the Trump campaign's logic Alaska should still be up for grabs since only around three-quarters of the votes have been tallied and the vote hasn't been certified.

Of course, they're really making the argument for battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, which are much closer than Alaska, but the positive response to the media's most recent projection does highlight the cherry-picking nature of the complaints.