Donald Trump already made his thoughts on the recount very clear with an official statement on Jill Stein’s recount fundraiser — currently past the $6 million mark — calling it a scam that’s going to “fill the coffers” of the Green Party. He then made sure to criticize the Clinton campaign for agreeing to take part in the recount effort. This was echoed by his campaign head Kellyanne Conway, calling Clinton and her team sore losers.
All of this has led to Sunday morning, where someone apparently got with Trump and told him to release the scripted Kraken all over his Twitter account in reference to the recount. While Stein and even Clinton’s camps seem to be more focused on ensuring that the votes were counted correctly as opposed to changing the outcome of the election, Trump’s comments on Sunday seem to take a hostile tone towards the effort and Clinton. The main point he tries to push across: the recount will change nothing:
Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Trump them uses some of Clinton’s own comments to support his stance, ignoring the implications at the time they were made that Trump would refuse to accept the election results unless he won.
Hillary's debate answer on delay: "That is horrifying. That is not the way our democracy works. Been around for 240 years. We've had free —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a –
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a –
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
during a general election. I, for one, am appalled that somebody that is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
of position." Then, separately she stated, "He said something truly horrifying … he refused to say that he would respect the results of —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
this election. That is a direct threat to our democracy." She then said, "We have to accept the results and look to the future, Donald —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Trump is going to be our President. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead." So much time and money will be spent – same result! Sad
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
He could’ve saved his time and just posted one tweet with the following video, getting the same point across without falling into some hypocritical trap.
It’s clear that the recount is getting real, even if the outcome won’t change the election results. It went from Jill Stein crowdfunding and people seeking to see if a recount would happen to both major candidates seemingly taking interest in what might happen. Should be interesting from here and a sign that the election will not go down until we finally decide to tear it apart piece by piece.