“There is no other fair solution!” “” the president said in a speech Thursday morning.
Photo illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
President Donald Trump made a jaw-dropping election demand in a bizarre Truth Social rant.
After the Democratic Party crushed the Republicans in the midterms, the 80-year-old seemed resigned to his fate, saying in a phone call to Politico’s Dasha Burns that he intended to work with the opposition party.
But the president is back in tantrum mode, raving and raving about the Alaska election and suggesting that Democratic votes should be flipped in favor of his choice, the “REAL Dan Sullivan.”
Social Truth/Donald J. Trump
“The vote totals for Fake Dan Sullivan, plus the other ‘slug’ the Democrats put on the ballot, should immediately go to the REAL Dan Sullivan, and the election is over. He wins easily. There is no other fair solution!” he asked Thursday morning.
His speech followed a New York Times report that claimed operatives linked to Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign had worked to recruit a second progressive candidate named Dan Sullivan (Dan J. Sullivan) to run for the U.S. Senate in Alaska against the Republican Party’s choice, incumbent Dan S. Sullivan.
Subscribe to the marshes newsletter
In his consolidation of the winner, he demands that election officials simply hand over all votes cast for namesake and “slug” Gerald Heikes, a minor candidate running as a Republican, to Republican Sullivan.
AP says Mary Peltola leads with most votes counted.
But despite Trump’s cries about what is “fair,” Alaska law counts every vote for the voter’s chosen candidate, and a judge has already rejected the Justice Department’s request to throw out the ballots.
Because of the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which triggers a secondary counting stage if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the final outcome of the Senate race could take weeks to determine. Alaska officials plan to begin counting ranked choices on Nov. 18.
The Associated Press reports that the race is close, with Democrat Mary Peltola leading Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, 48.2 percent to 47.9 percent, a margin of 637 votes, with 75 percent of the votes counted as of Thursday morning.
Runner-up Dan Sullivan, a former teacher, has 3,600 votes, more than enough to give his namesake the lead if Trump’s demand becomes reality.
The “slug,” Heikes, has 4,846 votes, according to AP.
Trump claims Democrats intentionally put Heikes on the ballot by having Democratic candidate David Leslie drop out, which automatically elevated Heikes — the second-highest vote getter — to the general election under Alaska election rules.
Trump says Democrats deliberately engineered the dropout to mislead voters and split the conservative vote.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Best value for money
*Substack access provided the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement with Substack. Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Log in
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You are ready!
Thank you for subscribing.
Subscription$0.00
Total$0.00
Gn headline
