President Donald Trump claimed on election night from an event at the White House that he had effectively won the Presidency even though several states remained undecided, millions of votes had yet to be counted, and he was behind in the electoral college vote tally. He echoed this sentiment on social media and Twitter and Facebook responded by flagging the statements as false. Democratic Nominee Joe Biden slammed them as “outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect.” Trump’s words should come as no surprise however considering that he had already laid out his strategy in public ahead of the election. Even his own adviser Chris Christie scolded him for claiming victory saying, “There’s just no basis to make that argument tonight.”

According to Associated Press as of now, Joe Biden has 248 Electoral College votes, 22 shy of the 270 needed to win the Presidency. Biden so far leads in the popular vote 50.22% to Trump’s 48.16%. Polls showing Biden with a narrow lead in the key states of Texas and Florida proved to be wrong as Trump won both on election day. In Florida in particular, a surge of Latino voters apparently helped the President have an edge. Biden won the traditionally Republican state of Arizona and New Mexico, and is leading in Nevada. In Pennsylvania more than a million mail-in ballots are yet to be counted as Trump shows a lead. But that lead could evaporate when the Democratic-heavy mail-in votes are included. The Republican Party has sued to block the counting of some mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Although AP has declared Biden the winner in Wisconsin, Trump has now said his campaign  will demand a recount of Wisconsin’s votes even though he had been claiming there should be no vote counting after election day. On election night Trump also wanted vote counting to continue in Arizona but not in Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Biden has already set a record for winning more votes than any other Presidential candidate in U.S. history, including the previous record-holder Barack Obama. On election night Mr. Biden gave an optimistic assessment. His  campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon announced on Wednesday that Biden will win Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, thereby cinching the election. 

As Trump held a potential Covid-19 super-spreader event inside the White House with hundreds of people crowded around one another without masks,