democratic process

When President Trump took to the podium in the White House briefing room Thursday evening to give a statement on the election count, he lied about the legality of the votes against him in key battleground states and called into question the integrity of poll workers, laying a conspiracy at the feet of Democrats.

Both the Republican establishment and the conservative news media have been split in their responses to his claims.

Inside the White House and the Trump campaign, there is shock at the direction the contest has taken — many in his camp believed that a win was certain.

Guest: Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• In a stunning appearance in the White House, Mr. Trump lied about vote-counting, conjuring up a conspiracy of “legal” and “illegal” ballots being tabulated and claiming without evidence that states were trying to deny him re-election.

Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta unpack President Trump’s claim that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death leads to rank hypocrisy from the GOP, and President Trump amps up his war against mail-in voting while refusing to honor an electoral defeat.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We say that it's everyone's civic duty to vote. That's not exactly true. It's everyone's civic duty to be informed and contributing members of society. If they haven't fulfilled that duty, then it's extremely bad for them to vote. An ignorant, self-centered vote serves only to cancel out the votes of informed people. We could easily solve this problem by holding voters to a very basic standard of awareness and maturity.

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