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Trump’s old tweet suggesting Clinton should accept defeat ‘with dignity’ returns to haunt him

‘There’s always a tweet’ is now a common refrain on social media whenever any of the president’s posts from the past turns up to contradict his comments in the present

Shweta Sharma
Thursday 24 December 2020 14:29 GMT
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Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump has history of complaining about rigging
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An old tweet by Donald Trump suggesting that Hilary Clinton should “lose with dignity” has resurfaced to haunt him as he continues to refuse to accept the election result and complain of voter fraud despite the lack of any proof that supports his claims.  

Mr Trump shared the message shortly after he was elected president in 2016, endorsing comments made by Vladimir Putin about Ms Clinton and the Democratic Party at an annual news conference in Moscow.  

"Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: 'In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity.' So true!” read the tweet.

Mr Trump’s old tweets have been resurfacing sporadically since the outgoing president is crying foul from the moment election results leaned in favour of president-elect Joe Biden. Social media users have jibed “there’s always a tweet” whenever one of his past pronouncements have contradicted his comments or actions in the present.

Last month, Mr Trump’s critics hit back by reminding him of his 2014 tweet in which he said: “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate”.

The outgoing president is to yet acknowledge his defeat in the US presidential elections even as Mr Biden is all set for taking the oath of office in January 2021.

Mr Trump is reported to be throwing a “temper tantrum” and telling his advisers that he won’t leave the White House. "He's throwing a f****** temper tantrum. He's going to leave. He's just lashing out," an adviser said.

Predicting the same in December, Ms Clinton had said Mr Trump will immediately announce he is running again in 2024 when he leaves the White House but that too will not come easily.

The former presidential nominee said the new president will need to find a way to “break through his noise”.  

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has already left for Florida to his private golf club Mar-a-Lago, his favourite December vacation spot. However, it is suspected that this time he may not return until the elections have been settled, Mr Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen told MSNBC.

On 14 December, the electoral college announced the victory of Democrat Joe Biden with 306 votes as against 232 for Mr Trump. The confirmation of victory led to series of failed legal challenges across the US by the Trump campaigners without substantiating allegations of voter fraud.

Mr Trump also attempted to halt coronavirus relief efforts passed by US legislators by threatening not to sign the $900bn (£671.7bn) Covid-19 stimulus and demanded revising the bill.

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