Trump On Widespread Protests: ‘Why Didn’t These People Vote?’

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during a speech in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, July 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday morning to respond to massive nationwide protests after his inauguration.

Trump tweeted that he “was under the impression that we just had an election” and suggested that protestors did not vote (Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million).

He also drummed up the ratings numbers for his inauguration, noting that nearly 31 million people watched the festivities. As noted by Politico, this represented a drop from President Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, which nearly 38 million people tuned in to watch.

Official estimates from D.C. Metro authority released on Saturday showed that crowd numbers from the Women’s March in Washington surpassed those at Trump’s inauguration on Friday.

Update at 9:31 a.m. ET:

Trump posted a tweet several hours later clarifying that he recognizes the right of the people to peacefully assemble as protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: