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.
Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017
Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017
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.
Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don’t always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017