– Trump’s undemocratic behavior is grotesque – VG

On Friday night, US President Donald Trump spoke to the American people. Here he repeated the accusations of “electoral fraud” and at the same time claimed that someone was trying to “steal” his victory.

– If you count the legal votes, I win easily. If they count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us, Trump said during the press conference, without any documentation.

No evidence has been produced for his allegations of voter fraud or what he calls illegal votes.

Trump also took the opportunity to brag about his own election result, before accusing the media and tech companies of “election interference.”

– A lot of nonsense is happening and we cannot accept it in our country, he said.

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– Appears as isolated

Hilmar Mjelde is a researcher at NORCE Research, which is part of the University of Bergen (UiB). He believes that Trump appears to be “increasingly isolated.”

– The bunker mentality has settled. Shoot with disinformation until the powder is emptied, he tells VG.

Explain that the definition of democracy is a system where parties lose elections and the loser acknowledges defeat.

– Trump’s undemocratic behavior is grotesque and qualifies for a Supreme Court, says the investigator.

TV channels interrupted the transmission

Several American television channels chose to stop the live broadcast of President Donald Trump’s speech on Friday night at the White House.

According to The Guardian newspaper, this applies to both ABC, CBS and MSNBC. USA Today, which also disrupted the broadcast of the speech, writes that they have also removed the video of the speech from all of their platforms.

– President Trump claimed, without evidence, that the presidential election was corrupt and marked by cheating, editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll writes in a statement, adding:

– Our job is to spread the truth, not conspiracy theories without roots in reality.

Republicans against Trump

Some Republican voters also expressed strong opposition to Donald Trump’s speech.

The Republican Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, believes that the president’s words undermine the democratic process.

– There is no defense for the president’s statements tonight, they undermine our democratic process. The United States counts the votes and we must respect the results as we have always done before. No choice or person is more important than our democracy, write on Twitter.

“This is starting to get crazy,” said Adam Kinzinger, a congressman from Illinois.

The head of the federal electoral commission, Ellen Weintraub, also reacted strongly on Twitter.

– Enough is enough, Mr. President. Enough. Spitting conspiracy theories about the elections will not change the outcome. The votes have been cast. The votes will be counted. The will of the people will be fulfilled. Your lies undermine our democracy and harm the country. Just stop she writes Twitter.

Among those expressing support for the president is US Vice President Mike Pence, who is running for reelection with Trump.

– I’m with President Donald Trump. We must count every legitimate vote, he writes.

Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz have also expressed support. Trump on Fox News Friday night.

He thinks he is the “real winner” of the election.

Bente Kalsnes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Kristiania University College and has published a book on fake news.

– Trump is trying to present a story that he is the real winner of the election and that the electoral result that we are about to obtain is not legitimate, he tells VGTV.

She says the president has not presented any evidence that there has been electoral fraud.

– This is probably the reason why several television networks chose to stop the broadcast, because they made accusations that are not based on facts, says Kalsnes.

The media researcher notes that this is not the first time that US television networks have had to stop live broadcasts where Trump is speaking.

– We saw it earlier this spring, when Trump gave press conferences on the corona pandemic. The television channels saw that many lies were presented and did not want to convey this to the audience, he says.

Hilde Restad is an associate professor at Bjørknes University College and a researcher in American politics. She characterizes Trump’s speech as “absurd and dangerous.”

– It also describes the last four years well. Trump has announced that he would do this since 2016, which is unfortunately not surprising, she says.

– Trump has created his own reality

Liberal think tank Civita adviser Eirik Løkke is also not surprised by Trump’s proposals.

– Trump has created his own reality where the facts are not so important. The problem is that there are many millions of voters and supporters of him who take this seriously, he tells VG.

Løkke says he has no recollection of US TV stations having previously chosen to stop broadcasting with Trump.

– I never remember happening before. That they interrupted in this way is quite special, he says.

– What is the reason you decided to cancel?

– They won’t serve as a mic stand for cheap conspiracy theories and that’s understandable, he says.

Wait for more reactions

Løkke believes there will be stronger reactions to the Republicans’ speech.

– Come where this is going. That is opportunism. Trump is coming out and they don’t want to be a part of that downfall, he says.

Mjelde also thinks the same.

– We see signs that the Republican Party is preparing to leave Trump, and they are quietly happy about that, because the party’s elite would never have him, and they expect a new leader, even if they don’t say so. utad, he says.

The investigator believes that Trump is unable to accept that the end is near.

– Throughout your career you have refused to deal with inconvenient events. His presidency is in dissolution and has not sunk him, says Mjelde.