The words which may have cost Trump the election
With the results of the US election coming down to the wire some words from Donald Trump may have cost him his bid to return to the White House.
Trump is predicted to lose to Democratic candidate Joe Biden who The Associated Press currently has on 264 electoral votes.
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Biden needs six more to become US President.
A number of states are yet to be declared for either candidate.
But it’s Arizona which has been an eye-opener and may have turned the tide for the Democrats.
With 90 per cent of the vote counted in Arizona, Biden is projected to win it.
However, not long ago – Arizona was considered a stronghold for the Republicans.
In 2016, it helped Trump get to the White House against Hilary Clinton and in 2012 voted for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
In fact, since 1996, when Arizona residents voted for Bill Clinton, it’s voted in a Republican candidate for each US Presidential election. Before that the only other Democrat the state voted for was Harry Truman in 1948.
Republican candidate John McCain was among those the state backed during his unsuccessful bid against Barack Obama in 2008.
McCain was a senator in Arizona from 1983 until 2018. He was also a POW for five years after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967.
Asked about McCain in 2015 as Trump ran for president, he told the Iowa Family Leadership Summit he was “not a war hero”.
"He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured,” Trump said.
At the time, Trump’s comments were met with disgust from conservatives including McCain’s daughter Meghan who tweeted she was “horrified” and “disgusted”.
McCain died from cancer in 2018. Trump wasn’t invited to the funeral.
It also emerged earlier this year, that Trump, according to The Atlantic, was angry when flags flew at half-mast for McCain in 2018.
“We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,” Trump reportedly said.
“What the f*** are we doing that for? Guy was a f***ing loser.”
McCain’s widow Cindy went as far as endorsing Biden earlier this year.
“He supports the troops and knows what it means for someone who has served,” she said.
“Not only to love someone who has served, but understands what it means to send a child into combat. We’ve been great friends for many years, but we have a common thread in that we are Blue Star families.”
Some people believe Trump’s comments about McCain may have cost him Arizona.
Conservative commentator Mark Levin sarcastically congratulated McCain’s widow for having “helped cost us Arizona”.
American historian Michael Beschloss tweeted she played “a major role” in ensuring Trump didn’t claim Arizona which is the home state of her “American hero” husband.
“What must John McCain be thinking as he looks down and watches this happen tonight?” he tweeted.
However, it’s not the only reason why people in Arizona voted for Biden.
Voters were in a negative mood as they chose their president, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 132,000 voters and nonvoters nationwide conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.
The survey shows that 61 per cent of Arizona voters said the US is on the wrong track, while 39 per cent said it is headed in the right direction.
But they also were motivated.
Election officials in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, said multiple voting locations with people still in line when they were set to close at 7pm remained open as required by state law.
with The Associated Press
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