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Did Bernie Sanders predict this, or is Donald Trump taking ideas from The Tonight Show ?

Senator Bernie Sanders has been making some big calls – but not as big as the US President.

Senator Bernie Sanders has been making some big calls – but not as big as the US President. Photo: Getty

Online media is awash with a two-week-old video of Democratic senator Bernie Sanders uncannily predicting the exact circumstances of the chaotic US election night.

On October 23, Mr Sanders appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon to talk politics ahead of the US election and delivered a (now viral) explainer on mail-in voting.

In the recording, Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon kicks off by explaining to viewers that the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots for the 2020 US Election means it could take days to count all of the votes and get a result.

Mr Fallon then asks the senator when the United States can expect to find out who their next president will be.

“Jimmy you raise an important point, and I hope the American people understand it, because this is something I worry about,” Mr Sanders responds in the video.

The Vermont senator then gives a breakdown of how he predicts the incumbent President Donald Trump would react on election night – specifically around mail-in ballots – and it is uncanny.

He first expressed his view that every vote should be counted, and his  suspicions that will not be a view shared by Mr Trump come election day.

Mr Sanders said that some states, due to what he calls “bad reasons”, will not begin to start processing millions of mail-in ballots until late in the election, perhaps even after the polling booths close.

He also highlights that supporters of Donald Trump are more likely to attend the polling booths in person, while Joe Biden supporters are more likely to mail their ballots.

“Democrats are more likely to use mail-in ballots, Republicans are more likely to walk into polling booths on Election Day. It is likely that the first votes that will be counted will be those people who came in on Election Day,” Mr Sanders said.

All of this is interesting, but it is what Mr Sanders said towards the end of his appearance that has social media in uproar.

“It could well be that, at 10pm on election night, Trump is winning in Michigan, he’s winning in Pennsylvania, he’s winning in Wisconsin, and he gets on the television and says, ‘Thank you Americans for re-electing me. It’s all over, have a good day,'” he said.

“But then the next day and the day following, all those mail-in ballots start getting counted, and it turns out that Biden has won those states.

“At which point Trump says ‘See? I told you the whole thing was fraudulent.”

Mr Sanders was wrong about 10pm, Mr Trump began tweeting later in the evening – but the writing was seemingly on the wall with his first tweet claiming “A big WIN!” was imminent.

A later tweet by Mr Trump was flagged by Twitter for breaching guidelines.

“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” the tweet said.

A few hours later, the Trump administration posted a video of Mr Trump at a press conference, calling the election.

The winner, according to Mr Trump – and long before all of the votes had been counted – was unsurprising.

President Trump and his supporters have since claimed, without evidence, that votes are being suppressed, pushing the message that the Democrats are trying to “steal” the election.

Going a step further than even Mr Sanders predicted, Mr Trump has announced he is suing to temporarily halt vote counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The Trump administration has also asked to intervene in a US Supreme Court case over mail-in ballots in the state, which could determine the winner of the election.

 

 

 

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