Trump: Twitter, last 2 debates, rallies ‘gave us the win’

Trump says the debates, his rallies and his tweets each helped propel his stunning presidential election victory. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
Donald Trump (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

Donald Trump is crediting his performances in the debates, the speeches he made at his raucous rallies and his massive Twitter following for his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton in last week’s presidential election.

“The debates, especially the second and third, plus speeches and intensity of the large rallies, plus OUR GREAT SUPPORTERS, gave us the win!” the president-elect tweeted on Sunday.

In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” scheduled to air later Sunday night, Trump said that while his Twitter presence will be “very restrained” as commander in chief, he believes his rapid-fire tweeting played a key role in defeating Clinton.

“It should be nothing you should be ashamed of — it’s where it’s at,” Trump said. “I think it helped me win all of these races where they’re spending much more money than the money I spent. And I won. I think social media has much more power than the money they spend, and I think to a certain extent I proved that.”

During a conference call with her top campaign funders on Saturday, Clinton said FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress announcing the review of new emails related to the bureau’s investigation into her use of a private server as secretary of state — and Comey’s subsequent letter that said his review turned up nothing — motivated Trump’s supporters to vote on Election Day.

According to a postmortem memo prepared by Clinton’s campaign and obtained by Reuters, the timing of the letters was enough to derail her candidacy.

“In the end, late breaking developments in the race proved one hurdle too many for us to overcome,” the memo concluded.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign and member of the president-elect’s transition team, disagrees.

“I actually think it was Obamacare,” Giuliani said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. “Again, why you won an election and why you didn’t is a subject of, you know, books that get written 20 years later. And being part of the campaign, we put up front in all of Donald Trump’s speeches for the last two or three weeks not the FBI but Obamacare. That seems to me to be the thing that moved the votes in Michigan … Pennsylvania, Wisconsin — the blue states we were able to turn red and basically haven’t been red since Ronald Reagan. I think Obamacare was the bigger hit.”

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