On Friday morning, Norton shared a Twitter thread about Trump’s behavior after the election was called in favor of Joe Biden. The president constantly disputed the victory, and claimed voter fraud happened without any substantial evidence. Trump also announced a premature victory on Election night.
As of publishing, Norton’s first tweet of scathing commentary received over 162K likes on Twitter, and the following updates garnering tens of thousands of likes.
“I’m no political pundit but I grew up w a dad who was a federal prosecutor & he taught me a lot & I’ve also sat a fair amount of poker w serious players & l’ll say this: I do not think Trump is trying to ‘make his base happy’ or ’laying the groundwork for his own network’…” he began the thread.
“…or that ‘chaos is what he loves’. The core of it is that he knows he’s in deep, multi-dimensional legal jeopardy & this defines his every action,” he continued.
“We’re seeing 1) a tactical delay of the transition to buy time for coverup & evidence suppression 2) above all, a desperate endgame …which is to create enough chaos & anxiety about peaceful transfer of power, & fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding.”
Norton compared Trump’s false election result claims to a having bad hand of cards felt to him. Despite his “cards” being ugly, Norton encouraged folks to call him out over them.
“We cannot let this mobster bully the USA into a deal to save his ass by threatening our democracy,” he added.
The actor also did not mince his words, calling the president “a whiny, sulky, petulant, Grinchy, vindictive little 10-ply-super-soft b**** who no doubt is just throwing a wicked pout fest & trying to give a tiny-hand middle finger to the whole country for pure spite, without a single thought for the dead & dying.”
Norton concluded his commentary, calling out Trump’s “contemptible, treasonous, seditious assault on the stability of our political compact” as a way to “use chaos & threat to the foundation of the system as leverage to trade for a safe exit.”
“Faith in the strength of our sacred institutions & founding principles is severely stretched…but they will hold. They will. He’s leaving, gracelessly & in infamy. But if we trade for it, give him some brokered settlement, we’ll be vulnerable to his return. We can’t flinch.”
Midler also took aim at Trump on Twitter recently in an open letter. She told Trump to accept the election results and that “we just can’t pay any more attention to you” on Thursday.
