Although President-elect Donald Trump charged to a stunning Electoral College victory early Wednesday, Democrat Hillary Clinton is ahead in the popular vote.
>> Despite Trump victory, Clinton pulls ahead in popular vote
At 3 a.m. ET Thursday with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Trump’s vote total was listed as 59,611,678, while Clinton had 59,814,018 – a difference of more than 200,000 votes.
As Trump supporters and critics clashed about the Electoral College on social media, some pointed out the irony of a 2012 Twitter rant in which Trump slammed the process.
"The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy," Trump wrote after President Barack Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. Obama ended up winning the Electoral College and the popular vote.
Earlier that evening, Trump tweeted, "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!"
He also called the election a "total sham."
"We are not a democracy!" Trump wrote.
A candidate winning the presidency without winning the popular vote is rare but not unheard of in U.S. elections.
Most recently, Democrat Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential race to Republican George W. Bush, despite receiving more than 500,000 more votes than his opponent.
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