Donald Trump has misspelled a tweet before quickly replacing it as he waited to hear if he will remain president.
The Republican posted: ‘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 Poles are closed!’
He had meant to put ‘polls’ rather than ‘poles’, which he later changed the message to.
Twitter slapped a warning label on the new tweet, stating some of the content ‘is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process’.
It came hours before Trump took to the podium in the White House to reiterate his message as he stood neck and neck with Democratic rival Joe Biden in the contest.
He effectively declared victory but branded the election a ‘fraud on the American people’, saying he was going to the Supreme Court to demand that ‘all voting stop.’
It set the stage for a titanic struggle with Biden over the millions of ballots which are still to be counted up until Friday.
The President posted: ‘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 Poles are closed!’
Celebrities and other social media users were quick to mock Trump for his tweet, with Jimmy Kimmel leading the way.
The comedian and TV host wrote: ‘Dear @realDonaldTrump – you accidentally deleted this tweet about Poles.’
Actress Tondy Gallant commented: ‘So this clown Donald Trump doesn’t know the difference between ”poles” and ”polls?” This dude is a walking blob of embarrassment smh.’
Professor at Georgetown Don Moynihan joked: ‘Trump raises accusations of foreign interference, invoking the Poles.’
MLA-elect for Stikine in British Columbia said: ‘Is Poland closed? If it is what does that have to do with the US election? What is Trump telling us?
‘Now I’m just confused. (Psst – yes, I’m being sarcastic and yes, Trump has hard time with spelling (he said ‘Poles closed’)).’
Trump kept Florida, Texas and Ohio meaning the election comes down to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
But at the White House, Trump demanded all counting stop as he boasted about the margins he had rung up already.
He said in the White House’s East Room: ‘This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country, we were getting ready to win this election, frankly we did win this election.’
He also claimed that a ‘very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise’ his voters.
Meanwhile social media users continued to mock the president, with one writing: ‘The six-hour silence finally broke to prove yet again that trump is an idiot.’
The woman added: ‘He’s worrying about the poles instead of the polls.’
A man commented after the tweet: ‘Trump has confirmed that Santa will not be coming this year because the Poles have closed.’
One woman wrote online: ‘Donald Trump closing Time at the strip club. The Poles are closed.’
A man posted a picture of strip clubs closed in the US, with the caption: ‘These are the Poles Trump was talking about.’
And another added: ‘Someone should Czech on the Poles.’
It is not the first time President Trump has made a spelling error on his Twitter account.
In a January 2017 tweet, shortly after Trump took office, he tweeted his excitement about becoming president but misspelled the word ‘honor’.
‘I am honered to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States,’ he posted, and then quickly deleted.
Trump was also ridiculed for a spelling mistake he made during a March 2017 tweet attacking former president Barack Obama.
‘How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy,’ Trump posted.
In May of 2017, the president confused an entire nation when he included ‘covfefe’ in an early-morning tweet.
‘Despite the constant negative press convfefe,’ Trump wrote. It wasn’t until hours later that Trump deleted the tweet to add: ‘Who can figure out the true meaning of ‘covfefe’?? Enjoy!’
The word stumped many, with some guessing the president meant to say ‘coverage’ while others thought he was saying that he desperately needed coffee.