President Donald Trump repeated his refrain he does not "campaign for the popular vote," although he pointed the oft-repeated illegal vote claims in California, which "miffed" NBC News host Chuck Todd.
"I think I do better with the popular vote," Trump told NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "But I didn't campaign for the popular vote."
President Trump avoided California during the 2016 presidential campaign, instead focusing on the swing states, and repeated his claim illegal votes in the nation's largest state helped push Hillary Clinton up in the popular vote total.
"I'll say something that, again, is controversial: There were a lot of votes cast that I don't believe,” Trump told Todd. "I look at California.
Clinton beat him by 4.3 million votes in California, where conservative watchdog Judicial Watch sued Los Angeles County to remove inactive voters from voter rolls.
"Take a look at their settlement where California admitted to a million votes," the president told Todd. "They admitted to a million votes."
President Trump also pointed to the Electoral College, saying it is tougher to win for a Republican candidate.
"Let me tell you something, the Electoral College is tougher for a Republican to win than the popular vote – at least me," President Trump said. "I feel that I got to three places. I went to 19 or 21 states. I went to Maine four times because I wanted that one. And I did get it. And that's the beauty of the Electoral College."
As for 2020, President Trump told Todd he was "probably not" prepared to lose.
"No, probably not. Probably not," President Trump said. "It would be much better if I said, 'Yeah.' It would be much easier for me to say, 'Oh, yes.'
"No, I'm probably not too prepared to lose. I don't like losing. I haven't lost very much in my life."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.