He was shocked that he won, but he did know something about the EC. On election night 2008 he was damning the EC system because he thought Obama was winning the presidency on a minority vote. He was wrong, of course, as he is about many things.
Knowing it exists, is not knowing about it and how to use it., The job of president is all new to him. He is way out of his comfort zone and it shows. he has no respect for the office or the executive branch. He has overt hostility to the legislative and judicial. He is trying to take power over all of them. Sadly the rightys are making that easy to do.