As Election Day nears, former President Donald Trump is increasingly warning that if he loses, it will be because of fraud.
“They will cheat. They cheat. All they want to do is cheat,” Trump said of Democrats at a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin, this month. “That’s the only way they can win. We cannot allow this to happen and we cannot allow it to happen again. We will not have a country.”
“They’re trying, but they’re — they’re not going to get away with it,” he asked, looking into the crowd at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley. , huh?”
And at the rally in Prairie du Chien, In Wisconsin in September, Trump said he would win despite cheating and then prosecute those involved in alleged voter fraud.
“When we win, we will prosecute those who rigged this election. If we have the opportunity, if we are allowed, we will return to the last one,” Trump said, referring to the 2020 elections. “We’re going to prosecute people so they at least know it’s going to happen.”
Trump has long inaccurately claimed to be the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, and false allegations of Democratic interference have been a central part of his campaign this term. But by preemptively raising doubts about the results, Trump is setting the stage for contesting the results and throwing the electoral system into chaos once again.
An NBC News analysis found that in 14 of his last 20 rallies, Trump raised the possibility of Democratic fraud in the November election. By comparison, in 20 of his summer rally speeches, Trump referred to Democrats trying to rig the 2024 race just five times.
Democrats are already bracing for Trump to either declare victory early on election night or legally challenge the results if he loses. Trump also has some allies NBC News speculated he can declare himself the winner even if the results are not yet determined.
“Of course“,” Harris said in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday when asked if his campaign was prepared for such a scenario. “This is Donald Trump, a man who tried to overturn a free and fair election, still defies the will of the people, incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol, and was attacked by 140 law enforcement agencies.”
Trump’s statements that he cannot accept the results of the elections are not new; is an increasing frequency. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in May:If everything is honestI would gladly accept the results. If not, you should fight for the rights of the country.”
In late April, he would not rule out the possibility of political violence, telling Time: “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fair conduct of the election.”
“Too big to install” printed on billboards scattered throughout the arena and echoed in the former president’s speech after his speech; it means making sure enough voters vote for Trump to dwarf any potential Democratic cheating.
Over the past few weeks, Trump has increasingly raised the possibility of widespread fraud by Democrats:
- In an October 7 interview on Sid Rosenberg’s podcast, Trump said: “These guys are going to the polls and they’re having their first meeting. [Democratic lawyer] Marc Elias and all these people they have and they know how to cheat. How do we cheat? And that’s all they think about. It’s a passion for them.”
- Last month, Trump made the baseless accusation that Democrats intended to use a decades-old law that allows mail-in voting to “cheat” Americans living abroad. Truly Social postTrump wrote: “Democrats talk about how they are working so hard to get millions of votes from Americans living abroad. Rather, they are going to BUY! … They want to dilute the TRUE voice of our wonderful servicemen and their families…”
- Trump has repeatedly said, without evidence, that Democrats are registering undocumented immigrants to vote illegally. “They’re actually using it for fraud,” Trump said on Los Angeles radio station KFI AM 640 on Oct. 8. “I think they are putting a lot of people on the electoral rolls and trying to force them to vote. “
At a campaign rally last week, Trump claimed he would even win California this November, even though he lost to Joe Biden by 5 million votes in 2020 — a claim he has made repeatedly since leaving office.
“If Jesus came down and had a voter counter, I would win California,” Trump said in an interview with Phil McGraw in September.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and his billionaire ally Elon Musk have made similarly baffling allegations of voter fraud.
On Trump’s return to ButlerPennsylvania, this month the CEO of Tesla took the stage, encouraged the crowd to vote and warned that if Trump loses this upcoming election, it will be the last election in the United States.
“Take everyone you know and everyone you don’t know, drag them to register to vote,” Musk said. “Make sure they actually vote. If they don’t do it, this will be the last election.”
That day, Vance falsely claimed that Democrats were working to give millions of undocumented immigrants the right to vote in US elections.
“One of the things you see is an amazing willingness on the part of the Democratic leadership in this country to talk about giving millions of illegal aliens the right to vote,” Vance said. “If you take millions of people who shouldn’t be here and give them the right to vote, that fundamentally disenfranchises American citizens from their constitutional right to vote.”
But so far, Trump’s campaign has failed to identify evidence that the 2024 election will not be free and fair, including when comment was requested for this article.
In an interview with NBC News last week in Swannanoa, North Carolina, Trump himself admitted that he has not yet identified any fraud in the 2024 election.
“Well, I didn’t,” Trump replied. “Unfortunately, I know the other side and they are not good. But I haven’t seen it. Michael, have you seen anything suspicious? We are at a very early stage of the process.”
He then turned to RNC Chairman Whatley and replied, “Yes, we’re very early in the process and we’re looking at all 50 states right now to make sure the systems we want to put in place are correct. in place. And we are very satisfied with the preliminary results.”
Trump has given similarly mixed messages about early voting. He stayed vocal skeptic used the practice and pointed out several times that fraud would occur if early voting took place.
“They have early voting, late voting, everything is so ridiculous,” Trump said on stage in Palm Beach, Florida, in July. “We should have one-day voting, paper ballots, voter ID card and citizenship certificate. We are also trying to do that.”
But Trump has also spoken positively about early voting, usually in a more choreographed setting. Trump has posted a TikTok video encouraging people to vote early and will sometimes make prepared statements during campaign speeches promoting early voting without warning. Trump also participated in early voting in Florida in September.
Trump also raised doubts about the federal government’s disaster relief efforts, particularly in rural, conservative areas of North Carolina hit by Hurricane Helene in September, suggesting the Biden-Harris administration was trying to avoid helping victims in “Republican areas.”
Last week, Trump responded to a question about whether he had any concerns or reasons to question the validity or legitimacy of North Carolina’s election results as a result of the storm’s impact.
“No, I think quite the opposite,” Trump replied. “I mean, we’re very impressed and I think they have a pretty good system here. Michael Whatley was responsible to some extent and the new people who took Michael’s place. I don’t think I’ve heard any complaints about it.”