In each of his elections for president, Donald Trump has been clear about something: If he wins, the election is legitimate. If he loses, there is cheating or “rigging” against him. He did this back in the 2016 Iowa caucuses when he lost to Ted Cruz and claimed “fraud” without ever presenting any evidence of such. And, of course, this happened after his loss to Joe Biden in 2020, to disastrous results.
In the 2024 race, Trump has continued to imply, or more than imply, that if he loses to Kamala Harris, it could only possibly happen due to fraud, even though, as in 2020, none of the supposed evidence of such fraud has checked out.
This week, Trump is once again making those claims, including in a new leaked video in which he’s seen addressing a crowd at his Mar-a-Lago club.
Trump first says “I’ve got 30 people waiting on a plane to Georgia. It looks like we’re doing well, it looks like we’re way up, but of course they cheat like hell.” He later says “we’re leading by 5 points, according to everybody.”
In leaked video from Mar-a-Lago, Trump implies if he doesn’t win the election it will be due to cheating. pic.twitter.com/Ktxs8o6txu
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) October 31, 2024
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It’s not clear where Trump got that he’s leading by 5 points in Georgia, “according to everybody.” The Real Clear Politics average — which notoriously includes some right-leaning polls — has Trump up in Georgia by 2.4 points, with the Marist poll listing that state’s race as tied.
Trump has also been making dubious claims about cheating in other states, including Pennsylvania.
“They’re going to cheat. They cheat. That’s all they want to do is cheat,” Trump said of Democrats during a recent Wisconsin rally, per NBC News. “It’s the only way they’re going to win. And we can’t let that happen, and we can’t let it happen again. We’re going to have no country.”
In fact, Trump “mentioned Democrats’ likelihood of cheating in the November election at 14 of his last 20 rallies,” according to NBC’s analysis.
Some, including election lawyer Marc Elias, have claimed that Trump is pushing the voter fraud claims in specific states, such as Pennsylvania, for a simple reason: He knows he’s losing those states and wants to lay the groundwork for challenging the results there.
Want to know who is winning Pennsylvania? Ignore the polls and pay attention to Trump. He is already making up false claims of fraud and suing to block ballots. He knows he is losing and he is desperate.
Keep going PA Dems! pic.twitter.com/QV9ewBOMuT
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) October 31, 2024
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
