By JILL COLVIN
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has spent months laying the groundwork to challenge the results of the 2024 election if he loses — just as he did four years ago.
At rally after rally, he urges his supporters to deliver a victory “too big to rig,” telling them the only way he can lose is if Democrats cheat. He has refused to say, repeatedly, whether he will accept the results regardless of the outcome. And he’s claimed cheating is already underway, citing debunked claims or outrageous theories with no basis in reality.
“The only thing that can stop us is the cheating. It’s the only thing that can stop us,” he said at an event in Arizona late Thursday night.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)In 2020, Trump prematurely declared victory from the White House. He launched a legal and political effort to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden that culminated in the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Democrats fear he may do the same thing this year before the race is called. He wouldn’t answer a question Friday in Dearborn, Michigan, about those Democratic concerns, instead pivoting to attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump has made election lies central to his 2024 campaign, issuing fevered warnings about fraud while promising to take retribution against people he sees as standing in his way.
This year, he is backed by a sophisticated “election integrity” operation built by his campaign and the Republican National Committee that has filed more than 130 lawsuits already and signed up more than 230,000 volunteers being trained to deploy as poll watchers and poll workers across the country on Election Day.
Here’s a look at Trump’s strategy to sow doubt in this year’s election and the facts behind each claim.
Non-citizen voting
THE CLAIM: Trump has alleged, without evidence, that Democrats have allowed millions of migrants to enter the country illegally so that they can be registered to vote. In an interview with Newsmax in September, Trump alleged such efforts were already underway.
“They are working overtime trying to sign people, illegally, to vote in the election,” he claimed. “They’re working overtime to sign people and register people — many of the same people that you just see come across the border. Which is probably their original thought, because why else would they want to destroy our country?”
THE FACTS: It takes years for newcomers to become citizens and only citizens can legally cast ballots in federal elections. Isolated cases of noncitizens being caught trying to vote — like a University of Michigan student from China arrested for allegedly casting an illegal ballot — do not reflect a larger conspiracy.
Research has shown noncitizens illegally registering and casting ballots is extremely rare and usually done by mistake.
Overseas ballots
THE CLAIM: Trump has pointed to Democratic efforts to secure the votes of Americans living abroad as another opportunity for fraud. …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
