Trump, allies are laying the groundwork to contest potential election loss

[Dulcinea]

(Reuters) - Donald Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to contest a potential loss in November, stoking doubts about the election's legitimacy even as opinion polls show the Republican presidential candidate leading in battleground states.

In recent interviews, Trump has refused to commit to accepting the election results. At his rallies, he has portrayed Democrats as cheaters, called mail-in ballots corrupt and urged supporters to vote in such large numbers to render the election "too big to rig."

He also backed a new Republican-sponsored bill aimed at keeping foreigners from voting, seeking to link his false election fraud claims with the issue of illegal immigration, even though voting by non-citizens is already unlawful and studies show it is exceedingly rare.

Trump's tactics are an intensified version of the strategy he used during the 2020 election, when his baseless voter fraud claims inspired his supporters to assault the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election defeat.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-allies-laying-groundwork-contest-100734000.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&segment_id&ncid=crm_19908-1202929-20240517-0&bt_user_id=OazQYdjueetaNzroshB0rEetQi2WRVhHxnkQiyrIgh89vvp3lfVlRsWjnD7EMgwv&bt_ts=1715943824991

[FakeNoose]

1. This goes back to the 2016 election, he thought he was going to lose

... and he was ready to scream "Fraud" over that one too. But by some magic he was declared the winner, and he had to immediately shut up. He couldn't throw his tantrum after all.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. On voting absentee, Trump is still struggling to make up his mind

When the Texas voter id law first came into effect and before that law was largely gutted by a court ruling, the GOP used to have a major advantage in vote by mail. In my county in 2010, there were over 10 times the number of GOP vote by mail ballots casted compared to Democratic vote by mail ballots. The State Democratic Party put an emphasis on vote by mail in part because such votes were not subject to voter id law and to be more competitive. Due to TFG and other reasons, Democrats had slightly more vote by mail ballots casted in my county in the 2012 election.

By some measures, Donald Trump has flip-flopped more on absentee and mail-in voting than on any other issue.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/voting-absentee-trump-still-struggling-make-mind-rcna152814

At a campaign rally this past weekend, Donald Trump singled out a local GOP official in Delaware for praise. That wouldn’t have been especially notable, except the former president claimed that the official did the right thing by “getting rid of the mail-in voting.”

Link to tweet

As a factual matter, Trump’s comments weren’t altogether true, but he nevertheless made clear that he remains opposed to people casting absentee ballots through the mail. This was, however, a reversal of sorts: Just two days earlier, the presumptive Republican nominee released a video online in which he specifically touted “absentee voting” and “early voting.”

This, however, was the opposite of what he told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly two weeks earlier, when Trump called for eliminating early voting altogether. “You know, in the old days, it was Election Day,” the GOP candidate said. “Now it’s ... 48 days; 48 days of cheating.” He went on to endorse “one-day voting.”.....

A month later, the former president told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference that it was time for Republicans to “change our thinking” on early and mail-in voting. In July 2023, Trump even filmed a video for the Republican National Committee in support of the party’s early voting initiative.

And then he switched back to his other position.

“Mail-in voting is totally corrupt. Get that through your head,” Trump declared a few months ago, stepping all over his party’s message. “It has to be. The votes. I mean, it has to be.”

Is it any wonder why the Republican base has absolutely no idea what to think?

All things considered, Trump appears to have flip-flopped more on absentee and mail-in voting than on any other issue. What will his position be on this tomorrow? I won’t hazard a guess, though if recent history is any guide, it’ll be the opposite of what he says soon after.

This will be fun to watch.