donald Trump and his allies are preparing the ground to challenge a possible defeat in the US presidential election in November, fueling doubts about the legitimacy of the election, even as opinion polls show that the Republican candidate is leading the race in decisive American states, the called pendulum states.
In recent interviews, Trump has refused to commit to accepting the election results.
At his rallies, he has portrayed Democrats as cheats, saying mail-in ballots are corrupt and urging his supporters to vote in such large numbers that it makes the election “too big to manipulate.”
He also supported a new Republican-sponsored bill aimed at preventing foreigners from voting, seeking to tie his false claims of voter fraud to the issue of illegal immigration, even though noncitizen voting is already illegal and studies show it is extremely rare.
The tactics of Trump are a heightened version of the strategy he used during the 2020 election, when his baseless claims of voter fraud inspired his supporters to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election defeat to Joe Biden .
Rather than be intimidated by looming criminal trials over his conduct following the 2020 election, Trump is repeating the false claims that polls show resonate with his supporters, while preparing the legal firepower needed to launch a similar challenge to the validity of the vote this year.
Critics of the former president fear he is setting the stage for another turbulent post-election period by conditioning his supporters to believe, once again, that the system was rigged against him. Trump has refused to rule out the possibility of violence after the November election, telling Time magazine in April in response to a question about that possibility: “if we don’t win, you know, it depends.”
Trump has instructed the Republican National Committee, now led by his daughter-in-law and a close ally, to prioritize forming a team of poll watchers and lawyers to monitor the vote and contest potential post-election challenges, according to a person familiar with the matter .
As part of that effort, the committee announced in April that it will recruit 100,000 volunteers and advocates, double the number pledged during the 2020 cycle, calling the effort “the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history.”
Republican lawyers have filed dozens of lawsuits since last year aimed at limiting the window for counting mail-in ballots and other voting rules seen as giving Democrats an advantage.
“We are working around the clock to ensure it is easy to vote and difficult to cheat,” said a committee spokesperson.
Democrats have criticized the recruitment plan as unrealistic and an attempt to intimidate voters, while also assembling their own legal team.
President Joe Biden, rival of Trump in the November 5 election, called the prospect of Trump not accept the election results.
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