Election lies underpin Trump’s challenge to 2024 results if defeated

Mirroring his actions in 2020, Donald Trump has spent months crafting a strategy to challenge the results of the 2024 US election if he loses. At rallies he insists on a victory that is “too big to cheat” and claims that the only way he can lose is through Democratic cheating.

He has repeatedly refused to commit to accepting the election result. “The only thing that can stop us is cheating,” he said at a recent event in Arizona. In 2020, Trump prematurely declared victory and attempted to reverse his defeat against Joe Biden, culminating in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. Democrats worry he could repeat that approach before the 2024 election is officially decided.

Allegations of fraud are at the center of Trump’s campaign. He claimed, without evidence, that Democrats allowed millions of immigrants to enter the United States illegally to register to vote, the AP reported.

“They’re working overtime trying to illegally sign people to vote in the election,” Trump said in a Newsmax interview in September. But it often takes years for newcomers to gain citizenship, a prerequisite for voting in federal elections.

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Trump also suggested that Democrats’ efforts to engage voters overseas carry the potential for fraud and that they are intended to “dilute the REAL vote of our beautiful military and their families.” Ironically, Trump himself campaigned for the votes of Americans living abroad.

Regarding Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said, “Maybe she knows something we don’t,” implying that she may have inside information about the election results. He suggested that his campaign with Beyoncé showed that Democrats may have had advance knowledge of the election results.

In Pennsylvania, Trump claimed that “thousands of potentially fraudulent Voter Registration Forms” had been received and said, “They’ve already started cheating.” However, investigations are ongoing and officials have confirmed that the review relates to registration applications and not actual votes.

Trump has threatened serious consequences for those he accuses of “unconscionable conduct” and stated that after he wins, he will seek to prosecute people involved in what he sees as election fraud. Despite his claims, judges and election officials, including former attorney general William Barr, have confirmed that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

As reported by the Associated Press, Trump’s rhetoric and organizational efforts point to a concerted attempt to cast doubt on the electoral process and raise concerns about potential instability in the upcoming election.