NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump he has spent months laying the groundwork to challenge the results of the 2024 elections if he loses – as he did four years ago.
In rally after rally, he calls on his supporters to give him a victory that is “too big to break,” saying the only way he can lose is if Democrats cheat. result And he said that the fraud is already underway, citing claims or offensive theories that have no basis in reality.
“The only thing that can stop us is fraud. He’s the only one who can stop us,” he said at an event in Arizona late Thursday.
In 2020, Trump He prematurely declared victory from the White House He launched a legal and political effort To overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden Storming the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
Democrats fear he will do the same this year before the race is even called. He wouldn’t take questions Friday in Dearborn, Michigan, about those concerns from Democrats, who instead turned to attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump has made election lies central to his 2024 campaign, issuing feverish warnings about fraud. promising to take payment against the people he sees standing in his way.
This year, he is backed by a sophisticated “election integrity” operation built by his campaign and the Republican National Committee, which has already filed more than 130 lawsuits and signed up more than 230,000 volunteers who are preparing to roll out the polls as observers and poll workers. country on election day.
Here’s Trump’s strategy to cast doubt on this year’s election and the facts behind each claim.
CLAIM: Trump he has complained, without proofDemocrats have allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country illegally to register to vote. in one Interview with Newsmax in SeptemberTrump alleged that such efforts were underway.
“They are working overtime trying to get people to sign up to vote in illegal elections,” he declared. “They’re working overtime to sign people in and register people—many of the same people you see across the border. What is probably their original thought, because why else would they want to destroy our town?’
THE FACTS: It takes years for newcomers to become citizens and only citizens can legally vote in federal elections. Such as isolated cases of non-citizens trying to vote student at the University of Michigan in China arrested for allegedly voting illegally — do not reflect a larger conspiracy.
Studies have shown that non-citizens are registering and voting illegally it is very rare and usually done by mistake.
CLAIM: Trump has pointed to Democratic efforts to secure the votes of Americans living abroad as another opportunity for fraud. He complained that they are “ready to make a TRACK”. and “we want to dilute the true vote of our fine military and their families.”
THE FACTS: The former president himself has campaigned for the American vote abroad, promising that it will end so-called “double taxation” for people who pay taxes in their country of residence and also for the US government.
CLAIM: Trump has begun to suggest that Harris may have access to classified information about the outcome of a still-to-be-decided race.
As the vice president took a day off from the road to sit in on interviews with Telemundo and NBC, he repeatedly suggested, “Maybe he knows something that we don’t.”
Last weekend in Michigan, Harris suggested he wouldn’t be campaigning with Beyoncé — one of the biggest stars in the world — if the race was as close as polls suggest.
“One, they cheat the hell out of it. So maybe they know something that we don’t, right?” he said. “Maybe they know something that we don’t, I don’t know. Why the hell would he celebrate when you’re down? Maybe—never thought about it—maybe he knows something we don’t. But we won’t let that happen.”
THE FACTS: There is no evidence to support a democratic conspiracy. Indeed, Trump fueled fears of an inside plot at a rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden when he looked at House Speaker Mike Johnson and talked about a “little secret” they had.
Johnson, before becoming a speaker, he took the lead He echoed some of the wildest conspiracy theories to explain away Trump’s 2020 loss in writing a sweeping op-ed.
Asked about Trump’s reference to a “little secret,” Johnson released a statement that read: “By definition, a secret should not be shared, and I have no intention of sharing this.” (He later told the audience it had to do with “one of our get-out-the-vote tactics,” according to The Hill. Trump’s campaign released a statement saying he had held “countless tele-rallies” to help bolster Republican congressional candidates.)
THE CLAIM: Trump has in recent days turned his anger on Pennsylvania, a state seen as critical by both campaigns, saying fraud is already underway.
Earlier this weeksaid York County, Pennsylvania, “received potentially fraudulent voter registration forms and mail-in ballot requests from a third party.” He also pointed to Lancaster County, which he said was “caught with 2,600 fake votes.” and Forms, all written by the same person.
At a campaign event in Allentown on Tuesday, the former president said, “They’ve already started cheating in Lancaster. They’ve cheated. They caught us with 2,600 votes. No, they caught us cold. 2,600 votes. Think this, think this. And every single vote was written by the same person. ».
THE FACTS: In Lancaster, County District Attorney Heather Adams, a Republican, said election workers raised concerns about two sets. voter registration applications for what he described as numerous similarities. Officials are now reviewing about 2,500 forms.
To be clear, Lancaster is looking at voter registration applications, not “votes.” Lancaster officials said some of the forms contained fake names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses or other problematic details, but they did not say they were all written by the same person.
York County Chief Clerk Greg Monskie confirmed this week that his county was reviewing the suspect’s forms. County Commissioner Julie Wheeler issued a statement saying voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications were “among large shipments containing thousands of election-related materials” that the county elections office received from a third party.
State officials say the discovery and investigation of applications — not votes — is proof the system is working properly.
CLAIM: Trump has threatened dire consequences for what he sees as “unscrupulous behavior.”
In a social media post falsely referring to the “rampant fraud and brainwashing by Democrats in the 2020 presidential election,” he warned: “When I win, those people who cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent. The law, which will include long prison terms.”
The messages threaten “those who engage in unscrupulous behavior,” including election officials, lawyers and donors, he said, “who will unfortunately be sought out, caught and prosecuted at levels never before seen in our Country.”
THE FACTS: Judges, election officials, and even Trump’s top attorney, William Barr, have them all. he confirmed That there was no fraud in the 2020 elections.
If re-elected, Trump has vowed to go after rivals he has labeled the “enemy from within,” including appointing a special prosecutor to target Biden. That’s more than a theoretical threat, because when he was president, Trump repeatedly pressed for investigations into suspected political enemies.
Although the Department of Justice has checks to fend off political influence, Trump can appoint leaders under his orders who would facilitate the opening of cases.
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Associated Press writers Christine Fernando in Chicago, Adriana Gomez Licon in Dearborn, Michigan and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
