It used to be unthinkable that a U.S. president would effectively encourage voter intimidation at the polls—but no longer. In an extraordinary call to action at his North Carolina rally Tuesday, President Donald Trump urged his supporters to gather at polling places in November and take it upon themselves to monitor the election. Whipping his fans up into a frenzy with baseless fear-mongering, he warned them to expect “thieving, and stealing and robbing” at the polls. “Watch it. Be poll watchers when you go there. Watch all the thieving and stealing and robbing they do. Because this is important. We win North Carolina, we win,” said the president. Trump has spent months trying to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election in an apparent attempt to prepare for a defeat or a legal fight in the event of a close result.