Politics

Trump Tells Supporters a Campaign Is Underway ‘to Rig This Election’ With 80 Million Mail Ballots

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

The president said he was free to be “vicious” and announce the “rigging” claim after Biden’s campaign criticized his reported mockery of America’s war dead.

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty

President Donald Trump on Saturday told supporters in Nevada that Democrats are “trying to rig this election.” Speaking at a rally in Minden, the president insisted, without citing evidence, that a nefarious campaign is underway to send out 80 million “unsolicited” ballots to random people who are not eligible to vote. But moments later, Trump bizarrely appeared to tie his “rigged” claim to the criticism he faced following reports he disparaged America’s war dead as “losers” and “suckers.” Noting that he’d seen an ad launched by former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign that featured his reported quotes mocking slain soldiers, Trump declared that he would now become “vicious.” “Now I can be really vicious … and we’ll start by saying ... that the Democrats are trying to rig this election. The only way they’re going to win is to rig it,” he said, adding, “We can’t let that happen. I hope you’re all going to be poll watchers.” He made a similar claim a month ago about election rigging being the only way he could lose. “We're gonna win four more years in the White House, and then we'll negotiate, because based on the way we were treated, we’re probably entitled to another four years after that,” he said.

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