Trumps prepares fairy-tale to cover his disaster
Donald Trump claims the election is rigged.
He is building his wall now within America- between his people and the people who vote for Hillary Clinton.
And he (as usual) blames others, dark forces in the shadow, for not being elected as president of the United States of America in November.
He makes America hate again.
What is behind these words, which promote mistrust and hate in America, maybe even naked (gun)-violence?
For the past few months the Republican candidate Donald Trump has been making claims that the election is being rigged, both “in the polls and by the distorted and dishonest media”.
He has since stepped up this rhetoric launching a twitterstorm to hammer home these allegations.
Voter Fraud
Donald Trump assertion that “large scale voter fraud” is happening is his most serious allegation. A path few candidates have ever flirted with.
Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2016
Two-thirds of Republicans say they do not have faith in the votes being counted fairly, so Trump is not alone on this island.
“@THEREALMOGUL: 41% of American voters believe the election could be “stolen” from DonaldTrump due to widespread voter fraud. – Politico”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2016
However, multiple studies conducted suggest that voter fraud is indeed not a widespread problem in the US.
- In 2014, Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, found 31 known cases of impersonation fraud in one billion votes cast in all US elections between 2000 and 2014.
- In 2012, News21 analysis of 2,068 alleged election-fraud cases since 2000 turned up 10 cases of voter impersonation.
The concept of a rigged US election is “ludicrous”, and “certainly not stolen in the way that Trump has alleged,” according to Professor Richard Hasen, an expert in election law. “We cannot have thousands of people voting 5, 10, or 15 times as he’s suggested without it being detected,” he says.
- Due to the variety of voting ID requirements and voting machines, plus the de-centralisation of voting systems, with each state setting its own rules, and state-appointed officials in charge of administering them, widespread rigging would be very hard to co-ordinate.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Donald Trump supporter, told CNN: “I can reassure Donald Trump, I am in charge of elections in Ohio and they’re not going to be rigged. “It’s bipartisan, it’s transparent, and there’s just no justification for concern about widespread voter fraud.”
‘Dead people generally vote for Democrats’
Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and current advisor to Trump told CNN that he’d have to be a “moron” to say he thought the Chicago and Philadelphia elections would be fair. He is suggesting here that American cities controlled by Democrats are hotbeds of voter fraud. Citing the 1982 election, he said 720 dead people voted in Chicago, noting, “dead people generally vote for Democrats instead of Republicans”. Philadelphia has come under scrutiny in the past when in 2012 not a single vote was cast for Mitt Romney in 59 different voting divisions in the city. Although the Republican Party looked into these allegations of fraud, they found nothing irregular. One elections inspector in Philadelphia did not take kindly to these allegations:
2. People like me sign off on election results in every division in Philly. We take job seriously: certifying the accurate will of people.
— Ryan Godfrey (@rgodfrey) August 7, 2016
4. First, there’s absolutely no way to erase votes from the machines we use in this city.
— Ryan Godfrey (@rgodfrey) August 7, 2016
6. Next, we get a paper tally at the end of the night that we match against physical count of voters who used machines (like an odometer).
— Ryan Godfrey (@rgodfrey) August 7, 2016
According to Trump, the media is also participating in this alleged fraud Trump is even also blaming the media, including the debate organisers.
The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016
Voter fraud! Crooked Hillary Clinton even got the questions to a debate, and nobody says a word. Can you imagine if I got the questions?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2016
Why these allegations matter
Coming three weeks before Election Day, as many voters are going to the polls, claiming that the race is being deliberately rigged by a fearful political establishment dangerously threatens the legitimacy of those left to govern in the wake of the most anarchic election in modern history. “Remember, we are competing in a rigged election,” Trump said at a Wisconsin rally Monday night. “They even want to try and rig the election at the polling booths, where so many cities are corrupt and voter fraud is all too common.” His accusations alone could erode trust in the probity of the electoral process, and Republican allies such as Marco Rubio wish he would stop.
“This election is not being rigged,” @marcorubio says. Trump “should stop saying that.”
— Jenna Lifhits (@jlifhits) October 17, 2016
If fraud really did occur…
The way in which Trump says it will is ironically the most rare form of voter fraud, and thus the least likely. Most of his allegations suggest there will be in-person voter impersonation on Election Day. However, the most common forms of fraud involve election officials either stuffing ballot boxes, or “losing” ballots. These are becoming increasingly rare because jurisdictions have come up with relatively easy ways to combat them.