President Donald Trump issued a dire warning on Thursday’s episode of Hannity: Democrats, he said, are trying to “steal” the election with their push for mail-in voting.
“This is going to be the greatest scam in history. This will be the most fraudulent election in history,” Trump told host Sean Hannity, according to Fox News.
“A fraudulent election”
Democrats have attacked President Trump for raising logical concerns about proposals to dramatically expand access to mail-in ballots this November, a move that Dems say is necessary amid the coronavirus pandemic but that Trump insists will result in fraud.
“They are talking about sending 51 million ballots out to anybody who, you know, nobody knows who is going to get them,” the president said Thursday, according to Fox. “It’s a horrible thing. It’s a fraudulent election. Everybody knows it, you don’t even have to know politics to know it.”
Some 75% of voters may have the option of voting by mail this year, according to The New York Times, raising the prospect of an unprecedented crush of mail ballots.
While Democrats have routinely insisted that Trump’s concerns are unfounded, the president has pointed to a recent primary election in New York that went horribly wrong as an example of what to expect. Trump has called for a re-do of the primary race, which Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney won after six weeks of confusion, Fox reported separately.
“It’s impossible. [Maloney’s race] was so messed up for weeks and weeks — and they just declared her a winner but they have no idea where the ballots are,” the president told Hannity Thursday, according to Fox.
“We need numbers”
Democrats have framed the issue as a matter of bedrock principle, accusing Trump of seeking to undermine American democracy itself by somehow dismantling the U.S. Postal Service in an elaborate attempt at “voter suppression.”
This talking point came up repeatedly at their party’s nominating convention this week, where Trump’s former rival, Hillary Clinton, claimed outright that Trump was trying to “steal” the election.
“Joe [Biden] and Kamala [Harris] can win 3 million more votes and still lose. Take it from me,” Clinton said, according to the New York Post. “We need numbers so overwhelming Trump can’t sneak or steal his way to victory.”
Trump has pushed for in-person voting, arguing that Democrats are being hypocritical by supporting large protests amid COVID-19 while advocating an alternative to voting at polling places, the Post notes.
Seeing that Democrats never conceded the last election, Trump’s theory is hardly an unreasonable one.
No comments: