Trump questions midterm election results and revives voting machine claims
President Donald Trump on Monday questioned the legitimacy of the midterm election results. In doing so he revived a pattern of casting doubt on electoral losses, both his own and those of fellow Republicans. His post on Truth Social came six days after Republicans suffered historic defeats at the polls nationwide. The losses included several GOP strongholds, among them Texas and South Carolina.
"Does anybody really believe that this 'Election' was honest," Trump wrote. He went on to ask how the polls could have been so wrong. He also claimed that some early voting "dumps" were so large that it was "impossible to win, no matter how many people went to vote." He added that "it's all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter." The post offered no evidence for these assertions.
The language echoes his response to the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden. Trump argued then, again without evidence, that he lost only because of widespread ballot fraud. Those claims were accompanied by dozens of unsuccessful court cases challenging election procedures. They culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters, after he spoke at a rally outside the White House. The riot disrupted a joint session of Congress for hours. Later that day, Congress confirmed Biden's victory in the Electoral College.
The new post suggests Trump is again attributing unfavorable outcomes to voting infrastructure and vote-counting procedures. It does not point to any specific irregularity.
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