The election is rigged, according to Donald Trump, but Paul Ryan and many others say otherwise. Taking a page from Bernie Sanders‘ playbook during the primaries, Trump told his loyal supporters that the system is rigged against him.
Sanders was frustrated by the fact that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former DNC chairwoman, had favored Clinton over him. Sanders also disapproved of the superdelegates because they flooded to his opponent before the American people started voting.
Trump, on the other hand, he only talks about the rigged system whenever he is down in the polls. After clinching the nomination, the billionaire claimed that if Clinton wins Pennsylvania, it means that she cheated. Trump went as far as asking his supporters to monitor polling places to make sure the Democrats do not steal the election.
This week, at a campaign rally after bashing the many women, who accused him of sexual assault and calling out the media, Trump slammed the political system again. Saturday, the real estate mogul, also took to Twitter to rant about how the cards are stacked against him. He tweeted:
This election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubstantiated charges, and outright lies, in order to elect Crooked Hillary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2016
Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2016
Immediately after Trump’s comments, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Ryan said the mogul is wrong. Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong issued a statement to BuzzFeed, which read:
“Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.”
Democratic National Committee (DNC) interim chair Donna Brazile suggested Trump was fanning “conspiracy theories” to distract from new groping allegations against him. Tim Kaine also piled on by saying that he is blaming everyone and everything for his decline in the polls. Kaine stated:
“Donald Trump realizes he’s losing, and Hillary Clinton definitely made him realize in that first debate that he was a loser. He’s blaming everybody. It’s the media’s fault, it’s the GOP’s fault — it’s everybody’s fault.
Now that he thinks he’s gonna lose, he’s going around and saying, ‘Oh, the whole thing’s rigged. It’s just rigged against me. Poor me.”
Trump has one high-profile backer, who agrees and says that the system is indeed rigged. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions said last week:
“They are attempting to rig this election.”
Experts say that Trump’s comments are bad for the country’s democracy.
