Republican presidential nominee and former US president Donald Trump addressed a rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. — Reuters
Donald Trump has latched onto isolated irregularities identified by US election officials to assert that 'cheating' has taken place, fueling speculation that he will once more refuse to accept the results if he loses next week's vote. The Republican candidate has persistently avoided committing to accepting the outcome of the November 5 election, paving the way for a repeat of his baseless claim that his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden was fraudulent. On Wednesday, Trump condemned what he described as 'cheating' on 'a scale never seen before' in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania.
This followed a previous post in which he alleged that 'really bad 'stuff'' was happening in the state, urging 'Law Enforcement must do their job, immediately!!!' Last Friday, officials in a Pennsylvania county revealed they had initiated a criminal investigation into a group of up to 2,500 voter registration applications that had been flagged during routine screening. The county's district attorney, Heather Adams, stated that the applications were part of a 'large-scale canvassing operation' organized by an external group. This disclosure has reportedly led to investigations in other counties.
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, told CNN Tuesday night that Trump's allegations are 'more of the same,' referring to Trump's repeated, unsuccessful attempts to challenge his loss to Biden. Pennsylvania, which Trump lost by approximately 80,000 votes to Biden, is again one of the key battlegrounds expected to determine the national race's outcome. Polls indicate that Trump is statistically tied with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the state.
'I understand that Donald Trump wants to again use the same playbook where he tries to create chaos and stoke division and fear about our system,' Shapiro said. 'But again, we will have a free and fair, safe, and secure election in Pennsylvania, and the will of the people will be respected and protected,' he added. When Trump lost in 2020, a mob of his supporters, incited by his fraud claims, violently attacked the US Capitol in an attempt to keep him in power, and he continues to baselessly claim victory in that election.
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