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President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki on July 16th. (AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko)
during an event in the United States. northwestern Pennsylvania that month (a state where, Trump claimed that he was certain to win the state – unless "cheating continues."
"The only way that They can beat in my opinion – and I mean that 100 percent – If in certain sections of the state, they cheat, agree? "Trump says." So I hope that you can not only vote on the 8th, watch and watch the other polls and make sure everything is fine, because without voter identification – which is shocking, shocking that you do not have "
There was no creeping electoral fraud in Pennsylvania, and Trump won the state.Of course, there is never any rampant electoral fraud in Pen nsylvania or in another state, then these two things are not related. Trump was ready, however, to designate this fraud as an excuse for losing the state
How do we know it? Well, because he later falsely blamed electoral fraud for losing the popular vote in the elections. During the transition period and once in power, Trump questioned the voting results in New Hampshire (which he lost) and in California (which he lost in a landslide) as being attributable to fraudulent votes. There was absolutely no evidence that this was the case at the time, and absolutely no evidence has emerged since to suggest that it was true. Trump saw the same options after the election that he apparently saw in Pennsylvania before: Accepting a loss or blaming the loss on cheating. He chose the latter.
On Tuesday, a number of new polls suggested that Trump's party was headed for major losses in November. The Sabato & # 39; s Crystal Ball political monitoring site, more pessimistic about the Democrats' takeover of the House in November, announced that for the first time, its model had allowed the Democrats to obtain the majority. A new Monmouth poll showed that Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), Who won a highly contested special election earlier this year over a Trump-backed candidate, was heading for re-election on a Republican incumbent in a redesigned district. Generic voting favors Democrats by seven points; Cook Policy Report has two seats held by the Democrats as toss-ups versus 24 held by the Republicans.
With the wind in the faces of Republicans, Trump suggested that this year's election results could be threatened with cheating. This time it was not the urban voters in Philadelphia who were the culprits. It was the Russians.
There is a lot on this tweet that does not make much sense. The first is that Russia at least in 2016 really wanted Trump. During his summit with Trump last week, Putin was asked if he wanted Trump to win.
"Yes, I did it.Yes, I did it," said Putin. "Because he talked about bringing the US-Russian relationship back to normal."
US intelligence officials have argued for months that Putin's motivation was a little less noble and focused instead on disrupting the American political system. If Putin's goal is dissension in the system, supporting Democrats in November could help that goal, given that a Democrat-led House would put more political pressure on Trump than the current one. . Even though the Trump administration has been tough on Russia, it has chosen itself not to criticize Russian interference in the elections, refusing for months to impose new sanctions against Russia ordered by Congress and expressing his frustration with his administration. the expulsion of Russian diplomats in April. Not to mention Trump's willingness to create tension within NATO, the main geopolitical opponent to Russia. Does Putin really want to risk the removal of this president?
Trump's tweet also suggests that he believes the Russians could influence the vote, something he has repeatedly said he has not had in 2016. It's the backhand cheat accusations, of course: He could only lose if his opponents cheated, but his victory was all Trump.
"It was a clean campaign," he insisted during the press conference with Putin last week. "I beat Hillary Clinton easily, and frankly we beat her.And I do not even say from the point of view – we won this race.And it's a shame that it may even have a little cloud. "
Two years after his victory, Trump suddenly worries about Russia's ability to effectively propel its opponents to victory. Trump has regularly accused President Barack Obama of allowing Russia's interference to occur, even though Trump insists that there was no effect on the vote. In 2018, Trump seems worried that the current president is doing much worse.
Except maybe not really. While Daniel Coats, Trump's national intelligence director, recently said that "warning lights are flashing" on the threat of cyberattacks, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein described five ways in which Russia and others might Trump himself was pretty passive about the threat of interference in November.
In February, the head of the US cyberdefenses, Adm. Michael S. Rogers told a Senate committee that Trump had not given him a new authority to counter Russian. activity. "If we do not change the dynamics here, it will continue," he warns at the time
Last week, Republicans voted new funding to improve the security of the electoral systems of the United States. State.
But Trump's tweet was not really about that. It was:
- Boasting the hardness that he had in Russia. .
- . . . to the point that Putin wants to see him lose politically and
- suggesting that a Democratic victory could be a function of Russian interference.
Why do things look so dark for Republicans anyway? Partly because of the unpopularity of Trump and the Democrats who rush to the polls to support the candidates who will act as a brake on his authority.
Trump, it seems, would seem rather less effective than Obama in preventing Russian interference than to admit that he is not as popular as he is. often claims.
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