Donald Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims Unwittingly Make The Case For An Election Recount

Donald Trump’s claim that ‘millions’ of people voted illegally in the presidential is unwittingly making the case for recounts that he is opposing. Trump’s decision to tweet about unfounded claims of undocumented migrants voting for Hillary Clinton has undermined his attacks on recount efforts.

Trump and his surrogates began by calling Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s recount efforts a ‘scam’ and a way for the Green Party to raise money. When the Clinton campaign decided to join recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump accused Clinton of not accepting the results. But Trump didn’t stop there.

“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump said in a tweet. He didn’t say how many ‘millions’ he thought had voted illegally and provided no evidence of voter fraud.

Trump then doubled down in another late night tweet, claiming ‘serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California’ and accused the ‘biased’ media of not reporting on it. It seems Trump got his ideas about voter fraud from right-wing conspiracy site Infowars. Infowars is run by Alex Jones, who once claimed the Sandy Hook school shootings were a fraud.

Trump’s attack on the voting system was meant to undermine recount efforts in three swing states but his unfounded claim of mass voter fraud could have the opposite effect. If Trump is right, or if enough people believe him, that should prompt recounts not only in the states Trump mentioned but also nationwide.

Donald Trump’s late night tweets are not known for their factual accuracy or logic, but if Trump’s core supporters believe his claims, the logical outcome would be a series of recounts – the last thing Trump wants.