Trump Warns of “Possible” Election Fraud in Philadelphia

So let’s run a status check here. Election Day is less than three weeks away, the polls show Hillary Clinton poised for what could be a landslide victory… and Donald Trump is already deploying sore loser tactics by warning his followers that there could be vote fraud on Election Day. This is far from the first time that Trump has made claims that the election could be rigged against him, but now he has gone so far as to single out Philadelphia as one city where the numbers might be tampered with.

Trump has named Philadelphia as one city to “watch” for election fraud, something he insists will be rampant on November 8th.  (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr)

Tuesday morning, Trump was in Colorado Springs addressing a crowd at a regional airport. He got on one of his favorite topics, election fraud – something that, by the way, experts and studies insist is far rarer than Trump would care to admit to himself or anyone else. “Take a look at St. Louis. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Chicago,” the Republican candidate for president exhorted his crowd. “… Look, look, if nothing else, people are going to be watching on November 8. Watch Philadelphia. Watch St. Louis. Watch Chicago, watch Chicago. Watch so many other places.”

What’s ironic about his “watch” list for election fraud is that two of the three locations on his list aren’t even considered competitive venues. Missouri is a long-standing GOP stronghold that has voted red in the last four presidential races, and the polls show Trump leading there. Illinois is just the opposite: Hillary Clinton holds a projected double-digit lead, and the state has swayed Democratic in the last six elections. Philadelphia is a different story, however. While the major metros of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have historically allied themselves with Democrats, those in the suburbs tend to vote red, and the state of Pennsylvania is considered a battleground state in this year’s election.

Trump has gone so far as to suggest that his supporters “visit” other polling places on Election Day and oversee operations – a move that is highly suggestive of voter intimidation.