Trump reverses election-night pledge to accept results, pushing early-voting fraud theory

Democratic Senate floor leader says Trump 'can whine all he wants' but cannot stop the inevitable

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he returns to the White House in Washington on Sunday (local time). [EPA]
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he returns to the White House in Washington on Sunday (local time). [EPA]

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US President Donald Trump, whose party suffered a sweeping defeat in the midterm elections, has once again raised allegations of election fraud.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform Monday (local time) to cast doubt on the results, writing, "Do you really believe this election was fair?" and "How could the polls have been so wrong?"

He went on to say that "the dump of early votes was so massive that no matter how many people showed up to vote on Election Day, it was impossible to win," adding, "It's all about the machines. The machines are more important than the voters." The remarks appeared to suggest that a lopsided bloc of early votes favoring Democratic candidates — combined with what Trump characterized as potential fraud in the early-voting process — had cost Republicans the election, even as his supporters turned out in force on Election Day itself.

Trump had said on Nov. 3, the day of the midterm elections, that he was "totally willing to accept the results" after his party's crushing losses became clear. His Truth Social post Monday marked a reversal of that pledge, coming just six days later.

AFP noted that Trump "repeatedly made baseless claims of fraud after losing the 2020 presidential election" and said he had "again raised baseless allegations of election fraud" over the midterm results.

Democrats said the reversal was exactly what they had expected and pushed back immediately.

Senate Democratic Floor Leader Chuck Schumer linked to Trump's post on X, formerly Twitter, writing that Trump's "pathetic return to election denialism was inevitable." Schumer said Trump "can whine all he wants, but he cannot stop this unavoidable truth."

Schumer went on to say that "Trump will face the largest Democratic congressional majority in decades during the final two years of his term — all because of his unprecedented failures."


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