Trump thinks election is rigged, expert says don’t blame the process

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TORONTO, ON. (NEWS 1130) – With exactly three weeks to go until election day in the US, Donald Trump continues to make waves with claims that if he loses, the results are rigged. While the number of celebrities and political pundits calling his message “dangerous,” continues to grow.

Bruce Springsteen called out Trump for “undermining the entire democratic tradition,” and he’s not alone.

Trump tweeted today, suggesting that 41 per cent of American voters believe the election could be ‘stolen’ because of widespread voter fraud. “And that strikes me as a really dangerous precedent,” says Peter Loewen, a political scientist at the University of Toronto.

Because Trump is misleading people intentionally and that has nothing to do with partisan politics. “It’s up to elites really, it’s up to politicians and people in the media etcetera, to say things that are true and not things that are false and to not mislead people,” adds Loewen. “People doubt that the elites and the media always have their interests at heart and Mr. Trump is really appealing to that doubt and in doing that, he’s really imperilling American democracy.”

Loewen adds American elections are clearly free and fair. “It’s a terrible thing to do because, it’s not true and it will make people value democracy less in the future.”

He says if and when Trump falls to Hillary Clinton, the results could linger. “The problem is, people will not view whoever is elected president and the congress as legitimate. There be such a public backlash, it doesn’t have to be a large number of people, but it will be enough people that it becomes hard for congress to have the basic public support that it needs to operate.”

The election is November 8th.

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