Ten years ago, Trump’s campaign manager warned of a rigged election — in Ukraine

[workinclasszero]

Ten years ago, Trump’s campaign manager warned of a rigged election — in Ukraine
By Philip Bump August 15 at 12:29 PM

"The only way" Hillary Clinton can win in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump said at a rally in that state on Friday evening, "and I mean this 100 percent -- [is] if in certain sections of the state they cheat, OK?" That was "the way we can lose the state," he said, of a state where he currently trails by 9 points. "And we have to call up law enforcement. And we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everybody watching." On Saturday, his campaign unveiled an effort to somehow formalize the campaign's fraud-prevention system, encouraging sign-ups on their website for "Trump Election Observers."

There's no demonstrated in-person voter fraud problem in Pennsylvania (or anywhere else, for that matter), and it's not clear if Trump's fraud-prevention effort is simply an attempt to collect voter contact information and boost GOP voter enthusiasm, or if it's actually meant to combat a problem that doesn't exist. But it's not surprising that this is a part of Trump's campaign in one sense: When Trump's campaign director Paul Manafort was helping to coordinate the campaign effort of a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine in 2006, he used similar tools and rhetoric.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/15/ten-years-ago-trumps-campaign-manager-warned-of-a-rigged-election-in-ukraine/

[liberal N proud]

1. I am thinking it is more of a smoke screen

Tell the world that your opponent is planning on cheating and then use your "observers" to do exactly that.

Can you tell, I don't trust these fuckers?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Ironically, it was Yanukovych who observers found rigged elections in 2004.

So it's a bit of a projection on his part.