Trump reverted to his usual routine, sowing doubt about the vote until the results showed he had won

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump and his Republican allies had spent months sowing doubt about the integrity of America's electoral systems Prepare supporters The 2024 elections are expected to be marked by massive and inevitable voter fraud.

The former president continued to lay this foundation even during a majority crisis smooth voting day On Tuesday, he made unfounded claims related to Philadelphia and Detroit and raised concerns about election operations in Milwaukee. Shortly before the polls began to close, he announced on his social media platform, without giving details, “There is a lot of talk about massive FRAUD in Philadelphia.” The statement drew immediate denials from city leaders who said it existed no evidence of any wrongdoing.

But Trump's dire warnings ended abruptly in the later hours of the evening when the early returns worked in his favor. During his Speech on election nightthe president-elect hailed a “great victory” as he claimed responsibility for the positive results and expressed his love for the same states he had questioned hours earlier.

The messaging pivot was part of a Trump playbook that many in his party assumed: To preventive Defy a loss with Allegations of widespread fraud but be prepared to quickly disregard them in the event of victory.

In 2020, when he lost to Joe BidenTrump executed the other side of that strategy and spent the next four years redoubling his efforts the wrong idea that the election was stolen and struggled to convince supporters that he was the rightful winner. The campaign succeeded in changing minds: this is what surveys show more than half of Republicans still believe Biden was not legitimately elected in 2020.

In the weeks and months leading up to Tuesday's election, many Trump supporters supported alleged evidence of fraud, but dropped it when it became clear that Trump was ahead.

Several Republicans in Congress also fought for the demand Proof of citizenship for voter registration, arguing that the election could not be fair without that additional layer of security. But the law's biggest supporters congratulated Trump overnight without reiterating those concerns.

“It is now a common image that candidates only focus on claims of potential fraud when they have lost or believe they will lose,” said David Becker, a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer and executive director of the center for Election Innovation and Research.

“I think it's somewhat telling that we've seen fewer allegations of fraud after an election that former and future President Trump won,” Becker said Wednesday.

The strategy sets a problematic precedent: “If your preferred candidate doesn't win, that must mean the entire system is illegitimate,” said Leah Wright Rigueur, a history professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

As Republicans have often pointed out, it's not just their party that refuses to accept lost races. They often highlight the example of Democratic activist and former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams, who ended her campaign for governor in 2018 without explicitly conceding defeat to her Republican opponent, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Still, Trump is the only American president who has taken steps try to tip over the result of an election he completely lost. The role he played in the violence January 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol after he urged his supporters to “fight like hell” drew condemnation from democracy advocates from both political parties.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his election victory. Some widely shared left-leaning posts on the social platform

And for some right-wing election skeptics, even their candidate's decisive victory was no proof that the election was correct.

“They manipulated 2020. We weren't ready. They tried to manipulate the year 2024. We were ready,” David Clements, a former prosecutor and conservative speaker, wrote in a social media post.

It remains to be seen how exactly the next Trump administration will attempt to reform US elections. MyPillow founder and election denier Mike Lindell sent an email to supporters on Wednesday saying he had discussed plans with Trump to eliminate ballots and “revert to hand-counted paper ballots.”

Almost every ballot was cast in American elections already has a paper fileand election officials warn against it Hand counting of all ballot papers would be more expensive, more error-prone and far more time-consuming than machine counting.

Becker said that even though the lack of allegations of fraud in Trump's victory speech shows his handwriting, it is a positive development.

“If we get to the point now where President Trump and his supporters believe in the integrity of our elections … I will accept that,” Becker said. “We wake up this morning with less likelihood of election officials across the country being targeted – in many cases by name – for potential violence, and that’s a good thing.”

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Associated Press writer Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.

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