Trump calls for chaos at the polls and says he's 'counting on' the Supreme Court

Donald Trump once again refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, taking his refusal a step further by encouraging his supporters to watch the polls and saying he’s “counting on” the Supreme Court when it comes to mail-in ballots.

Trump’s continued effort to sow doubt in the election outcome came during the first presidential debate, in which Trump constantly interrupted both Joe Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace with a number of lies and outrageous statements — going as far as to refuse to condemn white supremacists committing violence at anti-racism protests and instead telling them to “stand by.”

He also made it clear that he does not consider the votes of tens of millions people mailing in their ballots to be legitimate.

“Trump is literally discrediting our election system in front of the American people,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) tweeted after Trump’s performance. “This is what dictators do. He knows no limits. He knows he can’t win if everyone votes. Vote.”

In the final moments of the debate, Trump refused to tell his voters to stay calm and not engage in “civil unrest” as they await the results of the election, instead telling them to go watch the polls in Philadelphia — which is illegal.

“I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully, because that’s what has to happen. I am urging them to do it,” Trump said. “As you know today, there was a big problem in Philadelphia they went in to watch … they were thrown out. They weren’t allowed to watch. You know why? Bad things happen in Philadelphia.”

This is not true. The Trump supporters were removed because they weren’t approved to be at the polls, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Even more, a legal ruling in Pennsylvania says poll watchers are not allowed to watch polls from counties in which they do not live — meaning if Trump supporters flood Philadelphia from outside of the county, they would be breaking the law.

Trump went on to cast doubt on mail-in ballots, repeatedly lying about the voting method and making clear that he wants the Supreme Court to discount those ballots if they cost him the election.

“I’m counting on them [the Supreme Court] to look at the ballots, definitely,” Trump said.

Trump also refused to accept the outcome of the election altogether — building on a comment from last week in which he said he would only accept the results if the will of the people was overturned and mail-in ballots were thrown out. 

Trump said without evidence that the election is “rigged” and that he won’t “go along” with the results if be believes they aren’t fair

Biden, who said he would accept the election results, pleaded with voters to vote and make their voice heard.

“He cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of this election,” Biden said.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.