As Donald Trump’s political future looks more and more bleak these days, he and his supporters are already laying the groundwork for their next conspiracy theory, namely that the 2016 election is rigged in Hillary Clinton’s favor.
“We’re going to beat the rigged system; we’re going to beat the rigged election,” Trump declared at a rally in New Hampshire this Saturday.
Even Alabama GOP Senator Jeff Sessions joined in the hysteria, saying that *they* are “attempting to rig this election.”
Now, all the conspiracy talk has people threatening an armed insurrection. Making matters worse, Trump-loving Milwaukee Sheriff and sometimes Fox News guest – all the time Black Lives Matter critic, David Clark, suggested in a tweet that the people take up pitchforks and torches, which you’ll know if you’ve ever seen the movie Young Frankenstein, is indicative of a riot.
It's incredible that our institutions of gov, WH, Congress, DOJ, and big media are corrupt & all we do is bitch. Pitchforks and torches time pic.twitter.com/8G5G0daGVN
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) October 15, 2016
But just as recent as this summer, Sheriff Clarke wanted us to believe that rioting was beneath him, calling the Milwaukee protesters examples of “tribal behavior” living by “the law of the jungle.”
Hypocrisy aside, as Laurel Raymond of ThinkProgress points out, the rebellion rhetoric can have consequences.
At a recent rally in Cincinnati, Trump supporters told a reporter for the Boston Globe that they intended to head to local polling stations and watch for illegal immigrants, and that they suspected Hillary Clinton’s campaign was stuffing ballot boxes. They also floated ideas of armed rebellion and assassination.
“If [Hillary] is in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. That’s how I feel about it,” Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor said according to Raymond. “We’re going to have a revolution and take them out of office if that’s what it takes. There’s going to be a lot of bloodshed. But that’s what it’s going to take… I would do whatever I can for my country.”
The dissemination of this call-to-arms speech is not just carried out by Trump surrogates. It also comes from the mouth of the GOP nominee himself.
Trump has told his supporters to watch polling places on election day to “make sure it’s on the up and up,” like a mafia don ordering his soldiers to make sure the townsfolk stay in line. Now with marching orders from a symbol of police authority, who knows what awaits us from Trumpland after election day.
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