21, October 2016
US elections are rigged in favour of the billionaires and the millionaires 0
During the final US presidential debate with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday night, Republican nominee Donald Trump declared that he might not accept the results of the November 8 presidential election if there is evidence it was rigged.
Press TV has asked two political analysts whether they thought the upcoming election in the US would be rigged as Trump has predicted. Richard Becker, with the ANSWER Coalition from San Francisco, said the election system in the United States is not based on who wins the popular vote. “It’s who wins the election in enough states to win the electoral votes of that state and the electoral votes are very unbalanced,” he said on Thursday night.
Becker agreed that the US elections are usually rigged, but thought that would happen in Trump’s favour this time around. “The elections are rigged but in his (Trump’s) favor, in favor of the billionaires and the millionaires” or “those who could garner the support of billionaires and millionaires,” he said.
He also touched on the Republican nominee’s allegations about a biased media coverage of the election campaign in the United States. “The mass media is supporting Clinton to a large degree now but it’s been estimated that at least two billion maybe as much as three billion dollars in free media coverage came Trump’s way,” Becker said.
Brent Budowsky, a columnist at the top US political website The Hill, said he supports a direct election of the president by voters, and not the Electoral College. Budowsky, however, ruled out the claim that the 2016 presidential race would be rigged, saying Trump was resorting to “conspiracy theory” to justify his defeat in the upcoming election.
21, October 2016
Obama says Trump’s rhetorics are dangerous 0
US President Barack Obama has criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his repeated claims that the presidential election on November 8 would be rigged, describing the claims as “dangerous.” Obama made the comments on Thursday at Miami Gardens, Florida, during a rally in support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“That is dangerous because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy,” Obama said. “You’re doing the work of our adversaries for them because our democracy depends on people knowing that their vote matters. That those who occupy the seats of power were chosen by the people,” he added. With the presidential election less than three weeks away, Trump has intensified his criticism of the American electoral system.
On Thursday, the GOP nominee said he will have the right to challenge the outcome of election if he feels it’s questionable. Hours later, Trump added fuel to the fire by saying that he would totally accept the results of presidential poll if he won.
According to a new poll released on Monday, 41 percent of American voters are saying the 2016 election could be “stolen” from Trump due to widespread voter fraud. During his speech, Obama also condemned Republican lawmakers for taking too long to withdraw their support for Trump, doing so only after the release of the 2015 tape where Trump was caught making lewd comments about women.
“Apparently that was the deal breaker for them. Or at least, his poll numbers dropping after the tape came out was the deal breaker for him,” he said. “But here’s my question: Why would it take you this long to figure out that Donald Trump shouldn’t be president?” “You stand up and nominate and support a guy who says that he would silence reporters, jail his political opponent in the middle of a debate, deport whoever he wants,” he said.
Presstv