There are two big things wrong with Donald Trump’s constant whining about how the election is being “rigged” against him. The first is that it’s just plain wrong in every way—not just incorrect, but a threat to the democratic process.
Republican leaders and election officials from both parties on Sunday sought to combat claims by Donald J. Trump that the election is rigged against him, amid signs that Mr. Trump’s contention is eroding confidence in the vote and setting off talk of rebellion among his supporters. ...
Jon A. Husted, the secretary of state of Ohio, said it was “wrong and engaging in irresponsible rhetoric” for any candidate to question the integrity of elections without evidence. Mr. Husted, a Republican, said he would have no reason to hesitate to certify the results of the election.
But there’s another problem with Trump’s statement. It’s also wrong—wrong in the sense that that's not the way elections are rigged.
“It’s impossible,” Raymond said of rigging a presidential election. “The stuff he is talking about, it is ridiculous ― if it wasn’t so dangerous.” But Trump’s claims are dangerous: They’re “an existential threat to the republic.”
Allen Raymond is a Republican operative who spent three months in prison for his efforts to steal a Senate election, so he’s something of an expert in the field. And he’s not the only one saying that even when it comes to doing something wrong, Donald Trump is doing it wrong.
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Yet too many Republican leaders are still staying silent about Trump's rigging charges:
It may be too late for the Republican Party to save itself from the rolling disaster of Donald Trump, but the party’s top leaders still have the duty to speak out and help save the country from his reckless rhetoric. The most frightening example is Mr. Trump’s frenzied claim that the presidential election is being “rigged” against him — a claim he has ramped up as his chances of winning the presidency have gone down. …
Instead of disavowing this absurdity outright, Republican leaders sit by in spineless silence. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, are the two most powerful Republicans in the country and should be willing to put the national interest above their own.
Even though they know that Trump’s statement is both wrong, and wrong, Republicans are determined to bite their tongues. They’re evidently calculating that allowing Trump’s paranoia to fester will help de-legitimize Hillary Clinton’s presidency from the start. Pair it with John McCain’s promise to block any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Clinton, and Republicans are are positioning themselves for the third Obama term—in the sense that they’re planning to be just as pointlessly obstructionist as they have been for the last eight years.
But letting Donald Trump weaken the fabric of the nation for cynical purposes is a dangerous game.
“He is doing more damage than he realizes,” said Raymond. “What Donald Trump is doing is he is committing ‘republicide.’ He is killing not just the Republican Party but the republic.”