It would appear that Donald Trump‘s new favorite line has gained some traction.

The Republican candidate for President has recently been alleging that the election could be “rigged” in favor of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. He recently told Sean Hannity, “I hope the Republicans get out there and watch very closely, because I think we’re going to win this election, but if it’s rigged like anything else — look, it was rigged I thought a little bit for me, and we won in landslides.”

He also went as far as to say that in the state of Pennsylvania — a key battleground that’s looking less like a battle and more like a cakewalk given Clinton’s +9.2 point advantage over Trump — he could only lose if there were voter fraud. He said Friday, “The only way we can lose, in my opinion — I really mean this, Pennsylvania — is if cheating goes on.”

And it would now seem as if Dr. Jill Stein — the Green Party alternative looking to make inroads with disenfranchised Trump or Clinton voters — might be not too far off from Trump’s logic as well.

Speaking with Carol Costello Monday morning, Stein was asked, “In your mind, is the system rigged?” after noting that it has become a focal point of the Trump stump.

Dr. Stein refused to weigh in one way or the other, careful not to push any potential support away. “I think there’s no question in the mind of the American people, the economy is rigged,” she said to deflect. “And there’s a political system that keeps people…”

“I’m talking about specifically about when you go to the polls — is it rigged?” Costello interrupted. “Will your vote count? Or will people vote 20 times? In your mind, is that true?” The exasperated look on Costello’s face was clear as Stein continued her bob-and-wave effort, who undoubtedly is looking to capitalize on Bernie Sanders supporters who think that the primary process was skewed in Clinton’s favor.

“I’m the one candidate in this race that is not taking money from the lobbyists, the big corporations, and the super PACs,” she said instead. Eventually Stein relented, “I think it’s a complicated system,” before shifting gears to climate change, forest fires, heat waves, and sea level rise.

So, nothing to do with rigged ballot boxes.

Watch the above “response” from CNN, and tune in to the Green Party Town Hall this Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on CNN, where perhaps Chris Cuomo and his penchant for epic endurance can manage an answer out of the Stein and her VP candidate, Ajamu Baraka.

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[image via screengrab]

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