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Donald Trump told a group of Republicans on Tuesday that they need to be “more paranoid” about the way votes are being counted. He also suggested the results of 2018 midterms were rigged.

In a speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s yearly spring dinner, the president said, “You gotta be a little bit more paranoid than you are.”

Trump tells House Rs to be “more paranoid than they are” about elections and implied midterms were rigged. “Hey, you gotta be a little bit more paranoid than you are. We have to be a little bit careful, because I don’t like the way the votes are being tallied” @nikkicarvajal — Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 2, 2019

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Trump added: “We have to be a little bit careful, because I don’t like the way the votes are being tallied. I don’t like it and you don’t like it either. You just don’t want to say it because you’re afraid of the press.”

In other words, Trump is giving permission to his political allies to question the results of the elections they lose.

Trump is already laying the groundwork for questioning the 2020 results

As the 2020 election inches closer, it’s comments like these that show how Donald Trump is already laying the groundwork for questioning the 2020 results.

This is nothing new from Trump.

One of the first things he did as president was launch a commission to fight voter fraud. The only problem, of course, is that they found no evidence of such fraud – and the entity was forced to shut down.

And, as The Hill pointed out on Tuesday, Trump played the same voter fraud card ahead of the 2018 midterms, saying that “law enforcement has been strongly notified” to watch for “illegal voting.”

Earlier this year, Trump also said Democrats “cannot legitimately win” in 2020, implying that if they do take back the White House, it should be contested.

All of this indicates that Donald Trump knows, with underwater approval ratings and a strong field of Democratic candidates, that winning a second term in 2020 will be an uphill battle.

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