Claims of rigged system are desperate and dangerous

Monday, Oct. 31, 2016 | 2 a.m.

With a 312-word news release, Donald Trump’s camp tried to explain the nominee’s bizarre claim of election rigging.

The conspiracy theory involves media organizations and their parent companies working with global interests out to outsource American jobs to Mexico and China.

Amazing.

Also delusional and nonsensical, empirically and logically.

If a left-leaning cabal has the power to rig elections, why are 31 Republican governors in power? Why are 30 state legislatures under Republican control?

If that’s rigging an election, Trump shouldn’t be complaining about it. He should be sending Champagne-stocked limousines to pick up the conspirators and gently deliver them to wherever they’re doing their sinister work.

But snideness aside, this is an issue that Trump’s supporters will hopefully give some serious thought.

The nominee’s contention may boost his anti-establishment credentials, but it simply doesn’t stand to reason in light of the abundance of GOP politicians in positions of authority. And if that’s not enough proof, look at the correlation between election results and scientific polls taken shortly before voting occurs. They generally conform, with few outliers.

Plus, for those who’ve bought into the rigging claim, doesn’t it follow that every Republican election win over the past eight years or so should be scrutinized? After all, Trump’s logic suggests that those wins may have been the result of a rigged system, too.

While he would have us believe that the election is being manipulated for Clinton’s gain, the only organized effort to improperly steer the outcome has come from Russian criminal hackers and Wikileaks. It’s telling that Trump has refused to renounce both. Apparently he has no problem with illegal election meddling as long as it’s done for his benefit.

Other Republicans are rebuking Trump’s claim, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose spokesperson said “the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.”

Good for Ryan and for others who are criticizing Trump for not committing to accept the results of the election unless he wins it.

Hillary Clinton is right: Trump’s stance is horrifying, because it threatens to weaken voters’ faith in the election system and by extension in our democracy. And although his intent seemingly is to energize his supporters and encourage them to vote, it could easily backfire and prompt voters to stay home. Why vote if the system is rigged?

Scarier yet, Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, are urging their followers to be on the lookout for voter fraud, which they contend is widespread despite numerous studies suggesting otherwise. That’s dog-whistle rhetoric, considering the campaign has made specific claims of rampant balloting by illegal immigrants. It brings to mind visions of vigilante voters patrolling polls and harassing Hispanics and other people of color who, in their view, may appear to be here illegally.

The call for poll scrutiny also discredits the thousands upon thousands of citizens who manage polling places — and volunteer to do it, no less. Are they not watching out for voter fraud?

Of course they are. They’re well-meaning Americans who show their commitment to our democracy by helping facilitate the vote.

But who knows, maybe Trump believes they’re part of the conspiracy against him, too.

There’s certainly no shortage of people on that list, down to the committees that failed to honor his reality show, “The Apprentice,” with an Emmy.

“I should have gotten it,” he quipped when Clinton brought up the subject during the final presidential debate.

The remark got a good chuckle from the crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center. But there’s nothing funny — or remotely legitimate — about Trump’s claim of election rigging.

It’s simply not happening, and any suggestion to the contrary is irresponsible at best and delusional at worst.