Trump is using election lies to lay the groundwork for challenging 2024 results if he loses

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has spent months laying the groundwork to challenge the results of the 2024 election if he loses — just as he did four years ago.

At rally after rally, he urges his supporters to deliver a victory “too big to rig," telling them the only way he can lose is if Democrats cheat. He has refused to say, repeatedly, whether he will accept the results regardless of the outcome. And he's claimed cheating is already underway, citing debunked claims or outrageous theories with no basis in reality.

“The only thing that can stop us is the cheating. It’s the only thing that can stop us," he said at an event in Arizona late Thursday night.

In 2020, Trump prematurely declared victory from the White House. He launched a legal and political effort to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden that culminated in the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.