Ahead of midterms, Trump doubles down on election fraud claims to avoid Republican defeat

Ahead of the midterm elections that the Republicans are projected to lose, US President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on unsubstantiated election fraud claims and accused everyone from China to Democrats and the 'deep state' of stealing the 2020 election and undermining elections in the country.

Trump announced that his administration had uncovered four sets of documents generated within the federal government over the past six years that purportedly show how vulnerable the American election system is.

But nothing that Trump said the documents contained showed any wrongdoing or supported any claim about either the 2020 election or subsequent elections.

Trump claimed that China acquired 2020 million records related to American voters; that American agents part of the purported 'deep state' covered up Chinese interference in the 2020 election; that China manufactured illegal ballots in favour of former President Joe Biden; and that a group supporting Democrats was found filling voter-registration forms with fake details in Michigan during the 2020 election.

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But voter information is public in many cases or can be purchased from private surveyors, claims about Chinese —and Russian— interference have been known for years, and Trump himself said that the 'fake voter form' operation in Michigan was foiled by authorities.

Trump's doubling down on disproven claims about the 2020 election, misrepresentation of available information, and embrace of conspiracy theories are part of monthslong efforts to influence the outcome of the midterm elections. So far, he has unsuccessfully tried to ban ballot-counting machines and pitched abolishing the country's decentralised electoral system in favour of a nationalised one.

Trump has ramped up the campaign lately as nearly every survey has shown Democrats in the lead ahead of the midterms. A rattled Trump has told his supporters that he fears impeachment if Democrats win. Moreover, his legislative agenda would also collapse if Republicans lose even one chamber of Congress.

Trump deploys federal govt to rescue Republicans

Ahead of the midterms, Trump and his allies have resorted to a host of tactics to prevent Republicans from being routed in the elections, and sowing mistrust in elections and undermining electoral institutions is just one part of the campaign.

Since Trump began his second term, Republican-run states —Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama— have redrawn political maps to maximise Republican constituencies and minimise Democrat-leaning constituencies in an effort to maximise Republican representation in Congress.

Republican states have also tightened voting restrictions, reduced election-security measures to make partisan interference easier, and deterred scrutiny of elections by punishing officials who sought to counter election denialism.

The Trump administration has also sought to crack down on mail-in ballots and gone so far as to restrict the postal service from delivering all ballots. The courts have blocked such efforts.

The administration has also sued around 30 states in an attempt to gain broader control over elections by demanding voter-registration details even though neither the Constitution nor any law mandates such a handover. Critics say the administration could use any information handed over in response to such demands to challenge, discredit, or spread disinformation about the results of the midterm elections.