58 times Trump has cast doubt on the election in response to Fox

40 of them happened after Election Day

Trump with tweets about the election supposedly being rigged

Citation Molly Butler / Media Matters

Editor's Note: New examples will be added to this post as they occur. It was updated on November 9, after Trump lost the election and subsequently sent numerous tweets highlighting Fox segments which questioned the results, and again on November 16.

Polls suggest President Donald Trump has virtually no chance of getting the most votes in the 2020 presidential election. Instead, his chances of reelection largely rest on winning key swing states to secure the electoral vote while losing the popular vote, as he did in 2016. But Trump and his allies have floated another, darker path to victory -- keeping the margins close enough in those states for Republican-appointed judges to carry the day by throwing out sufficient legally cast ballots to secure a win. 

Trump has kept that strategy viable by creating uncertainty around the election results, baselessly warning that it will be “RIGGED.” And the president has had eager accomplices at Fox News, who relentlessly misinform their viewers about mail-in voting and other purported vectors for voter fraud. Their segments fearmongering over mundane election operations quirks are then promoted by Trump on Twitter to undermine confidence in the results. Twitter has repeatedly flagged these tweets as containing election misinformation. 

In response to Fox coverage, Trump has declared that “Democrats are rigging our 2020 election” by promoting mail-in voting, which he baselessly claims is a “Scam” that would lead to “cheating” and “voter fraud,” ensuring “the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation’s History” and “MAYHEM!!!” He has specifically cast doubt on the voting in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New York, and California, and called for the intervention of state legislatures, the courts, and the Justice Department.

That feedback loop is likely to accelerate in the days leading up to and perhaps following the election, as Trump and his propagandists try to turn normal election difficulties into a scandal, potentially delegitimize millions of ballots, and bring to bear the GOP advantage in the courts. 

Here are 58 Trump tweets amplifying Fox segments which cast doubt on the election, 40 of which occurred after Election Day.

1-3. Trump claim: Election “badly shattered and violated our great Constitution”

4-6. Trump tweets three Fox videos casting doubt on the election results.

7. Trump promotes his lawyer’s Fox interview about purported “Rigged Election Hoax”

8. Trump claim: “The election was rigged.”

9-10. Trump claim: “EXPOSE THE CRIME!”

11. Trump pushes claim: “They flooded the zone with mail-in ballots.”

12. Trump claim: “We win the state of Pennsylvania!”

13-14. Trump tweets two Fox videos casting doubt on the election results.

15: Trump claim: “Biden did not win, he lost by a lot!”

16. Trump tweets Fox video casting doubt on the election results

17. Trump claim: Fox segment shows “tens of thousands of votes were stolen from us and given to Biden.”

18. Trump pushes claim: “This computer voting system is wide open to fraud and intervention.”

19. Trump pushes claim: “Constitutional Travesty” in Pennsylvania election.

20-28. Trump tweets nine Fox videos casting doubt on election results.

Twitter added a note to three of the tweets stating, “This claim about election fraud is disputed,” with a link to a notice stating that “experts and officials say there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US election.”

29-30. Trump pushes claim: “This was a stolen election. … They stole what they had to steal.”

Twitter added notes to the tweets stating, “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”

31-34. Trump pushes claim: “We have a history in this country of election problems.”

Twitter added notes to the tweets stating, “This claim about election fraud is disputed” or “Learn how voting by mail is safe and secure.”

35. Trump promotes former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker questioning the vote totals.

36. Trump pushes claim: Philadelphia “has got a rotten history on election integrity.”

37-40. Trump pushes claim: “Pennsylvania conducted itself in a horrible lawless way,” Supreme Court should act.

41. Trump claim: PA absentee ballot extension “a disaster for our Nation ... Democrats are trying to steal this Election”

42. Trump claim: “Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.”

Twitter subsequently restricted Trump’s tweet, showing users the message, “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about how to participate in an election or another civic process.”

43. Trump claim: Negative media coverage of coronavirus “should be an election law violation!”

44. Trump claim: “Corrupt politics in Pennsylvania must be investigated immediately” after “Ballot ‘mistakes’”

45. Trump claim: “California hired a pure Sleepy Joe Democrat firm to count and ‘harvest’ ballots.”

46. Trump claim: “50,000 OHIO VOTERS getting WRONG ABSENTEE BALLOTS” means “A Rigged Election!!!”

47. Trump claim: “100,000 Mail In Ballots in New York City a total MESS,” a “Big Fraud, Unfixable!”

48. Trump claim: “Unsolicited Ballot States should give it up NOW. … Otherwise, MAYHEM!!!”

49. Trump claim: “Democrats are Rigging our 2020 Election!

Twitter added a note to the tweet stating, “Learn how voting by mail is safe and secure,” with a link to more information.

50. Trump claim: Democrats “want ELECTION MAYHEM. States must end this CRAZY mass sending of Ballots.”

Twitter added a note to the tweet stating, “Learn how voting by mail is safe and secure,” with a link to more information.

51. Trump claim: “Watch Mark Levin NOW on @FoxNews. Topic: Mail-In Voting!”

52-53. Trump claim: Democrats support “Mail In Ballot Scam.” “Only ABSENTEE BALLOTS are acceptable!”

54. Trump claim: “Democrats are using Mail Drop Boxes, which are a voter security disaster.”

Twitter restricted the tweet, informing users that it “violated the Twitter Rules about civic and election integrity.” 

55. Trump claim: “Nevada has ZERO infrastructure for Mail-In Voting. It will be a corrupt disaster if not ended by the Courts."

56. Trump claim: “Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation’s History! #RIGGEDELECTION”

57. Trump claim: “Large scale Mail-In Ballots … would be a free for all on cheating.”

58. Trump claim: Mail-in voting has “tremendous potential for voter fraud.”