Trump Makes Game-Changing Election Announcement That Has Democrats Scrambling
Former President Donald Trump is expanding his efforts to encourage supporters to vote early and use mail-in ballots as part of his strategy to maximize votes ahead of the 2024 election.
Trump, who previously insisted on same-day voting and often criticized Democrat-imposed mail-in and early voting options implemented during the 2020 cycle as unfair and fraudulent, has since reconsidered. This change comes at the urging of his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and others who believe the GOP must adapt to the new voting landscape to win elections and potentially reform voting laws and rules in the future.
On Tuesday, the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee unveiled the “Swamp the Vote” program, aiming to mobilize swing-state voters and promote the use of mail-in, absentee, and early voting, as reported by Just the News.
“Republicans must win, and we will use every appropriate tool to beat the Democrats because they are destroying our country. Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in-person, or on election day, we are going to protect the vote,” Trump said in a statement. “We make sure your ballot is secure and your voice is heard. We must swamp the radical Democrats with massive turnout. The way to win is to swamp them; if we swamp them with votes, they can’t cheat. You need to make a plan, register, and vote any way possible. We have got to get your vote.”
Trump spoke on Thursday at a “Chase the Vote” town hall in Maricopa County, Arizona, a location central to his claims of election fraud and former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s election challenges.
During the event hosted by Turning Point Action, Trump focused on evangelical and gun-owning voters, emphasizing that these traditionally Republican-leaning groups did not vote in sufficient numbers.
“Gun owners, for whatever reason, don’t vote,” he said, as reported by the outlet. “We have to get the Evangelicals, we have to get the gun owners. We have to get these people to vote.”
“We need a victory that’s too big to rig. You know what that means. We need everybody to get out and vote,” he insisted, while promoting the Swamp the Vote program and informing supporters about the webpage for the initiative.
“I call them the fake vote store. That’s the mail-in ballots. We shouldn’t have mail-in ballots unless somebody’s very, very sick or it’s military far away,” Trump said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show in October 2022.
“We should go to paper ballots, like they did in France. Thirty-six million people voted, and they had no disputes. Everyone had paper ballots, and it was one-day voting. They didn’t store them over there in the corner, and you see the boxes moving all over the place,” he noted at the time.
However, by March 2023, following a disappointing midterm election cycle for the GOP, Trump reluctantly acknowledged that Republicans have “no choice” but to embrace early voting, vote by mail, and ballot harvesting—all heavily utilized by Democrat voters and operatives.
“In the states where ballot harvesting is still legal, we have no choice but to beat the Democrats at their own game,” Trump said at the time. “Either we start ballot harvesting, or you can just wave goodbye to our country… We have to get smart.”
“I have to commend the RNC and Lara Trump for really stepping up and acknowledging that this needs to be a top priority,” American First Works Executive Director Ashley Hayek told the outlet.