Iran war drags on, midterms loom — and Trump is back to crying fraud

Donald Trump, who has long pushed allegations of election fraud, has returned with renewed intensity to one of his signature themes. As the war with Iran stretches past 100 days and anxiety over a potential Republican defeat in the November midterm elections spreads within the party, observers say Trump is stoking fraud claims to consolidate his base.

On Sunday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim it was "impossible" for Spencer Pratt to have been leading in the Los Angeles mayoral primary only to lose, calling the outcome something that happens in "third-world countries" and alleging the race was rigged. Pratt, the Republican candidate Trump endorsed, held second place in early returns before mail-in ballots flipped the race in favor of Nithya Raman, a self-described democratic socialist.

Under California's election rules, the top two finishers in a primary advance to the November general election regardless of party. With counting still ongoing, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass currently leads the field.

Election fraud is a recurring theme for Trump. He blamed his 2020 presidential election loss on fraud, a claim that drove his most fervent supporters to storm the US Capitol in January 2021 in an attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

With primaries now being held across the country ahead of the November midterms, Trump has been pressing the fraud narrative with fresh urgency. In a pre-recorded interview that aired Saturday on NBC, he again insisted the 2020 presidential election was stolen and claimed fraud was occurring in California — then abruptly ended the interview when the host pushed back.

Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — which oversees all 18 US intelligence agencies — is widely seen as an effort to find evidence supporting his fraud allegations about the 2020 election and other races.

Pulte has no intelligence background. He earned a reputation as one of Trump's most devoted loyalists during his tenure at the FHFA, where he spearheaded a series of mortgage fraud referrals against Trump's political opponents.

Trump signaled as much on Wednesday, saying Pulte was "a very smart guy" and adding, "He may find something with respect to election fraud. I think he'd love to do that." The remarks strongly suggested that proving election fraud is Pulte's primary assignment.

That expectation is also part of what led to Tulsi Gabbard's departure as DNI director. Gabbard made efforts of her own — including showing up at the FBI's search and seizure operation at the Fulton County, Georgia, election board in January — but ultimately failed to deliver results that satisfied Trump.

Trump's renewed focus on election fraud allegations appears designed to rally his base amid growing anxiety about the midterms.

The war with Iran, which began in late February, remains unresolved more than 100 days in, and rising oil prices have eroded public support. Within the Republican Party, there is a pervasive fear that the party could lose control of both chambers of Congress to the Democrats in November.

The push also appears intended to bolster the case for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, a bill Trump has championed that would tighten voter identification requirements at the polls.

Some observers say that if Republicans lose the November midterms — which decide seats in both the Senate and the House — Trump could lead the party in contesting the results by alleging fraud.

No evidence or official record, such as a court ruling, has ever been produced to substantiate Trump's fraud claims. Trump nonetheless maintains that Democratic strongholds like California have lax voter identification procedures and that mail-in ballots are being abused to let Democrats steal elections.

California allows third parties — such as labor unions and political organizations — to collect and submit voters' ballots, and permits gym membership cards or prescription slips as valid identification. The rules were designed to boost voter participation.

Critics say these permissive rules give ammunition to fraud allegations. In a Tuesday editorial, the conservative Wall Street Journal said the Democratic Party "has put in place systems to make voter registration and voting easy in order to increase turnout among liberal voters, and this creates room for improper voting and fraud."