RNC’s Priebus Defends Trump’s “Rigged Election” Theme

Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus rejected the media’s assertion that there was something inherently dangerous or un-American about Donald Trump’s concerns about a rigged system. Pointing to the third presidential debate, where Trump said that he would “look at it at the time” to determine whether or not he would accept the election’s outcome, Priebus said such a question should have never been asked.

“What I think the media is missing here is that, to ask a candidate three weeks before the election if they are going to concede — asking for a concession speech — no one does that,” Priebus said. “And I think if you lose by 200 votes in Florida, are you going to concede on election night if you’re at 260 electoral votes?”

Host John Dickerson said that Priebus’s interpretation didn’t quite match Trump’s actual words.

“But his mouth is in a different place than where you think his head is,” Dickerson said. “He said if he loses Pennsylvania, a state Republicans haven’t won since ’88, it will only be because the state was stolen from him.”

“I don’t think that’s where he’s at,” Priebus said. “That’s not where I’m at. Losing by 100 votes is one thing. Losing by 100,000 votes is another thing. I think we can be reasonable on this issue.”

Getting to the heart of the issue, Priebus tried to shed some light on the Republican nominee’s mindset.

“I think if you’re Donald Trump, and if you see the barrage and media implosion on every single thing this guy does, no matter what it is,” he said. “He eats cornflakes in the morning, and CNN or another cable news show, MSNBC, is talking about it 24 hours a day. If you look at Hillary Clinton, what she’s gotten away with on this email scandal, when you have General Cartwright going to potentially prison for doing one-tenth of her…”

Overriding Dickerson’s interruptions, Priebus concluded:

“Listen, I’m trying to put you in the mind of a person who’s running for president who sees this unbelievable world around him and then you do hear about fraud at the ballot box, and you say: ‘You know what? I’m going to reserve all options.'”

Of course, no one in the mainstream media is going to give this explanation any thought because it would mean admitting that they’ve collectively botched this election. Years from now, in retrospect, perhaps they’ll be able to come out and express regret, but not now. Not until well after the election is over. Until then, they don’t want to hear about it. Until then, they are interested only in getting Hillary in the White House. The so-called watchdogs have taken sides. How can we even talk seriously about fair elections when this is the case?