Trump’s election lies are confusing the Republicans’ multi-million dollar mail-in voting campaigns

Republican activists working to empower Donald Trump in critical swing states like Pennsylvania are increasingly stymied by his own rhetoric on mail-in voting.

Although the ex-president is aiming for the White House for the third time, he is once again doubting the electoral processes in the USA and sabotaging his own voters’ trust in the electoral systems.

The Independent reported just last week that pro-Trump influencers and activists are already out in force in battleground states, urging voters to register for mail-in ballots if they fear they won’t be able to vote in person for any reason.

But Politically reported Sunday that some of those employees are increasingly frustrated with rhetoric from above.

For months, Trump has had particular doubts about early voting and postal voting. He has baselessly derided ballot drop boxes, a widespread practice, as epicenters of fraud and told his supporters that opening voting months in advance was “sad.”

The former president has also broadly described mail-in voting systems as “corrupt” in a way designed to discourage voters from participating.

“Mail-in voting is completely corrupt,” he said in February. “Think about it.”

Now it seems like the chickens are coming home to roost. Republican activists close to Trump tell it Politically that his rhetoric is actively disrupting the multimillion-dollar effort aimed at electing him to the White House.

“You have to accept [early voting and mail-in voting] to have a chance of winning. And that’s what we do. We’ve been pushing these things like crazy,” Erie County GOP Chairman Tom Eddy told the news outlet.

But even Republican state leaders and national GOP officials acknowledge there is a discrepancy.

“It’s counterproductive,” added David Urban, a GOP operative from Pennsylvania. “We’re giving a message, so to speak, and then the president comes along and says, ‘I don’t think so much of it.’ [mail-in voting]” … It is [becoming] much harder to convince people.”

For their party, Trump’s own campaign officials are walking a fine line: refusing to back down from his allegations of fraud while simultaneously urging their voters to participate in the same schemes their candidate has claimed is largely meaningless because of the influence of the broader vote Fraud, which he could not prove, took place in 2020.

“We need to play by the rules until we can get President Trump to push for same-day election integrity, no mail voting, paper ballots and mandatory voter ID across the country,” campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in February. “So if you live in a state that votes early, get out there and vote early.”