What does Trump mean when he says the election is rigged?

What does the term rigged mean?

During the campaign, Donald Trump has claimed that the election is rigged. What did Trump mean by that?

Do the american people believe that election is rigged?

When Donald Trump asserts that the election is rigged, he can mean two things:

- either he believes that the voters will be defrauded and that their ballot will be tampered with, altered, manipulated.
- and/or he implies that the establishment, the mainstream media, favor one candidate over the other and that such coverage alters voter's perception.

Today we look at a word that after the 2016 US election that we probably won't ever be able to forget, no matter how hard we try.

"Rigged" means cheated, crooked, manipulated in someone's favor, set up, fishy.

To rig is a navy word meaning to equip, to set up, to prepare or to assemble.

And a Rig is a truck.

Oil rig

Why is Trump claiming that the election is rigged?

When Trump says the election is rigged, he means it both in a procedural and conceptual way. He wants the idea that the establishment is so powerful and so biased against him to sink in and get on the public debate, even if only to be mocked or discarded.

To that end, he raises concerns as to the trustworthiness of election officials in swing states and ask voters to be on the look-out for people tampering with votes.

Discarding the idea that the election could be rigged is actually what Trump expects the media to do and when they do, Trump has a boulevard ahead of him to vociferate that mainstream media will never admit to rigging the elections in favor of his opponent.

This tautological type of reasoning is quite appealing not only to conspiracy theorist, but also to people who have legitimate reasons to feel that the odds are not in their favor. Some may not go as far as thinking that the dice are actually loaded, but their fear that the system will favor some over others needs to be addressed.

Hillary's long-standing career as a public servant is often cited against her being able to adequetly address those fears as she is seen as an actor of a system that does leave many behind.

This has prompted the New York Times to set up a hotline for voters experiencing issues in the election to text the NYT about it.

If you experience any issues when voting in the U.S. election (early or on Tuesday), let us and @electionland know. Text TIMES to 69866. pic.twitter.com/i6hD6Hzvzi

— The New York Times (@nytimes) 6 novembre 2016