Trump says mail-in voting is ‘cheating’. MAGA activists are pushing it anyway

Donald Trump has spent years spreading baseless conspiracies about the supposed dangers of mail-in voting. He has called it “cheating” and “fraud” and even blamed his 2020 election loss on the long-standing democratic practice.

But a grassroots campaign spearheaded by MAGA activists is now working to sign up thousands of Republican voters to vote by mail anyway — and their efforts have won the support of Eric and Lara Trump.

Scott Presler, a controversial campaigner with a following of millions across his various social media accounts, has been crisscrossing the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania on a mission to encourage Trump supporters to sign up for mail-in ballots.

“Democrats vote for 50 days, Republicans vote for 12 hours. If we are going to be competitive in this election, then we must use an ‘all of the above’ approach to voting,” Presler told The Independent at a stall outside a Trump rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, inside the arena, Trump was pushing a contradictory message to his most ardent supporters.

​​“Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early… I wonder what the hell happens during that 45?” the former president said to a crowd of thousands at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, before repeating his usual baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him.

That same day, Trump appeared on television slamming vote-by-mail as fraudulent, just as he did throughout 2020.

“Anytime you have mail-in voting, you’re going to have fraud and some people don’t like me saying it, but I say it,” he told Fox News.

Heading into the final stretch of the election campaign, the Republican Party is trying to have it both ways. It equivocates or ignores Trump’s baseless claims