US Election 2020: Donald Trump explodes in tarmac rant

Before stepping onto Air Force One, Donald Trump flew into a fiery three-minute rant and lashed out at a “ridiculous” election decision.

Before stepping onto Air Force One to fly to North Carolina this morning, Donald Trump exploded into a fiery three-minute rant and lashed out at a “ridiculous” election decision.

On the tarmac of an airport in Dubuque, Iowa — where he held his second rally of the day — Mr Trump shot down reports he was planning to “declare premature victory” on election night if looks as though he is ahead.

According to sources who spoke to Axios, he’ll make the call even if the Electoral College outcome still hinges on large numbers of uncounted votes in key states.

Mr Trump however said this was a “false report”, but he blasted the expected vote-counting delays in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s secretary of state says it will take days to count “overwhelming majority” of votes, meaning the election could hang in the balance.

In his tarmac rant, Mr Trump repeatedly described the situation as “terrible”

“We’ll look at what happens,” he told reporters.

“I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election, I think it’s a terrible thing where states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over because it can only lead to one thing and that’s very bad – you know what that one thing is.

Donald Trump is holding three rallies today. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

“I think it’s a very dangerous, terrible thing, and I think it’s terrible when we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election in a modern day age of computers,” he said.

“I think it’s a terrible thing, and I happen to think it was terrible decision for our country made by the Supreme Court, and I think it’s a very dangerous decision, because you’re going to have one or two or three states depending on how it ends up where they’re tabulating ballots and the rest of the world is waiting to find out. I think there’s great danger to it, and I think a lot of fraud and misuse can take place.”

Axios reports that, behind the scenes, the President has privately talked through this scenario in some detail in the last few weeks, describing plans to walk up to a podium on election night and declare he has won.

“For this to happen, his allies expect he would need to either win or have commanding leads in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Arizona and Georgia. Like Pennsylvania,” the report states.

This is important because mail-in ballots, which will favour Joe Biden by a margin of about two-to-one, will take longer to count.

Donald Trump is planning to ‘declare premature victory’ on election night if looks as though he is ahead. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

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In some swing states – like Pennsylvania for example – rules don’t allow election officials to start counting them ahead of time. That could mean it could take days to process all the postal votes.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said on NBC’s Meet The Press that there could be 10 times as many mail ballots this year than in 2016, “So, yes, it will take longer (to count).”

Ms Boockvar said: “I expect that the overwhelming majority of ballots in Pennsylvania, that’s mail-in and absentee ballots, as well as in-person ballots, will be counted within a matter of days.”

So it is predicted the election day vote, which is counted faster, will favour Mr Trump by a similarly overwhelming margin.

However, it is possible that some states might show a large lead to Mr Trump on election night, only for the mail vote to come in later and give the state to Mr Biden.

“Trump’s team is preparing to falsely claim that mail-in ballots counted after November 3 – a legitimate count expected to favour Democrats – are evidence of election fraud,” Axios said.

It’s not the first time Mr Trump has attacked the legitimacy of mail-in ballots – claiming in his debates that Republican votes have been found in dumpsters.

He would be due to vacate office by January if he loses, but he appears to be already contesting the vote by saying the election is rigged and suggesting mail-in ballots are fake.

RELATED: How mail-in voting works

Americans head to the polls in just a matter of hours. Picture: Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP

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He has been asked to confirm he will leave office if he loses, and declined to confirm that. He may be able to find ways – using court decisions to stop vote counts, for example – for him to stay.

Now, there is growing concern that the election, and the wait for results will spark widespread civil unrest in the US.

Over the weekend, Walmart announced it was removing all guns and ammunition from its sales floors in a bid to stop looters ahead of election day.

“We have seen some isolated civil unrest and as we have done on several occasions over the last few years, we have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution for the safety of our associates and customers,” a Walmart spokesman said.

Retailers have been on edge after people earlier this year smashed windows, stole merchandise and, at times, set stores ablaze in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Portland and other US cities.

In an another trend that has fed concern, gun sales in the US this year have reached record highs, and more first-time buyers have purchased firearms in recent months.

The nation’s economy is in dire straits due to the pandemic. Unemployment has spiked. Social media is awash with hate and conspiracy theories, creating a volatile rift that stretches through all sectors of US society.

A poll released by Suffolk University and USA Today found three-quarters of respondents were worried about the possibility of violence on election day. In 2016, only 50 per cent of voters were concerned about violence.

Americans have been stocking up on weapons and military-style tactical gear in preparation. Many gun shops have sold out of ammunition, and firearm stocks are running low.