The polls have not yet even closed on California’s Prop 50 redistricting measure, but Trump is already insisting that the vote is “rigged,” which means he knows Prop 50 is going to win by a landslide and is looking for excuses.
Today is California’s Prop 50 election day, and the Prop 50 congressional redistricting measure is the only measure on the entire ballot. Though there is not much suspense here. Prop 50 is 20 percentage points ahead in the polls, the vote won’t even be close, and all of the news organizations will declare that Prop 50 has passed about one minute after the polls close at 8 pm PT.
Despite this (or maybe because of this), President Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday morning to declare without evidence that the Prop 50 California election is rigged.
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump posted. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”
Obviously, the text of this post makes very little narrative sense. The Hill did some follow-up, and admits that they "reached out to the White House for clarification.” They did not hear back.
But if one were to attempt to divine some sort of meaning out of Trump’s word salad, it seems like his gripe here is mail-in voting. He claims without any form of evidence that Republicans are “shut out” on mail-in voting, though that may be mainly because Trump encourages Republicans to not vote by mail.
That said, he claims (to whatever degree this should be taken seriously) that the outcome will face “very serious legal and criminal review.” That may be because he anticipates his election monitors dotted across the state will find something to make hay out of. Or it may just be something that Trump said on Truth Social and then forgets about once he has his next serving of a Big Mac and Doritos crumbs.
Image: WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 2: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the White House on November 2, 2025 after taking off from Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump spent the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
