Trump says he'll accept the election results... if he wins

Donald Trump promised on Wednesday to hold the country in suspense over whether he'll accept the results of the 2016 presidential election.

Little more than 12 hours later, he was already trying to make good on the "suspense" bit.

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“I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election…" Trump said at a rally in Ohio on Thursday. Then, of course, a brief dramatic pause.

"If I win," he continued.

His audience cheered.

Trump has attacked tenets of American democracy since at least the second debate, when he promised to hire a special prosecutor to go after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if he wins the election.

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After that debate, the GOP's candidate has hyped up the idea that the election is rigged against him.

He's done this in several ways.

One of Trump's favorite talking points over the past several weeks has been the idea that Democrats are engaged in massive voter fraud to prevent him from ever taking a seat in the Oval Office.

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His evidence for all this -- like the evidence for much of what comes out of his mouth -- is minuscule, but he has proven not to be a candidate willing to be weighed down by verifiable information.

Trump has long railed against the media, but he has increased his "the media is working for Hillary!" rhetoric since the middle of the second debate, too, when he implied at the two moderators were working with Clinton in a "one on three."

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And the GOP nominee has also gone after the FBI and the Department of Justice, both of which he says have protected Clinton from criminal charges that would otherwise have stemmed from an investigation into her use of private email during her tenure as secretary of state.

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The FBI found Clinton's conduct to be "extremely careless," but did not find anything worthy of criminal charges.

Trump doesn't accept that, either.

TopicsDonald TrumpElectionsPresident