Trump: If I Lose in Pa., It's Because of Cheating

Pennsylvania hasn't voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988—but if it goes Democratic this time, it will be evidence of skulduggery, according to Donald Trump. "The only way we can lose, in my opinion—and I really mean this, Pennsylvania—is if cheating goes on. I really believe it," he told a rally in Altoona Friday night, per the Guardian. "We have to call up law enforcement, and we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everybody watching," Trump said, expressing dismay at the state's lack of voter ID requirements and urging his supporters to "go around and look and watch other polling places" after they have cast their votes in November. A round-up of coverage:

• Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, tells the Los Angeles Times that Trump's "disturbing and harmful" remarks could lead to the intimidation of minority voters.

• Pennsylvania is a must-win state for Trump, but he is 11 points behind Clinton, according to the latest Marist poll. Analysts say that while Trump is doing well with the state's working-class white voters, there aren't enough of them for him to win the state unless there is a massive shift away from Clinton in the Philadelphia suburbs, the New York Times reports.
• BuzzFeed reports that Trump has added a new page to his website seeking "volunteer Trump Election Observers" to help him stop "Crooked Hillary" from "rigging this election."
• Philip Bump at the Washington Post looks at problems that have occured in recent Pennsylvania elections, and finds there is little to warrant what he calls Trump's call for voter intimidation—which could be a "recipe for tension, if not violence."
• Politico reports that earlier on Friday, Trump said his claim that President Obama is the founder of ISIS was "sarcasm," then told a rally in Erie, Pa. he "was being sarcastic—"but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you." CNN takes issue with his use of the word "sarcasm."

(More Donald Trump stories.)