title:  Trump Is Now Recruiting ‘Election Observers’ To Intimidate Voters
text: If there s one presidential candidate who is the king of dog whistle politics, it s Donald Trump. After declaring that the election will be rigged if Hillary Clinton wins in general   and now Pennsylvania   Trump s campaign website set up a page asking supporters to volunteer as  election observers,  meaning people who wander aimlessly around polling locations to see if any shenanigans take place.In other words, Trump is asking his rabid, racist, xenophobic supporters to patrol and potentially intimidate non-Trump supporting voters. And everyone knows who Donald Trump is referring to when he hints that people (especially in Pennsylvania) will be voting  10 times  for Hillary Clinton.With th headline  Volunteer to be a Trump Election Observer,  the clever caption for reasoning reads: Help me stop crooked Hillary from rigging this election!Even though Trump is more likely to be struck by lighting in Texas than he is to have voter fraud committed against him, the intimidation of voters in a crucial swing state will ensure Trump has his way.States having election observers isn t unheard of, and sometimes the state s political parties (which are private groups) dispatch their own. Rarely do individual campaigns have their own. It s a much different story when a campaign recruits because they are so sure   without any proof   that their opponent is going to  rig  and entire nationwide election. Trump is calling our democracy into question because he s scared of a loss, and without any evidence at all.In 2008, the Obama campaign dispatched lawyers and law students to make sure voters weren t illegally turned away or purged off of voting rolls.Given Trump supporters  violent and angry tendencies towards anyone who doesn t agree with them, it won t shock anyone if there is a violent response to someone they arbitrarily decide they don t like. After all, Trump has done an excellent job of encouraging a culture of bullying and violence at his rallies.Will these people be armed (depending on what state they re in)? Will they be predominantly  observing  in black, Hispanic or Latino precincts? It would come as no surprise.Perhaps Hillary voters should go on Trump s website and volunteer in order to counter this very dangerous slippery slope of election intimidation.Featured image via Jeff Swenesen/Getty Images