Donald Trump Calls U.S. Voting Corrupt Citing Brazil Results

President Donald Trump declared that voting in the United States is "CORRUPT!!!" in a series of Truth Social posts on October 5, 2026. Trump cited the speed of Brazil's first-round presidential election results as evidence of rigging in the U.S., claiming that cities such as Detroit and Philadelphia take weeks to "Rig, I mean, calculate" their totals. In an initial post, Trump mistakenly attributed the fast results to India before correcting the error several hours later.

These claims follow a contradictory video posted by Trump on Saturday, in which he encouraged Republicans to vote early, by mail, or in person to defeat Democrats in the November 3 midterms. When questioned by CBS News, Trump stated he prefers in-person voting but acknowledged that mail-in voting is a necessity because "we seem to have no choice." He maintained that there is "a lot of cheating in vote by mail," specifically pointing to California, though he provided no evidence.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of the United States recently blocked the United States Postal Service from enforcing new mail-ballot rules tied to a Trump executive order before the midterms, ruling that local officials had insufficient time to implement the changes. In Brazil, the first-round election on October 4 saw Senator Flávio Bolsonaro lead incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva 47% to 45%, necessitating a runoff on October 25.