Former President Donald Trump reiterated a long-standing, factually inaccurate claim that California's election system is "crooked" and that he would have won the state in past elections if the system were honest. Trump has repeatedly made this assertion, despite significant evidence to the contrary.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale described the claim as "one of the president’s most ludicrous lies," noting that Trump lost California by substantial margins in multiple elections. In 2016, Trump lost California by 30 percentage points, a deficit of over 4 million votes. In 2020, he lost by 29 percentage points, with a gap of more than 5 million votes. In 2024, he lost by 20 percentage points, a difference of over 3 million votes.
No Republican has secured a major statewide victory in California since Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 gubernatorial win, and the last Republican presidential candidate to win the state was George H.W. Bush in 1988. Trump has frequently criticized mail-in ballots, a practice he himself has used for voting.
The repeated claims have drawn criticism on social media platforms, with users questioning the consistency and veracity of his statements. Critics have pointed out the contradiction in claiming an election system is rigged while also benefiting from victories within that system, or while being part of a federal government run by members of his own party.