--- title: President Obama Blasts Donald Trump on Rigged Election Claim description: Obama denied that the November election would be in anyway rigged to prevent Donald Trump from winning the presidency canonical: https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-04T21:53:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:12:30.486Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Says Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous' og:description: "Of course the election will not be rigged. What does that mean?" og:url: https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt427263017bd4e8aa/6988a13bfb4eac322e88ea16/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Says Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous' twitter:description: "Of course the election will not be rigged. What does that mean?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt427263017bd4e8aa/6988a13bfb4eac322e88ea16/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Says Donald Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous' by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) and [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) Aug 4, 2016 9:53 PM UTC  President Obama answers a question during a news conference on Aug. 4, 2016, at the Pentagon in Washington. President Obama answers a question during a news conference on Aug. 4, 2016, at the Pentagon in Washington.Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) and [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) Aug 4, 2016 9:53 PM UTC President Obama rebuffed Donald Trump’s suggestion that the general election in November would somehow be rigged, joking that he’d never heard of anyone complaining about cheating before the game was even over. “Of course the election will not be rigged. What does that mean?” Obama said Thursday. Speaking from the Pentagon, Obama said the Republican nominee’s suggestion that there is a conspiracy to keep him from winning the election is “ridiculous.” “This will be an election like any other election,” Obama said. Earlier this week, [Trump suggested](http://time.com/4433984/donald-trump-general-election-rigged/) that the upcoming general election would be rigged. Obama did say, however, that the federal government would be watching out for practices that prevent people from voting because of accessibility or polling place issues. “I think all of us in some points in our lives…sometimes folks if they lose they start complaining about being cheated. …Never heard of someone complaining about being cheated before the game is finished,” the president said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/"},"headline":"President Obama Says Donald Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous'","datePublished":"2016-08-04T21:53:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:12:30.486Z","description":"\"Of course the election will not be rigged. 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