Former President Donald Trump has changed his tune on early voting in a major way.

Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee have launched a “Swamp The Vote USA” campaign that encourages Republicans to take full advantage of early voting opportunities that he and his supporters previously blamed for rampant election fraud.

The former president now says mail-in and absentee are the remedy for fraud.

“Republicans must win and we must use every available appropriate tool to beat the Democrats,” Mr. Trump said in a video posted on Truth Social. “Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person we must swamp the radical Democrats with massive turnout.”

He added, “Vote early. If we swamp them, they can’t cheat.”

Mr. Trump and Republicans have been moving in this direction after crying foul over the proliferation of early voting in 2020 in response to the coronavirus.

Republicans continued to disparage mail-in voting in 2021, blaming it for depressing GOP turnout in the Senate runoff elections in Georgia where Democrats won and seized control of the upper chamber.

Despite the losses, Mr. Trump and other Republicans continued discouraging mail-in voting in 2022, narrowing opportunities for their base to help get Republican candidates elected, including in Arizona, where Kari Lake lost what was considered a winnable gubernatorial race against Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Mr. Trump, at the time, said he considered mail-in ballots “fake.”

The message left some Republicans and political analysts scratching their heads and questioning why Mr. Trump and his supporters were so intent on fighting with an arm tied behind their backs.

Republicans now hope to restore faith in the system.

“Do your part to guarantee we win by more than the Margin of Fraud by casting your vote and taking responsibility for ensuring every Republican and Trump voter in your household casts theirs too,” the Swamp the Vote website reads.

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.