Things to Keep in Mind Ahead of Trump’s Primetime Election Rant

Donald Trump teased that, during a primetime speech scheduled for Thursday night, he would unveil some “really, really big news” involving elections. However, based on his track record of making false claims about his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, we’re not holding our breath.

Then again, maybe he’ll say something like “I have had a real breakthrough with my therapist and now understand that my malignant narcissism didn’t allow me to acknowledge defeat. I’m sorry that this has caused me to undermine American democracy and that I put the country through this.”

Now, that would be news.

Short of that, we assume that the speech will primarily involve unsubstantiated and vague allegations about how the 2020 race was “stolen” from him.

In anticipation of that, there are a few things Americans should keep in mind (and we apologize for speed-running through these, but all of his claims and accusations have been extensively litigated and debunked, so we feel that our readers would appreciate a bit of brevity ahead of what will undoubtedly be a lengthy rant).

First of all, Trump was president in 2020, so anything that happened in that election occurred on his watch.

In addition, even more than putting his name and face on things, his fight against windmills, his endless grifting, Ivanka, and gold, his loss to Biden is his greatest obsession. This means that the president and his allies have now had six years to produce any kind of evidence showing that he actually won. In all that time, however, they have come up with nothing. They haven’t found anybody involved in what would have to be a vast conspiracy involving thousands of officials, both Democrats and Republicans, across the nation as well as millions of voters who cast fraudulent ballots.

Not a single person has come forward to collect what would be an immense monetary award, e.g., in the form of a book deal or a contract as a paid Fox News contributor, and guaranteed immunity from prosecution.

Why? Because it didn’t happen.

Conversely, every recount, audit, and investigation (including all of those conducted by Trump allies) has affirmed that the results of the 2020 election were accurate and/or that in-person voter fraud is exceedingly rare.

As for new “evidence” that the president may reveal about foreign interference in that race, which is one of the rumored themes of the address, it is important to know that this happens in every election.

Trump should know because he was arguably only elected in 2016 because Russia waged an extensive and well-documented influence campaign on his behalf. In that regard, it is important to note that we are not talking about “collusion.” This isn’t about his campaign working with Moscow (although Don Jr. certainly seemed willing to do just that).

One way Trump tries to obfuscate what happened in that race is by talking about the “Russia hoax.” It’s true that those investigating the actions that Vladimir Putin’s regime took to prevent Hillary Clinton from getting elected were not able to prove that they were coordinated with the campaign. It doesn’t mean that those things didn’t happen. As compared to Trump’s vague accusations, they undoubtedly did (as Secretary of State Marco Rubio well knows since he was the chairman of the Senate committee that compiled one of the many reports demonstrating what Russia did).

Unfortunately, foreign actors interfere in US elections all the time. Social media and a gullible populace have made this very easy and relatively inexpensive.

Conversely, the Trump administration is constantly trying to interfere in elections abroad.

For example, it is currently offering grants to far-right groups in Europe in a move that Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday suggested amounts to election interference.

In addition, Trump frequently endorses other right-wing leaders ahead of national elections and suggests that the US will maintain stronger ties with these countries if his preferred candidates win.

Therefore, this is nothing new. Of course, it would be noteworthy if foreign governments broke US laws in trying to influence the outcome. However, according to a declassified report from the National Intelligence Council, there are “no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”

The same report shows that Russia once again tried to get Trump elected while Iran took steps to help Biden win. It does not, however, mention Chinese bamboo ballots or Italian satellites, which are mainstays of popular MAGA conspiracy theories on how the 2020 election was manipulated.

Perhaps you can tell, but we are tired of writing about this. It’s so ridiculous that we have to keep doing so.

However, we have to, because Trump just cannot let it go.

His monomaniacal focus is also evidenced by the shameful display of Jay Clayton on Wednesday. Trump’s pick to become director of national intelligence repeatedly refused to answer a very simple question: Who won the 2020 election? That’s because going along with the president’s bogus conspiracy theory is now the litmus test for anybody who wants to work for him.

It’s like demanding that any intern wanting to work for WhoWhatWhy first has to say that our softball team won the 2025 World Series.

Here is one more thing that’s important to point out: It’s journalistic malpractice for the networks to give Trump this airtime without first asking some questions about what he will say. Primetime addresses should be about things like, “We got bin Laden,” not about indulging a president’s delusions.

At the very least, networks should be ready to rigorously fact-check whatever Trump says in real time.

Finally, it’s important to understand why the president is doing this (apart from the aforementioned malignant narcissism). He is desperate to get Senate Republicans to pass the voter suppression bill known as the SAVE America Act.

Time is running out because all of Trump’s previous efforts to rig the midterms and give himself more power over US elections will likely not be enough to prevent the Democrats from winning at least one chamber of Congress in November and therefore being able to conduct some oversight over the administration beginning in 2027 (and please see our column on the difference between election rigging and election fraud).

It is also possible that he will suggest that there is some sort of vulnerability in the system, whether it’s with voting machines or voter rolls, and use that as a justification to claim emergency powers that will allow him to wrestle the administration of the election away from the states (as he has already tried to do unsuccessfully with a couple of unconstitutional executive orders).

Whatever it is, Americans need to understand what is really going on, which is that the president is trying to take away their say in who should run the country – and that he may succeed if they let him.