Trump’s speech on securing elections
Some of the subject matter of Trump’s speech last night had already been leaked, so for those who had read the advance news, there weren’t too many surprises. Perhaps the scope of the Chinese hacking was a surprise, and the extent of the coverup of the evidence to hide it from the Trump administration – although anyone who has followed Russiagate and COVID and Hunter’s laptop couldn’t be all that shocked.
We have become used to these things, and that’s not good.
What will be the effect of what Trump revealed, and the documents that have been put on the White House website? I obviously don’t know, but if previous experience is any guide, not all that much. It’s incredibly difficult to prosecute these things and in particular to get convictions in DC courts, if DC ends up being the venue for any trials.
For people already inclined to hate Trump – and that’s about half of the country – none of this will convince them in the least. Trump could say that two plus two equals four, and they would say he’s wrong and/or lying. Already the MSM is proclaiming that this is all the same old stuff that Trump’s been peddling since November of 2020, and in a way they’re correct (except for some of the details). But just because he’s been saying it all that time doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
And what have I been saying for those years? Pretty much the following:
– Whatever really happened in 2020 or any other election, it is exceptionally difficult to prove fraud once it has occurred. Therefore election security must be tighter than it has been, in order to prevent fraud or the perception of the strong possibility of fraud. Trust in elections must be restored. That is extremely basic, and yet difficult to do. Not only is the SAVE Act meeting significant opposition in the Senate from a few Republicans in addition to all Democrats, but even if the SAVE Act were to pass and be successfully implemented, half of America would say it excluded many Democrat voters who are qualified to vote but couldn’t prove it by the new rules. Whether or not that is the case, it would be the argument.
– Universal automatic mail-in voting has to end, because it’s too susceptible to fraud. We need to go back to the old system in which absentee voting is only available for good reason, and require that a voter wanting an absentee ballot make a special request ahead of time. Filled-in ballots must arrive back by Election Day, because late-arriving ballots are the reason for long drawn-out vote-counting.
– Voting should all occur on the same day, or at the most a very short number of days such as a week.
– To register to vote, a person must prove citizenship. There are many ways to do that, and there needs to be special consideration for people who lack birth certificates for bona fide reasons. After that initial proof of citizenship, regular ID would do.
– Computer voting needs to end. Paper ballots are preferable although not perfect.
– Ballot harvesting needs to be more limited as well.
Over the next few weeks, I’m fairly certain that much will be written about the evidence on the White House website. For now, I’ll just add that Trump looked understandably tired during his speech. It’s astounding to me how much work he does at the age of eighty, and how much stress he carries.
It’s an old old old way(though effective) way to scare people. Don’t show all the evidence to support (Am I next) though to be effective you need a c ouple of convictions. The money guys will.run.
I flipped through all my local TV channels looking for the speech. Not one of them carried it live. They all had anchors describing it and various “experts” telling us what to think about it during their news programs — and, of course, the late-night variety shows made fun of it.
This might or might not have been a great or even good speech… but how can it be that the president of the United States delivers an address and no station considers it worthy of broadcasting? Shouldn’t we be given a chance to see it and decide for ourselves?
I heard a few minutes of the speech on the radio. President Trump sounded rather tired and hoarse. I hope he will pace himself and get enough rest to stay healthy!
279,000 non-citizens voting is terrible, very bad, no good!
Trump raises some good points, but they will be lost in the noise of his continued obsession with re-litigating the 2020 election.
He’s making the job of his GOP successors just that much harder.
Sadly, his speech seems to have fallen on deaf ears among the, what would you call them, “Influencers?’ (I detest that term)
Over at Powerlineblog.com, which is certainly a conservative site, they shrug it off. Thin, was one of the descriptions.
The speech should have been a wake up call for people who are slightly left, or who drift with the tide. Unfortunately, they probably didn’t hear it. That would be by design, of course.
I did not watch the speech. I have watched some of Fox News’ reporting on it, and don’t think I missed out by not watching it.
I have watched most of his recent speeches, both national and international. I come away from all of them thinking he’s not doing himself a favor by repeating what sounds like a campaign speech. I would like him to make a presidential speech — something uplifting, telling us we need to pull together and stop sniping at each other internally. I’m not sure it would accomplish much, but incessant repetition of the theme that he was robbed of the 2020 election, and reminding us that Biden was asleep most of the time, doesn’t accomplish much either and gives his enemies, particularly in the media, ammunition to disagree with him.
I had hoped last night’s speech would do this. Or at least, when we were promised more information about voting machines that we would see some irrefutable evidence that those machines really did affect the results. What I am hearing now from people who are perusing the WH web sites is that they have not yet found the smoking gun. It’s not a good look for a White House to repeat an ambiguous charge.
Oldflyer:
Powerline is not a pro-Trump site for the most part, although it’s certainly on the right.
F and others:
I would suggest watching the speech rather than summaries. It was fairly short. I didn’t get the impression he was saying there was one smoking gun, but that there were many insecurities and vulnerabilities that were kept secret from the American people and from him in a coverup. The information was in “burn bags” that were supposed to be destroyed but were accidentally not destroyed.
And of course according to the risible and oh so predictable Bauxite, CC™-R, the real problem isn’t voter fraud, nope, it is The Great Orange Whale is making it so much harder for concerned conservatives to do anything about it. A thing they never get around to.
Bauxite, CC™-R, and his ilk never actually impeede the DSA or Democrats. A worthless bunch of wankers.
I agree with all of Neo’s suggestions. If we are to have fair elections, they MUST happen.
Sen. Slotkin (ex-CIA) gave it away. If the SAVE Act passes, the Dems can’t win elections. The Dems need to cheat to win.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why every GOP Senator isn’t howling to get this done.
Sen. Mike Lee has spoken on this. One of his ideas is to make the Dems do a talking filibuster on the SAVE Act. Do it in August. Make the Dems work. The Dems need to tell America why this bill is bad.
My understanding is that Trump has offered a great deal of documentation in support of his contention that the 2020 election was tampered with, substantially at that.
Those who have continually insisted that Trump has been complaining *without evidence* ought to, but of course will not, have egg on their faces. That years-old blatant lie ought to, but will not, be laid to permanent rest. They’re not even saying he has no proof, which in any event is going to be pretty hard to come by at this point, they’re braying that he is bloviating *without evidence*.
And the True Believers continue to gobble it up.
We (the people) at least ought to be considering newly produced evidence, but of course we (the people) will be doing no such thing. That is because those in charge of gatekeeping what we (the people) get to consider are corrupt to the core — but we (the neophiles) already know that. Such is the state of genuine civic inquiry in this The Year Of Our Lord 2026.
Discouraging. Depressing. Maddening.
After the President’s speech last night, a common Dem theme was that the speech was made to distract the public from the war in Iran and high prices.
Iran was weeks away from having enough enriched Uranium to build 11 bombs. I suppose they could have had a nuke test this summer. If that would have happened, the Left would be howling. It would be the first article of impeachment. Trump didn’t keep us safe! He let Iran get the bomb!
As to costs, gas prices were higher under Biden because he intentionally wanted to suppress US oil production. And we experienced 20% inflation under Biden because of his wild spending under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. The Dems caused the inflation and now they are whining about it. Same as the kid who kills his parents and complains that now he’s an orphan.
Neo, I agree that Powerlineblog is not a pro-Trump site; but I think that is evolutionary to some extent.
I noticed a change in tone when he, presumably it was he, leaked his profane blast at Netanyahu because Israel continued to fight in Lebanon. I confess, my attitude began to morph at the same time. I also presume that Vance’s Tucker Carlson imitation has Trump’s blessing. I did not know much about Vance, but had hopes that he was the future. No longer.
Please Rubio, please. And choose someone like DeSantis to accompany you.
I do agree with F. I am finding it increasingly difficult to listen to his incessantly repeated litany of accomplishments; even though some are legitimate. I have, of late, told my wife that I hope that he does not injure his shoulder while reaching to pat himself on the back. It has become more than annoying, it is troublesome to contemplate what drives it. Surely he understands that his record is his record and it is in plain sight.
I agree with neo’s suggestions. I would like to see them implemented in a responsible way.
The politics of this issue right now, however, are horrific. Although election integrity is a very important issue to the GOP base, it just isn’t that important to the rest of the country. Cost of living is the biggest issue for the electorate and not only is Trump not bringing that down, his new Iran actions are actually making that problem worse.
Yes, I know “but Biden.” Yes, I know that defeating Iran is worthwhile. I’m talking about the politics here.
And then throw in Trump’s 2020 and J6 baggage.
While a talented politician with the ability to appeal broadly to the general public might be able to skillfully increase public awareness and public concern about necessary election integrity reforms, we do not have that politician in charge right now. Trump is coming off as an out-of-touch crank who is not only failing to address the people’s #1 concern, but still can’t shut up about the 2020 election. To everyone outside of the GOP base, he looks like Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud.
As I predicted earlier today, the response from a leftist friend, direct quote:
“Don’t listen to the lies. Don’t watch the liar in chief.
Note: There is NO WIDESPREAD ELECTION FRAUD!”
Grampa Simpson yelling at a cloud?
Look in the mirror Bauxite, CC™-R. Or use your smartphone “selfie” thing. You can Photoshop to soften your “crazy eyes.”
neo rightly states, “election security must be tighter than it has been, in order to prevent fraud or the perception of the strong possibility of fraud. Trust in elections must be restored.”
Trust is gone. Trust cannot be extended to unrepentant liars. It must be faced up to; large percentages of young leftist Americans support treason. Academia and the mass media are most responsible because politicians rely upon MSM propaganda for ‘cover and concealment’.
Orwell warned the leftists of his day that they were playing with fire.
I have no problem with Trump tooting his own horn. The word’s certainly not getting out via the Democrat Media!
@ Oldflyer > “Surely he understands that his record is his record and it is in plain sight.”
Selfy is correct. ” The word’s certainly not getting out via the Democrat Media!”
Note that the evening started with ALL the major networks declining to carry his speech. They do that kind of thing any time they choose.
See TR at 12:32 “They all had anchors describing it and various “experts” telling us what to think about it during their news programs — and, of course, the late-night variety shows made fun of it.”
They do the same thing with ALL of Trump’s accomplishment: ignore them; suppress news about them; lie about them; you name it.
No wonder the Democrat voters have no real clue what is going on in the world.
Trump talks about his accomplishments so that at least Conservatives know about them.
See the list in this post, in case you missed some:
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/the-list-wednesday-july-15-2026-c
For a good analysis of HOW the Democrats twist things when they don’t ignore them completely, see
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/trump-card-friday-july-17-2026-c
or my excerpt from that post on the Open Thread.
We had a conversation with my beloved leftist brother in LA last week. He was entirely unaware of the tens of thousands of votes dumped in the LA mayoral election after election day all for one candidate (a statistical impossibility). He’s not likely to believe anything the president said about elections unless he sees it on CNN or his local ABC/CBS/NBC news. He is not at all stupid; he simply watches “the news” and moves on to other things more interesting to him.
President Trump wants the SAFE Act passed. This is his latest attempt to get the attention of a few GOP Senators who, for whatever reason, won’t go along. It also lays some groundwork for him to take other action to secure elections, which may or may not survive challenges (see Glenn Reynolds’ Substack). The President would rather have the Act passed, so that even if the mid-terms result in a Dem House and Senate and they try to pass a bill to negate it, he can veto any such attempt and ensure that the Act remains in effect through the 2028 Presidential Election.
He will do something….
As to whether or not fraud occurred in 2020…. so far there is no “smoking gun” that everyone will accept, but there is IMO overwhelming circumstantial evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, that it did. Over half the country agrees, so the harm is done and needs to be addressed, whether actual or perceived.
Our hostess said (my comments behind *’s
– Voting should all occur on the same day, or at the most a very short number of days such as a week.
* I concur, I do like having the ability to vote in advance. The process I see at my Northshore MA town for this looks quite secure. You are challenged by folks at the desk to provide name and address. You then are provided the optically scanned (basically paper ballot with fill in bubbles or connect the lines) which you fill out and place in an opaque envelope that you seal. You are again challenged, your name marked voted on the list that will be used on the day of voting (so you can’t vote twice) and tape that can not be opened without damage placed across seal and is signed by the officials across the tape. It is then placed in a receptacle with two locks. This receptacle is opend on voting day and votes are run through and checked against the lists before the polls open. This seems sufficiently secure and does permit for those who MUST work to vote without difficulty.
– To register to vote, a person must prove citizenship. There are many ways to do that, and there needs to be special consideration for people who lack birth certificates for bona fide reasons. After that initial proof of citizenship, regular ID would do.
* At present there are Real ID which require proof of residence and proof of citizenship to attain (mostly as driver’s licenses) make attaining a non driving one of these free of cost, even perhaps provide a traveling system to provide them. If the address on the ID does not match that on the voter rolls require additional documentation at the polls or take the vote as provisional. Similarly votes without the accepted ID can be verified at the poll via additional documents provided, or cast provisionally (only to be used If the number of provisional votes could affect the outcome, though kept as part of the record)
– Computer voting needs to end. Paper ballots are preferable although not perfect.
* I concur. The problem is that the vote is opaque to the voter. You punch the touch screen and then register the vote. You are given perhaps a piece of paper with a checksum or similar (QR code). But as the voter once you have the machine count the vote it is gone. There is NO trail to chase and no way to verify the vote other than to treat the output of the machine as gospel. An optically scanned paper ballot allows quick counting on the day of the voting as well as a verifiable paper trail that can be human verified if a recount is needed, assuming proper rules are followed to maintain the chain of control.
– Ballot harvesting needs to be more limited as well.
* Ballot harvesting needs to be removed end of sentence. There can certainly be some effort to help the elderly or otherwise disabled GET to the polls. Picking up votes by potentially partisan and/or paid head hunters leaves far too much room for tomfoolery. The basic rule should be that you must present yourself IN PERSON before some set of officials to vote unless you are out of the country or forced to travel during the voting period. No unexcused mail in ballots, they’re fraud waiting to happen.
One thing I note is that as of 1/3/2021 once the Electoral votes were certified any attempt to fix the issue of the voting was moot. In fact the legislatures of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona should have looked long and hard at their process before submitting their electoral slates in December 2020. The state legislatures are the best and proper place to fight these battles, Courts have to use a far different standard of proof and move far too slowly for the brief period from Voting Day to the selection of the electoral slates for there to be time for the courts to act.
As a separate opinion, I think two additional measures would lessen the effect of fraud.
The first would likely require a constitutional amendment. I would like to see ALL states use an electoral vote allocation like that of Maine and Nebraska. That is, that each house of representative electoral vote in a state is awarded to the winner in that district, and the two senatorial votes are awarded winner-take-all by the state vote. This makes it MUCH harder for a single City like Philadelphia or Atlanta to throw the state one way or the other via clever manipulation. At most you throw 2 senatorial votes plus any districts you can manipulate and EACH district must be manipulated separately. This also should tend to allow Blue districts in Red states and Red districts in Blue states to feel their votes matter.
The second could be fixed by the House. At present the house is limited to 435 seats and has been since the early 20th century. This results in small states single seats being out of proportion to say a seat in LA or NYC. There is an option called the Wyoming rule (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Rule) where at each census when reapportioning you also add seats such that all sets represent at least N residents where N is the smallest Seat’s population (currently Wyoming).
This gets us closer to equal representation. One thing that might have to be tweaked (may need an amendment) is that for the representation to be proper, the count should likely only be based on actual enumerated citizens at the time of the census, rather than persons that can include alien residents and illegal aliens.
Likely NONE of that would go anywhere; the status quo works far too well for far too many in Congress.
Techno from The Reactionary just sent me an email: Declassified: Michigan Voter Fraud and Chinese Influence Ops
I have the free plan but looks like he might have this one up at site for all to view.
Dems have been cheating since at least JFK – anyway maybe that link will work.
Tregonsee314:
A Real ID is not considered proof of citizenship, but there’s something called an Enhanced Driver’s License that is.
After further thought thr speech didn’t seem to be a rally the troops speech, rather a this is going to happen speech.