Tonight Trump addresses the nation, and credible reporting suggests he’s going to relitigate the 2020 election all over again — claiming he won, blaming China, Iran, and Russia for “interference.” I get why people are scared. There’s a real pattern of election interference concerns to point to: ICE potentially stationed at polling places to intimidate voters, DOJ pushing for voter rolls that Democratic-controlled states have rightfully refused to hand over, the Postal Service mail-in ballot scheme a federal judge already shot down, and the FBI raid that pulled 700 boxes of ballots out of Fulton County, Georgia. All of it documented, all of it legitimate cause for concern.
But I’m not feeling the fear tonight, and I lay out why. My prediction: this speech is going to be two hours of incoherent rambling with zero credible evidence and zero actionable follow-through. Maybe a toothless threats to “look into” the voting machines. Maybe blustery talk of tariffs on China that would only fuel inflation and guarantee Republicans get wiped out in the midterms.
I could be completely wrong and I hope not. I don’t expect any real declarations —just psychopathic noise. Once Donald loses the thread of the teleprompter, unscripted riffing that gets worse from there.
The tell that matters most: AP reporting says none of the major networks — including Fox News — have committed to airing this live. We may be looking at a C-SPAN-only address, which would be its own kind of statement. If the timing works, I’ll be streaming along with it and fact-checking in real time.
My advice for tonight: watch it, be concerned, be ready a real assault on democracy but take some deep breaths. Look for the comedy and the absurdity in it. If the real horror shows up, we’ll deal with it then — but I don’t think that’s what we’re getting.
