President Trump declared that China is interfering with U.S. elections during his highly-promoted primetime address. He rattled off a series of claims about the 2020 election and to drum up more buzz, he declassified a handful of documents that he argued proved his claims.
One of his goals is to pressure Senate Republicans to pass his voter ID bill, which has stalled.
But his speech didn’t land the way he wanted. NBC and ABC didn’t preempt their primetime programming to show it. CNN and MS NOW didn’t air it live and instead included in-studio analysis of the speech.
PBS’s Lisa Desjardins pointed out that many local papers have not even covered Trump’s primetime address, including in red, blue and purple regions.
And the documents didn’t show any new bombshell revelations. As The Hill’s Niall Stanage pointed out, “even as independent sources began digging into those documents, there were many questions about how fresh or compelling his claimed evidence actually was.”
Another sign this didn’t go how Trump planned: Democrats seemed thrilled about it. While they called “bulls---” on Trump’s claims, there was a gleeful feeling among Democrats that this will help them in the midterms.
“I understand the journalistic reasons why networks aren’t airing it, but from a political perspective I would like this speech beamed into the house of every voter in a battleground district,” former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer noted.
Plus, some Republicans have been quietly critical of the speech, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch and Helen Huiskes report. Trump’s first White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, even acknowledged the negative reactions from “the MAGA faithful.”
Read more: More takeaways from Trump’s speech
Related analysis in The New York Times: ‘A Trump Obsession That Carries a Cost for Democracy: In demanding steps to address the integrity of voting, President Trump persisted in relitigating his 2020 election defeat while finding ways to cast doubt on the 2026 outcome.’
Plus, via Tom Nichols in The Atlantic: ‘Trump Just Did More Damage to American Elections Than China: His speech was a mash-up of charges that aren’t supported by the documents he released.’
MULLIN FOLLOWED TRUMP’S LEAD:
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin just held a press conference to reiterate the president’s claims. 💻 Watch
He announced that he will make the Trump administration’s “security enhancements mandatory” for states, threatening to withhold grant money. He said states will also be required to “scrub” their voter registration lists. 🎥 Watch the clip
He called it “shameful” that ABC and NBC didn’t air the address. “What are they trying to cover up?” He argued Trump “wasn’t trying to relitigate” the 2020 election.
Here's the full report from Beitsch.
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