Different Day, Same Bullshit: Trump's Primetime Address Is an Act of Desperation to Rig the Election in His Favor

WASHINGTON, DC — Tonight, Donald Trump will commandeer primetime television for one purpose: to manufacture a pretext for rejecting the 2026 election results before a single vote is counted. His TV moment is an act of desperation from a president whose party is trying to rig the game so they never have to face scrutiny from the voters they have failed.

“What Americans will see tonight is desperation, plain and simple,” said Abhi Rahman, spokesperson for Try and Stop Us. “Trump and his party know they can't win a fair fight, so they're trying to rig the game before voters get the chance to hold them accountable. He's abusing his power and peddling lies to pocket billions of dollars while doing nothing to address his affordability crisis, and now he's using the biggest stage in the country to plant doubt about an election Republicans are going to lose. It's the same bullshit we've heard for years. Trump and Republicans are counting on voters to get discouraged and stay home this fall—but voting is safe, secure, and simple. Come November, Trump will be sorely disappointed.”

Tonight's speech is the latest move in a coordinated effort to put the White House in charge of who gets to vote:

Days ago, Trump fired or forced out all three remaining commissioners on the Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency that helps states run elections and certifies voting machines, after previously trying to order the commission to decertify voting machines used by states across the country.

This comes amidst an ongoing pressure campaign that even Republican officials are pushing back on. After the DOJ threatened Idaho's Republican secretary of state with criminal liability over noncitizen voting, the state attorney general's office fired back, telling the DOJ to stop its threats.

Their end game is no secret: a sweeping anti-voting bill that would block millions of eligible Americans from voting if it became law, with Trump's allies openly saying tomorrow's address is designed to make the pressure to pass it overwhelming.