On the evening of July 16, President Donald Trump delivered a primetime television speech on election security—and the dangers of foreign interference. Specifically, he claimed that the country’s voting systems were vulnerable to being “rigged and stolen.”  

But he provided no new evidence of a single fraudulent vote cast in any election:

“For many years I’ve called for bold, swift and decisive action to protect the integrity of America’s elections. Every American deserves to know that, when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure.

“Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard. Tonight, I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.” 

Trump claimed he was declassifying Intelligence documents that included allegations of Chinese efforts to influence American elections, concerns over voting machine security, and that noncitizens are found on certain states’ voter rolls.

“Allegations”—accusations—are not evidence. And the United States has never accused China of tainting or deleting voter records.”

Donald Trump

“This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes and really exposes, like levels never thought possible, to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference.

“Just as disturbingly, this vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you, the American people — our beautiful, our great American people.”

Yet “vulnerabilities” are different than actual evidence of election interference. And Trump provided none.

As usual, no Trump speech is complete without a boast of his own greatness:

“in mid-2018, China was working to influence the results of the US midterm elections and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself. Separately, in mid-2019, the Chinese government’s strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the US president.

“They wanted to just make you sound like your president wasn’t so hot, when actually your president has done a great job.”

Toward the end of his speech, Trump gave his reason for giving it:

“But most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act. How easy is that to do, unless you want to cheat. 

“And hopefully there will be no corrupt mail-in ballots, which, if you watched California and so many other places, mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt. So, you would have no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military deployment, or travel if you’re going away on business or vacation.”

All 50 states allow mail-in voting (often referred to as absentee voting). However, the rules and requirements for who can access a mail-in ballot vary significantly by state. There’s no evidence of widespread fraud in mail balloting.

It’s important to remember that, for all Trump’s stated concerns about preserving election integrity, on July 9, he fired the three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission, which was created by Congress to help states administer secure elections. 

The House passed the Save Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act) but it does not have the support of all Republicans in the Senate. Thus, it has no chance of becoming law this year.

So why is Trump so fired up about the SAVE Act?  As Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW stated on the July 17 edition of The PBS Newshour:

“He’s very scared about what could happen if Democrats retake the House and retake the Senate. He has said as much on the record. If they take over, I will be investigated. And, quite frankly, there are reasons to investigate him and members of his administration.”

According to the Center for American Progress, a public policy research and advocacy organization, the SAVE Act would:

• Disenfranchise millions of now-eligible—and mostly Democratic—voters. 
• Require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation—in person—when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information.
• Require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship. 
• Force more than 140 million American citizens to pay for a passport.
• Force up to 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name to obtain a birth certificate matching their legal name.
• Require documentation to be presented in person would prevent Americans from registering to vote by mail.

• Requite voters to appear in person, with original documentation, to even simply update their voter registration information for a change of address or change in party affiliation.
• These restrictions would be especially hard for more than 60 million Americans living in rural areas. (Ironically, millions of Right-wing Trump supporters living in rural areas would also be affected.)
• Drivers licenses—including REAL IDs—and military or tribal IDs would not be sufficient forms of documentation to prove citizenship.

Despite the disastrous changes this legislation would inflict on American elections, leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives—specifically, Speaker Mike Johnson—has declared that passing the legislation is one of their top priorities this year.

So how did Donald Trump reward Chris Krebs, the man who prevented Russian interference in the 2020 Presidential election? 

Trump fired him.