Trump, in Muddled and Subdued Speech, Tries To Will Election Security Into Decisive Issue

With a prime time speech and reams of declassified documents, President Trump is doubling down on his push to make election security the deciding issue in November’s midterms. Yet as important as ballot integrity is, economic challenges loom far larger for Americans, and a president’s power to change what people vote on is limited.Standing in the East Room, Mr. Trump opened with the phrase “before we begin.” His main goal was to warn about election meddling by Communist China and others, but he spent the first fifth of his remarks committing that journalistic sin of burying the lead.Mr. Trump, whose Secret Service codename is Mogul, struck the pose of a chief executive reassuring jittery stockholders. He said America “is safer, stronger, and far wealthier than it has ever been before,” touting successes from drops in the inflation rate, prescription prices, and crime to stock markets highs and border security.“America is back and doing really well,” Mr. Trump said, “but we still have a major challenge.” This gave the impression that the president thinks there is but one problem left to conquer. He spent the balance of his speech advocating for “fair and honest elections” and passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.Mr. Trump pulled his punch by using Washington’s acronym, SAVE, rather than driving home just what the legislation does with the full name. He was subdued and monotonal. The lack of his usual bombast, combined with a raspy voice, failed to add urgency to an issue that Americans judge a low priority.For the past four months in Gallup, two percent of voters have listed “elections/election reform/democracy” as the most important non-economic problem facing this country. Were the SAVE Act on the verge of passing, it might justify spending political capital to elevate it in the public’s mind, but it’s not.Even if Congress were to send the SAVE Act to Mr. Trump for his signature today, a judge would be certain to enjoin it. There are only four months to meet the proof-of-citizenship requirement, which could be deemed an unnecessary burden. In any case, whatever flaws the system has, Mr. Trump won in 2024 as Republicans did in Congress. They can compete just as well now.To build support, Mr. Trump announced “the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.” He said the “evidence shows that the election system” is “dangerously” exposed “to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference.”WhiteHouse.gov crashed when Mr. Trump pointed his audience — smaller than he hoped as ABC, NBC, and CNN declined to carry the speech — to it for the documents. On the resurrected website, the “ensuring the integrity of our elections” link was rendered in a tiny font and was easy to miss. A pop-up later greeted visitors with links.Mr. Trump said he was “asking,” although it’s in his power to direct, government agencies including the Justice Department, FBI, and CIA “to investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden” about interference in the 2020 election and “to fire those involved in the cover-up and to file criminal charges if appropriate.”Investigations, as Mr. Trump well knows, often turn up nothing. The entire exercise gave the impression that he was trying to breathe new life into a six-year-old issue and turn it into one that swayed voters, while creating something to blame should Republicans face a wipeout in November.That elections are about the future not the past is an obvious statement, one that is repeated often in Washington since the self-evident often escapes their notice. On Wednesday, the Senate majority leader, John Thune, Republican of North Dakota, hewed to this wisdom when reporters asked if he would advise Mr. Trump against mentioning 2020.“The only thing I can tell you,” Mr. Thune said, “is we are focused on the 2026 election — at least I am, and I think most of my colleagues are.” Democrats, meanwhile, are locked in on making Mr. Trump a lame duck by sweeping the House and Senate. It’s not the president’s past but his future that’s on the line, and Thursday night’s act wasn’t one that will save it.

Trump, in Muddled and Subdued Speech, Tries To Will Election Security Into Decisive Issue

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