At 9:01 p.m., Donald J. Trump stood in the East Room of the White House and delivered one of the most dangerous speeches ever given by an American president. It was not because of a foreign attack or because the country faced some new national emergency. It was because Donald Trump is still obsessed with the election he lost in 2020, and he is already laying the groundwork to rig the next one, less than four months from now. For 25 minutes, he gripped the presidential seal and used the full authority of the presidency to tell Americans that their elections cannot be trusted, that the intelligence community has been lying to them for years, that China secretly compromised the system, that the media is part of the conspiracy, and that anyone who opposes his election bill "wants to cheat." This was not a speech about election security. It was a speech about convincing millions of Americans that they should distrust the results of the next election so that he can cling to power when Republicans lose.
In USA you have less than 4 months to make the mid terms so clean and believable that even the courts cannot question the results.
Have public meeting to help get everyone’s paperwork up to date and squeaky clean for verification to vote. Neighbour help neighbour and advertise help in supermarkets.
Trump and his acolytes are so dangerous because no one is telling the toddler with the lit match that he will burn the house down.
Gently blow out the match and take it away so he can be put to bed in a nice quiet old peoples home to rest and live the completion of his days surrounded by bags of gold that he can count.
Yes, do blow out the match, but then impeach him for his myriad high crimes and misdemeanors. Also take him to criminal court for his many crimes and put him in jail for the rest of his life so that he has a chance to face his own criminality before he dies. Not in a country club prison, either!
Heather, Trump's rambling speech is very worrying. Somehow he is planning to manipulate the voting process to ensure that Republicans win the November mid terms by all these wild accusations without any real evidence. It was on the BBC News today that, according to Trump, China had interfered in the 2020 election, despite your intelligence services saying the opposite. We know that Trump makes up these statements as he goes along, but the worrying thing is that a lot of people will believe him.
I've just bought a copy of Mary Trump's book about her uncle and the family dynamics. It is mind boggling in its detail and shows how the Donald's character has been formed by his upbringing. A very good read and I can recommend it.
I also read Mary Trump's book a few years ago and I thought how badly Mary's father has been treated. DT was given everything by their father and no matter how useless he was, his father bailed him out. Awful family. It is horribly fascinating and sad. It comes as no surprise how DT turned out. No conscience or Humanity.
I have read it, too. A very insightful look into Donnie's childhood - he was always the bully and learned that behavior from his father. There was no real love in that family and I give Mary much respect for turning out the way she did. She also suffered much abuse (not physical, mental) from her father, Freddie, Jr (Donnie's older brother - well, actually the entire family) who was alienated and passed over as heir to the Trump "empire" because he lacked the "toughness" (really meanness - sp?, and killer attitude), that Donnie had. It IS a good read.
I just don't know how you analyze, organize and present such a cogent article so quickly. This happened at 9 p.m. yesterday, and already you have a brilliant response.
You are quite amazing. Your brain is quite amazing. Thank you!
I confess that I cannot listen to him. Or to even say his name. When I do I feel cringey, as one does when death stalks. Thank you, Heather, for your constancy, for your courage, for your willingness to confront that horror day after day to the untold benefit of us all on the planet. Writing to you under wildfire skies, Run4YLife !
“….The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection….”
These were the words of George Washington in his Farewell Address in 1796.
This summer's going to be hot, long even crazier and downright ugly. Tonight, amid plummeting popularity and mounting desperation, standing before us at the bully pulpit behind the seal of that office he decided to pick up the world’s tiniest violin and proceeded to play his ‘poor me concerto’ that screeched off tune..
The whole point of that 25 minute-long exercise in political garbage wasn’t to repeat the usual lies, familiar inanities and demented ramblings of a desperate idiot about 2020. It was to frighten you right now, all of us to ensure we don’t vote, use our voice come this November, especially if you live in Georgia or any purple area, or even in a red state that the races are coming out even for those Congressional seats. To say it’s not worth your time and effort because going to foment that these elections aren’t secure. A shell game, take your eye off the pea as he shuffles those cups. Diversion from the unplanned absolutely utterly disaster of this Iran war, that everything we all buy has gone up in price that at this point many are using credit cards for groceries and paying interest on those already higher priced food items. Fuel steadily increasing and who knows what it will cost day to day because it fluctuates on an hourly rate. Utilities for that roof over our heads, well know my electric bill is going up and that gas bill not even going to bring it up. Healthcare costs well let’s just say those bills aren’t pretty.
In 2021, we all know the event, he had lowlifes and goons attack police officers and smear feces all over the walls of Congress. Several officers died. Hundreds were wounded. But the lowlife coup didn't work. They got pardoned for their work. This time, a uniformed, "official" coup is being planned. There will be staged attempts — however comical, however serious — to seize voting machines as soon as the terrible numbers start coming in on Election Day affirming the upcoming disaster for the Republican Party, which is now the MAGA cult.
But we have the winning cards. Poll watchers, poll workers and attorneys will be scattered all over the country to make sure laws are upheld. Immediate lawsuits will be filed should state laws be violated. Several states have already passed laws to the effect of 'if you screw with our voting processes or machines, we will arrest you, even should you wear the uniform of the National Guard, or Homeland Security.’
Other states need to get with the program. Stand in their way. Block the door. A Blue Tsunami is already arising. Your response to his terror, even your fear remains critically important. Donate, organize, volunteer to be a poll watcher or a poll worker. Be a witness, not a bystander. Democracy was never meant to be a spectator event. Remember that “too big to rig” remains the best, and really the only insurance against all of this. Eyes on the prize folks. Will any of us feel the fear, yes but that’s telling you that this is important and turn that fear into being your fierce self. Work towards victory, donate time, organize, if you have it donate the dollar to a campaign, when the time comes drive your neighbor to the voting poll. Leave nothing on the table — We need all the help we can get.
He may try to confiscate all our voices, our votes to silence us all… He cannot succeed … He shall not succeed…
“…The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes…”
Again, George Washington’s words in his Farewell Address..
We have to show up and not be intimidated, help our neighbors and causes to aid in fair elections, in spite of his/their intimidation tactics. And even after the voting, as you said, ALL Blue and Purple states WILL be challenged and any other states that turn blue.
He/They have ZERO intentions of leaving OUR White House no matter who holds the title, “POTUS,” and none of them legally holding the formerly admired and trusted “President” title.
Heather, thanks again for an excellent job of illuminating the depravity of Trump's insanity in such great detail. Whether or not it's dangerous will depend on whether he is believed. He presumes that will happen, that he has only to speak to influence the world accordingly, but of course he is crazy to begin with, and we the people are not. We shall soon see. His enablers are in a tough spot.
So a short while ago, he was in China, toadying up to Xi Jinping and NOW he’s accusing the Chinese of stealing votes from him? He rants on about the evils of communism yet sucks up to noted dictators Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, plus Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Abdel Fattah el Sisi, and former president Victor Orban, all while buying up huge blocks of shares in strategic industries (socialism, anyone?). As has been said many times before, he’s accusing everyone else of doing what he himself actually does. The hypocrisy is staggering.
I’d love to know that! I bet they hold him in deepest contempt—and l only wish there were some way he could be made aware of that in such a way that it could never be denied. Total humiliation.
Yes since he was just there extolling all of Zi's virtues and he lifted sanctions off of them now he's accusing them of tampering with our elections! If I was a businessman who does a lot of business with China I too would be pretty pissed. He's totally insane and has no idea what he's doing or saying...time for 25.
Trump's speech did three things. (1) It was a classic example if misdirection. "Look over there while I rob you blind over here." Pickpockets are expert at this. (2) His wild, unsubstantiated claims delegitimimize valid questions about the security of our elections. They make serious people with evidence based concerns seem like tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists. (3) The speech was typical Trump projection. Here he accuses his opponents and everyone else of doing the very thing he intends to do; corrupt and subvert the midterm elections.
Trump must corrupt the midterms to keep Republicans in control of the House and Senate to complete his authoritarian takeover and protect himself and his cronies. He has no moral limits and will do anything, legal or illegal, to achieve his goals. Expect the unexpected. Imagine the unimaginable.
There are two vectors Trump can use to corrupt the midterms. The first is voter suppression. This has received a lot of attention. It includes things like gerrymandering, purging voter rolls, banning mail-in ballots, reducing the number of early voting days, reducing polling places to make wait lines intolerably long etc. Many prominent election attorneys and public interest groups are fighting these in court and they receive a lot of press coverage.
But there is a second, more insidious method Trump may employ to corrupt the midterms. That is to manipulate the vote count. We use election software to scan ballots and tabulate votes. It can be written to flip votes in close votes in select races to favor the desired candidate. Few people other than those who write the code and computer security experts either understand or can detect its use. The only way to combat it is to either turn out in such overwhelming numbers to vote Democratic or to challenge improbable Republican wins by demanding recounts.
Election Truth Alliance and Smart Elections have been trying to expose the possibility that corrupt election software has been in play, but have received no attention from mainstream media and little attention elsewhere. Nor have any election authorities cooperated by investigating their election software or security protocols. Here us a compendium of election vulnerabilities Election Truth Alliance has compiled;
We know about all those court cases that were lost. Is someone going to tell him that it supposedly happened on his watch? What will be the response to all this rubbish by the mainstream media? I can’t wait!
In USA you have less than 4 months to make the mid terms so clean and believable that even the courts cannot question the results.
Have public meeting to help get everyone’s paperwork up to date and squeaky clean for verification to vote. Neighbour help neighbour and advertise help in supermarkets.
Trump and his acolytes are so dangerous because no one is telling the toddler with the lit match that he will burn the house down.
Gently blow out the match and take it away so he can be put to bed in a nice quiet old peoples home to rest and live the completion of his days surrounded by bags of gold that he can count.
Find ways of putting this man out to grass.
No, thank you!
Yes, do blow out the match, but then impeach him for his myriad high crimes and misdemeanors. Also take him to criminal court for his many crimes and put him in jail for the rest of his life so that he has a chance to face his own criminality before he dies. Not in a country club prison, either!
👏👏👏👏👏
You have the best ideas!
After counting his money he can count the blades of grass which he probably requested be spray painted gold.
trump DID a helluva GREAT job...
"Like no one else has ever seen before"...
In CONVINCING maga to NOT VOTE AT ALL!!
On the Other Hand...
WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED!!
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!!
AND WE WILL OVERWHELMINGLY...
VOTE 'EM ALL OUT!!
Heather, Trump's rambling speech is very worrying. Somehow he is planning to manipulate the voting process to ensure that Republicans win the November mid terms by all these wild accusations without any real evidence. It was on the BBC News today that, according to Trump, China had interfered in the 2020 election, despite your intelligence services saying the opposite. We know that Trump makes up these statements as he goes along, but the worrying thing is that a lot of people will believe him.
I've just bought a copy of Mary Trump's book about her uncle and the family dynamics. It is mind boggling in its detail and shows how the Donald's character has been formed by his upbringing. A very good read and I can recommend it.
I also read Mary Trump's book a few years ago and I thought how badly Mary's father has been treated. DT was given everything by their father and no matter how useless he was, his father bailed him out. Awful family. It is horribly fascinating and sad. It comes as no surprise how DT turned out. No conscience or Humanity.
His father also used to call Donny a “king”. That’s where he gets his behaviors from
Yes—I read it when it first came out. It is a very good book. I highly recommend giving it a read. Mary Trump is very wise.
I have read it, too. A very insightful look into Donnie's childhood - he was always the bully and learned that behavior from his father. There was no real love in that family and I give Mary much respect for turning out the way she did. She also suffered much abuse (not physical, mental) from her father, Freddie, Jr (Donnie's older brother - well, actually the entire family) who was alienated and passed over as heir to the Trump "empire" because he lacked the "toughness" (really meanness - sp?, and killer attitude), that Donnie had. It IS a good read.
I just don't know how you analyze, organize and present such a cogent article so quickly. This happened at 9 p.m. yesterday, and already you have a brilliant response.
You are quite amazing. Your brain is quite amazing. Thank you!
I confess that I cannot listen to him. Or to even say his name. When I do I feel cringey, as one does when death stalks. Thank you, Heather, for your constancy, for your courage, for your willingness to confront that horror day after day to the untold benefit of us all on the planet. Writing to you under wildfire skies, Run4YLife !
Thank you Heather for always getting the facts out.
Thank you Heather.
“….The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection….”
These were the words of George Washington in his Farewell Address in 1796.
This summer's going to be hot, long even crazier and downright ugly. Tonight, amid plummeting popularity and mounting desperation, standing before us at the bully pulpit behind the seal of that office he decided to pick up the world’s tiniest violin and proceeded to play his ‘poor me concerto’ that screeched off tune..
The whole point of that 25 minute-long exercise in political garbage wasn’t to repeat the usual lies, familiar inanities and demented ramblings of a desperate idiot about 2020. It was to frighten you right now, all of us to ensure we don’t vote, use our voice come this November, especially if you live in Georgia or any purple area, or even in a red state that the races are coming out even for those Congressional seats. To say it’s not worth your time and effort because going to foment that these elections aren’t secure. A shell game, take your eye off the pea as he shuffles those cups. Diversion from the unplanned absolutely utterly disaster of this Iran war, that everything we all buy has gone up in price that at this point many are using credit cards for groceries and paying interest on those already higher priced food items. Fuel steadily increasing and who knows what it will cost day to day because it fluctuates on an hourly rate. Utilities for that roof over our heads, well know my electric bill is going up and that gas bill not even going to bring it up. Healthcare costs well let’s just say those bills aren’t pretty.
In 2021, we all know the event, he had lowlifes and goons attack police officers and smear feces all over the walls of Congress. Several officers died. Hundreds were wounded. But the lowlife coup didn't work. They got pardoned for their work. This time, a uniformed, "official" coup is being planned. There will be staged attempts — however comical, however serious — to seize voting machines as soon as the terrible numbers start coming in on Election Day affirming the upcoming disaster for the Republican Party, which is now the MAGA cult.
But we have the winning cards. Poll watchers, poll workers and attorneys will be scattered all over the country to make sure laws are upheld. Immediate lawsuits will be filed should state laws be violated. Several states have already passed laws to the effect of 'if you screw with our voting processes or machines, we will arrest you, even should you wear the uniform of the National Guard, or Homeland Security.’
Other states need to get with the program. Stand in their way. Block the door. A Blue Tsunami is already arising. Your response to his terror, even your fear remains critically important. Donate, organize, volunteer to be a poll watcher or a poll worker. Be a witness, not a bystander. Democracy was never meant to be a spectator event. Remember that “too big to rig” remains the best, and really the only insurance against all of this. Eyes on the prize folks. Will any of us feel the fear, yes but that’s telling you that this is important and turn that fear into being your fierce self. Work towards victory, donate time, organize, if you have it donate the dollar to a campaign, when the time comes drive your neighbor to the voting poll. Leave nothing on the table — We need all the help we can get.
He may try to confiscate all our voices, our votes to silence us all… He cannot succeed … He shall not succeed…
“…The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes…”
Again, George Washington’s words in his Farewell Address..
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/george-washington-farewell-address-1796
Stay safe and healthy — Evil men need nothing more to accomplish their ends, than when good people should look on and do nothing..
Well said as always TJ.
We have to show up and not be intimidated, help our neighbors and causes to aid in fair elections, in spite of his/their intimidation tactics. And even after the voting, as you said, ALL Blue and Purple states WILL be challenged and any other states that turn blue.
He/They have ZERO intentions of leaving OUR White House no matter who holds the title, “POTUS,” and none of them legally holding the formerly admired and trusted “President” title.
Jan.6, 2021…TREASONOUS Insurrection!
Heather, thanks again for an excellent job of illuminating the depravity of Trump's insanity in such great detail. Whether or not it's dangerous will depend on whether he is believed. He presumes that will happen, that he has only to speak to influence the world accordingly, but of course he is crazy to begin with, and we the people are not. We shall soon see. His enablers are in a tough spot.
So a short while ago, he was in China, toadying up to Xi Jinping and NOW he’s accusing the Chinese of stealing votes from him? He rants on about the evils of communism yet sucks up to noted dictators Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, plus Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Abdel Fattah el Sisi, and former president Victor Orban, all while buying up huge blocks of shares in strategic industries (socialism, anyone?). As has been said many times before, he’s accusing everyone else of doing what he himself actually does. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Exactly! Wonder what the Chinese leaders think about this speech…
I’d love to know that! I bet they hold him in deepest contempt—and l only wish there were some way he could be made aware of that in such a way that it could never be denied. Total humiliation.
Yes since he was just there extolling all of Zi's virtues and he lifted sanctions off of them now he's accusing them of tampering with our elections! If I was a businessman who does a lot of business with China I too would be pretty pissed. He's totally insane and has no idea what he's doing or saying...time for 25.
25th ammendment, get him out NOW.
And the VP! And ALL of his useless and corrupt Cabinet!
And the congressional traitors and the “supreme” court Seditious Six.
thank you for your excellent reporting and always for your closing sentence-"I have hope for America and you should too"
This is a scared, desperate man.
At this point, why would anyone believe a garbled word that he says?
Unfortunately there are some who never learned to think for themselves and they believe he is a smart man. 🙄
Trump's speech did three things. (1) It was a classic example if misdirection. "Look over there while I rob you blind over here." Pickpockets are expert at this. (2) His wild, unsubstantiated claims delegitimimize valid questions about the security of our elections. They make serious people with evidence based concerns seem like tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists. (3) The speech was typical Trump projection. Here he accuses his opponents and everyone else of doing the very thing he intends to do; corrupt and subvert the midterm elections.
Trump must corrupt the midterms to keep Republicans in control of the House and Senate to complete his authoritarian takeover and protect himself and his cronies. He has no moral limits and will do anything, legal or illegal, to achieve his goals. Expect the unexpected. Imagine the unimaginable.
There are two vectors Trump can use to corrupt the midterms. The first is voter suppression. This has received a lot of attention. It includes things like gerrymandering, purging voter rolls, banning mail-in ballots, reducing the number of early voting days, reducing polling places to make wait lines intolerably long etc. Many prominent election attorneys and public interest groups are fighting these in court and they receive a lot of press coverage.
But there is a second, more insidious method Trump may employ to corrupt the midterms. That is to manipulate the vote count. We use election software to scan ballots and tabulate votes. It can be written to flip votes in close votes in select races to favor the desired candidate. Few people other than those who write the code and computer security experts either understand or can detect its use. The only way to combat it is to either turn out in such overwhelming numbers to vote Democratic or to challenge improbable Republican wins by demanding recounts.
Election Truth Alliance and Smart Elections have been trying to expose the possibility that corrupt election software has been in play, but have received no attention from mainstream media and little attention elsewhere. Nor have any election authorities cooperated by investigating their election software or security protocols. Here us a compendium of election vulnerabilities Election Truth Alliance has compiled;
https://electiontruthalliance.substack.com/p/election-security-threats-and-vulnerabilities?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=18auiy
We know about all those court cases that were lost. Is someone going to tell him that it supposedly happened on his watch? What will be the response to all this rubbish by the mainstream media? I can’t wait!
Only Trump can save America - Nay, verily Nay.
Only America can save Trump.
Do they want to?
No way!