Anyone who watched President Trump’s address on July 16 witnessed a desperate man who is trying to lie his way out of the failing situations he has made for himself.  I didn’t watch it, I read the transcript, annotated by CNN.  After claiming what a catastrophe he inherited and bragging – with a lot of lying – about all the spectacular things he had accomplished, including “winning big in Iran,” Trump finally focused on elections.  He claimed that fair and honest elections are a major challenge that must be urgently addressed.

Nothing he said, however, encouraged viewers to vote for Republicans in November.

I will skip over the details, but Trump offered no proof of actual election interference or of a single fraudulent vote cast in any election when he summarized his claims about elections as follows: “Hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files are in the hands of foreign governments. Our machines and ballot counting systems are exposed to hacking and manipulation and corruption. China and other countries have been trying to meddle in our elections. Evidence of fraud has been buried. Hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls.”

One obvious reason for Trump’s speech was to put pressure on Congress to pass his SAVE Act, which many believe is a voter suppression bill.  Critics have charged that he was making the case for federal involvement in the midterm elections.  I agree.

We all know that Trump will do anything to retain power and avoid accountability.  I don’t think this was the case on January 6, 2021, when he sent a mob to attack the Capitol.  Now, however, I am aware that hundreds of lawyers across the nation are using Trump’s speech and his Truth Social posts to prepare legal challenges to any federal attempts to take control of or interfere with state run elections – and I believe they will prevail in the courts.

I doubt that voters are focused on election interference right now with polls showing that their primary issue in the midterm elections is the cost of living.  Most Americans are struggling to put food on their tables and gas in their cars.  Trump’s Iran war is getting hot again, oil is back up over $90 per barrel, the average price of gas exceeds $4 per gallon and groceries will cost more as a result.  Trump’s plan to slap a 50% tariff on numerous imports from Canada will also hurt consumers.  What is he thinking?

Well, it certainly isn’t about helping his Republican colleagues retain control of Congress.

They desperately want Trump’s Iran war to end as quickly as possible because it has become the most unpopular war since polls began, according to a July 19 Economist article.  It reported that Trump’s decision to attack Iran has a net approval of -30%, and that the Vietnam war took six years to become as hated as the Iran war has in less than six months.

I loved what Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment think-tank said in the Economist article about Trump’s problems in extricating himself from Iran.  It reminded him of what Lyndon Johnson said about Vietnam: “I feel like a hitchhiker caught in a hailstorm on a Texas highway. I can’t run. I can’t hide. I can’t make it stop.”

An article on Politico Playbook’s email entitled Trump to Hill: I’m not that into you included a comment by “a person close to the president” to a Politico reporter that shows Trump’s mindset:  When asked about his engagement with Republicans on the Hill, the answer was, “Zero.”  Another White House staffer volunteered that Trump, “doesn’t care about anything beyond SAVE [Act], Iran, and the ballroom.”

This article noted that Republicans have very few accomplishments from Trump’s second term to tout with voters so they will follow his lead and claim that Democrats are communists.  Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the GOP conference chair, reportedly told Politico Playbook what she is going with: “We voted for capitalism; We voted to lower your taxes: every Democrat voted to raise your taxes, and they are crazy. They want communism. They hate this country. They hate what this country stands for. That’s crazy.”

Yet, how can Republicans successfully make this ludicrous case when it is Trump who is taking government ownership positions in U.S. corporations like Intel and U.S. Steel, thumbing his nose at court orders, weaponizing the Justice Department against his opponents and ignoring the rule of law?  Truth is, Donald Trump hates America and what it stands for.  He proved that on January 6 at the conclusion of his first term and with almost everything he has done during his second term. 

I believe that voters are becoming more aware of how Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress are harming them.  Trump’s Iran war and the economic damage it is causing can’t be ignored or explained away by his acolytes at Fox News.  While Americans are very concerned about pocketbook issues, they also highly value their right to vote and Trump is threatening it.

Yes, it will take many democracy-loving lawyers battling this tyrant in the courts, but we must support them by voting against Republicans in November and taking to the streets if necessary.  It won’t be easy, but I am confident that our democracy will prevail when this ordeal is over.