America has a lot on its mind. Inflation is higher than Americans would like and the resulting prices continue to put a squeeze on household pocketbooks. The war in Iran is continuing, to the dismay of the American people (who still don’t have a clear answer as to our objectives there and when the conflict will end, let alone how much it will cost). Americans are worried about AI (in the medium term) and concerned about data center expansion making their utility bills higher (in the immediate term).

So a Presidential address to the nation in prime time (albeit in the summer) might be a great opportunity for a leader to meet the public’s mindset where they are, assuage their fears, and show how much he understands their pain. That definitely wasn’t the tone deaf address on Thursday night. His twenty five minute ramble resembled a stitching together of his Truth Social posts at 3AM, a reflection of his middle of the night fevered gripes and delusions, reminding all of us of his increasingly crazy uncle status on the political scene. He started by reminding us how everything was going so well (the economy, Iran, crime, taxes, drug prices). After patting himself on the back, he warned Americans that we will not be Great until our elections are ‘fixed’ – such an apropos double entendre. So elections became the primary topic that he aimed to make the center of our attention.

The President’s points are clear – elections are unsafe and vulnerable, China stole our election data, voter IDs must be required to vote, and the SAVE America act must be passed to ensure that only citizens vote. Here’s the thing – none of this is true. American elections are secure, audited, and on paper (98% of ballots in the US are on paper). This is more than can be said for Defense Department spending, that has never passed an audit. He complained that China has voter registration data – data that is readily available and public, to anyone willing to pay for it (like the Democrat or Republican Party – or perhaps he believe they stole it too!). He complained that this ‘interference’ was kept from him, yet he got an intelligence report on the topic on January 7th 2021 (perhaps he had a January 6th hangover and forgot – must not have been one of the documents he stored in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom). He says that voter ID must be required to vote – although he submitted a mail-in ballot for the primaries in Florida just this year and no copy of a voter ID was required, in a state that has passed its own SAVE act.

His final exhibition of Election Derangement Syndrome was his demand that the SAVE America Act be enacted. I wrote about this gawdawful bill back in February (“Kill the SAVE America Act“) and the only thing that has changed since then is how far its proponents will go to misrepresent what the bill actually says. It is not a voter ID bill, no matter how many times the President says it. The derangement attached to this bill is only equaled by the denial that fair elections can take place without voting for Republicans. The reality is that both the Republicans and Democrats that have been elected in the US have been elected under the same election regimes. Mail-in ballots (another one of the President’s pet peeves) have elected Republicans in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Utah (each mail-in only states). Registration systems are secure and ensure only eligible voters vote. Voters irregularities appear to be rampant for one set of voters – Republicans (as in Ohio, a Republican was found to have voted twice, through forgery, and is being prosecuted; other Trump aides are being investigated for voting irregularities; and Elon Musk has been referred for prosecution in Wisconsin for election bribery). The President can’t even get 50 votes from Republicans in the Senate to the vote for the bill – a televised rant won’t change that.

Perhaps he could have made a pitch for his Attorney General nominee and sweetheart deal author, Todd Blanche, to get through Senate confirmation – would likely have been a better use of his air time (although, he shouldn’t get through – but that can be discussed at another time).

And the national disgrace continues…