Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Trump's stolen election claim reflects a nervous outlook for midterms

Question for you: was Donald Trump's speech to the American people a classic case of muddying the waters?

For Trump, it was a relatively short speech, about 40 minutes, in which he claimed there had been Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election, that there were extreme vulnerabilities in the election system that need to be closed and that China obtained more than 200 million American voter registration records. He then released a trove of documents that he claims back up these allegations.

Now, the allegation that China interferes in the elections of Western liberal democracies is not new and, frankly, isn't even controversial. We know the Chinese do this. They've been doing it for years across multiple countries: the United States, Canada, Australia and even here in New Zealand. We've been subjected to interference as well.

The claim that China somehow involved itself in the 2020 presidential election is also neither new nor controversial. That allegation has been made before. The question then is: if none of this is new or controversial, why give a speech? Why set aside time to address the American people and revisit it all over again?

Whichever way you look at it, I think it's probably safe to assume it's because he's concerned about the midterm elections coming up later this year. He is either trying to rally support for the Save America Act, which would effectively return the United States to in-person voting with voter ID requirements, a system that would likely favour Republicans, or he's laying the groundwork for an excuse in the event Republicans perform poorly in the elections anyway.

Or it could be both.

And, given it's Trump, you can't rule out the possibility that he's going through this whole exercise so that, a few months from now, he can blame someone else, perhaps the Chinese, if Republicans underperform at the ballot box.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The question for you, was Donald Trump's speech to the

(00:01):
American people this afternoon a classic case of muddying the waters.
For Trump, it was a relatively short speech about forty minutes,
in which he claimed that there had been Chinese interference
in the twenty twenty presidential election, and that there were
extreme vulnerabilities in the election systems that need to be closed,
and that China took more than two hundred million American
voter registration files and then ere released a trove of

(00:22):
documents that he reckons and backs up these claims. Now,
the allegation that China interferes in the elections of Western
liberal democracies is not new. Frankly, it's not even controversial.
I mean, we know the Chinese do this. They've been
doing it for years now, across multiple countries, the US, Canada, Australia,
even ourselves, where even we've been interfered with as well.
The fact that China somehow involved itself in the twenty

(00:44):
twenty presidential election is also not new or controversial that
has been claimed before. The question, then, is if none
of the stuff is new or controversial, why has he
had a speech? Why has he set aside time for
a speech to the American people to talk about it
all over all over again. Now, Now, whichever way you look
at this, I think it's probably safe to assume it's
because he's worried about the midterms that are coming up

(01:05):
later this year. He is either trying to rally support
for the Save America Act that would basically return the
US to voting in person with ID, which definitely favors Republicans,
or he's preparing excuses for the eventuality that the Republicans
do badly in the elections anyway, and he has to
have an excuse there, right, Or it's both of the above,
And given it's Trump, you can't rule out the possibility

(01:26):
that he's going to be going through this whole charade,
possibly today, just so that in a few months time,
he can blame someone else, maybe the Chinese, for his
election loss. For more from Hither Duplicy Allen Drive, listen
live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.