Newsweek35%
Trump Gives Presidential Address Today: What He’s Said About Rigged Elections 29%
By Sam Stevenson45%
7/16/2026, 11:59:24 AM
Topics: Donald Trump, Elections, US Politics, Presidential Addresses, Voting Rights, Election Security, Campaign Finance, Political Speeches
Keywords: Donald Trump, Trump, Donald Trump Speech, Trump Presidential Address Today, Trump Speech Today, Trump Rigged Elections, Trump Elections Speech, President, Midterm Elections, Midterms, Republicans, Trump Presidential Address July 16, Trump Rigged Elections Claims, Trump Election Integrity Speech, Trump Voting Machine Vulnerabilities, Trump Election Claims, Trump China Election Interference, Trump Save Act, Save America, Save America Act, Save Act, Voters, Election, Speech, Voting, Congress, Trump Election Security
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Hasty Generalization, Negativity Bias, and Politically Right Leaning Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 13.6% saturation with 150 hits. Analysis detected 908 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,101 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.4% and a BS Rank of 29% (11,755 of 16,550 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 71.00% of the article peer group.
President Donald Trump is set to deliver a primetime address to the nation on Thursday night, with elections expected to be at the center of his remarks after years of saying U.S. voting systems are vulnerable to fraud and foreign interference.
Trump is to address the nation at 9 p.m.
ET on Thursday in a speech expected to focus on elections, voting machine security and intelligence linked to the 2020 election, per reporting from multiple outlets.
As president, Trump has continued to argue that America's voting systems require stronger safeguards, while critics have warned that his claims risk undermining confidence in future elections.
The speech comes just months before the 2026 midterm elections, with Republicans defending their control of Congress and the administration increasing its focus on election policy.
Voters, election officials, lawmakers and political campaigns could all be affected if Trump unveils new election-related initiatives or presses Congress to pass tighter voting requirements.
"As usual, anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening.
The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek on Thursday.
Trump Has Long Argued Elections Are Not Secure
Heading into Thursday's address, Trump has made little secret of the message he wants to send.
Speaking this week, he said the speech would concern "free and fair elections" and described it as containing "really, really big news."
He added that "without free and fair elections, you don't have a country."
Those comments fit into a broader pattern stretching back years.
Trump has continued to question the circumstances surrounding his 2020 loss to Biden, repeatedly saying it was "rigged."
Speech Expected To Revisit 2020 Election Claims
Administration officials expect Trump to discuss newly declassified intelligence connected to investigations into U.S. elections and alleged voting-machine vulnerabilities, Reuters reported.
Trump has continued to cast doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. elections throughout 2026.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he revisited his claims about the 2020 contest, declaring that "people will soon be prosecuted for what they did."
Reuters later reported that he had referenced the issue more than 100 times during the first half of the year.
He returned to the subject in May, arguing that the results had been improperly counted.
"If we had Jesus Christ come down and count the votes, I would have won California," he said before adding: "But it's a rigged vote."
Ahead of the primetime address, Trump again questioned the integrity of the voting system.
In a Newsmax interview, he described American elections as "crooked" and "rigged" and called for changes to mail voting, saying: "We've gotta straighten [elections] out...
We've got to do something about the mail-in ballots."
The administration has spent more than a year reviewing election-related intelligence and examining voting systems, according to Reuters.
Trump also recently authorized acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to declassify documents connected to the 2020 election.
Numerous courts, audits and reviews have previously found no evidence of widespread fraud capable of altering the outcome of the 2020 election.
Focus on Voting Machines Likely
One of the clearest signals from White House officials has been that voting-machine security will feature prominently.
Trump has argued that electronic voting systems should be replaced.
In an August 2025 Truth Social post, he wrote that he wanted to eliminate "Highly 'Inaccurate,' Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES" and replace them with paper ballots.
In the same post, Trump argued paper ballots would leave "NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election."
Trump is expected to discuss what administration officials have described describe as voting-machine flaws that could permit foreign cyberintrusion, Reuters reported.
That issue has become a major focus of the administration's election agenda.
Earlier reviews commissioned by officials identified vulnerabilities that could require safeguards and software updates, though Reuters reported investigators found no evidence that systems had been hacked to alter election outcomes.
China Allegations Could Dominate Headlines
Another closely watched aspect of the speech is whether Trump unveils new claims involving China.
Trump is expected to discuss allegations that Beijing gained access to American voter data, according to CBS News, while Reuters reported the White House has considered releasing intelligence concerning China's ability or intention to interfere in U.S. elections.
Sources cited by Reuters said the intelligence under review does not show that China manipulated votes or changed election outcomes.
Earlier intelligence assessments concluded China did not interfere with election infrastructure or vote counting during the 2020 election, CBS News reported.
SAVE Act Could Be Trump's Next Step
Beyond revisiting past elections, Trump is also expected to focus on future ones.
Several reports have pointed to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, better known as the SAVE Act, as one of the most likely policy issues to feature in the speech.
The legislation would require documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
Last week, he said would not sign a historic bipartisan housing package "in protest" over the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE Act.
The bill has passed the House but has struggled to advance in the Senate, where it faces procedural hurdles.
On Friday, he wrote on Truth Social: "I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats."
He added: "The Act states, quite simply, that to Vote a person must show PHOTO VOTER I.D., PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP, AND THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE CROOKED, CORRUPT, & DESTABILIZING MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPTIONS for Military, Disabled, Illness, and Travel!).
THE SAVE AMERICA ACT'S non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!"
Earlier this year, he had already warned that he was prepared to withhold support from other legislation until Congress passed the measure, describing it as essential to election integrity.
In March, he told Republicans attending the party's annual retreat that passing the SAVE Act should be a priority.
Supporters say the legislation is needed to ensure only U.S. citizens participate in federal elections, while opponents argue it could create new hurdles for eligible voters.
*Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Yannick Demoustier.
*
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.