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by MARK POWELL
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President Donald Trump claimed in a White House address on Thursday night (July 17, 2026) that the integrity of U.S. elections is at risk. And he pointed the finger of blame squarely at Beijing. He accused the Communist country of conducting what he called “the largest compromise of election data in history.”
And, Trump ominously added, “this data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare.”
The fact that he was even speaking on election integrity alone was controversial. ABC, CNN, and NBC all declined to carry the remarks, instead sticking with “Press Your Luck,” “The Source with Kaitlin Collins,” and “Surviving Earth,” respectively, as originally scheduled. CBS and MS Now started off carrying it, then cut away before it was finished.
Many Washington Republicans were openly jittery about the topic heading into the address. Louisiana Senator John Kennedy summed it up thusly: “If you’re asking me, when moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can’t, what are they mostly worried about? I would say cost of living.”
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But Trump plowed ahead with election integrity anyway. Speaking from the East Room, about 55 administration luminaries, from Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on down to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, made up the live audience.
He began his 25-minute talk on a note befitting a State of the Union address: a roundup of his administration’s successes. The military is strong, the stock market is up, and illegal border crossings are down.
Then he got down to brass tacks.
“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” he said.
Trump proceeded to recap his lingering grievances with the 2020 election (it’s worth noting he didn’t seem to have problems with the elections preceding and following it, both of which he won).
“Over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files,” Trump said. “That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data that would be needed to register to vote and engage in other nefarious activities.”
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As the president was speaking, the White House was posting declassified documents on its website that it claims substantiate Trumps assertions.
Chinese officials were also paying close attention to the allegations. A spokesperson for its embassy in Washington said, “China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the United States.”
Trump concluded by demanding that Congress enact what he considers essential legislation. “Congress must pass the SAVE America Act – how easy is that to do, unless you want to cheat. The only reason you wouldn’t do it is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad and your candidates are so pathetic that you can’t get away or can’t get elected any other way.”
Democrats were quick to dismiss both the message and the messenger. “He has no idea what he’s talking about . . . there is no basis in fact to almost anything he said,” New York Congressman Joseph Morelle told C-SPAN.
Republican reaction was generally supportive, though muted. The exception was the White House, which gave the big boss a full-throated pat on the back. As witnessed by communications director Stephen Cheung’s exuberant post-address tweet. “WHAT A SPEECH! We must secure our elections and stop foreign interference. Pass the SAVE AMERICA ACT!”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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2 comments
None of the released documents supported anything he said. This is just more of the Big Lie. The only election where foreign interference was found to have existed by a BIPARTISAN committed was 2016, where the Russians were found to have interfered to benefit Trump. Trump is trying to set up a basis to challenge the November elections because he thinks Republicans are going to see significant losses, and those losses will be because of his wildly unpopular policies and corruption.
He is clearly insane. In November he will have his goon army seizing ballot boxes. It’s going to get ugly.