Trump knows he’s going to lose in November, so he’s rigging the system instead

At 3 p.m. this afternoon, Donald Trump was already seated in his high-backed leather chair in the Oval Office as the cameras focused in. The event was supposed to be about his new $700 million "clean coal" plan. Instead, he spent much of the afternoon insulting his fellow Americans and, in the process, explained how he intends to interfere with the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections. He may have revealed one of the greatest threats facing American democracy over the next five months.

Based on the events of 6-4-2026

The Breakdown:

• Trump appeared to fall asleep repeatedly during the event, his face noticeably swollen, his eyes heavy and deeply bagged
• He called Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner "a basket case" and compared Texas Senate candidate James Talarico to "Alfred E. Newman"
• He said Iran's Supreme Leader has "a very good reputation actually" and would be "honored" to meet him
• A coordinated push across the day on Truth Social and at the event: claims that California is "stealing the Vote" and that we have "the Most Dishonest Elections of any Country, anywhere in the World"
• The contradiction at the heart of it: if we have the most dishonest elections on earth, how did Trump win twice?
• "Rigged" has only ever meant one thing to Donald Trump: Trump lost
• The SAVE America Act package: photo ID, proof of citizenship, mail-in ballot restrictions, with unrelated transgender provisions bolted on
• Why the manufactured crisis and the pre-packaged solution arrived on the same day
• Buried in a tangent about Bill Pulte: Pulte "may find out some things about the rigged elections, etc., etc."
• Trump named Pulte acting Director of National Intelligence, in charge of the entire U.S. intelligence community
• Asked about Pulte's qualifications, Trump answered, "Well, I do, and I think he does actually because he's smart"
• Trump emphasized twice that Pulte would serve "in an acting capacity" through November
• How an acting director sidesteps Senate confirmation
• Pulte's track record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency: criminal referrals against Letitia James, Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, Fani Willis, and Fed Governor Lisa Cook
• Why an intelligence chief can manufacture documents, surface unverified reports, and selectively declassify to call an election into question
• Senator Mark Warner: Trump is making a "Nixonian effort" to make sure he doesn't get "another beating in 2026"
• Warner on Pulte: "Think about if you got the keys to all of the intelligence agencies"
• Why a person builds the machine to reject a loss before a single vote is counted: because they already know they are going to lose
• The SAVE America Act failed in the Senate today 48 to 50, with Collins, Murkowski, McConnell, and Tillis breaking from Trump again
• The Kennedy Center began ordering staff to remove Trump's name from the building less than a week after a federal judge ruled it had been added illegally

The machine Trump keeps building to stay in power is real, and we have to see it clearly for what it is. But we also need to remember that the man building it is far weaker than he wants us to believe. They count on our exhaustion. They count on us looking away. They count on us believing that because the outrage is constant, it somehow matters less. But it doesn't.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I'm Heather Telaney Reese, and you're listening to Hope for America, where every day I bring you the truth about our politics, our country, and the forces trying to destroy them. Together, we cut through the noise, expose the lies, and stay focused on what really matters, fighting for the survival of our country. At 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, Donald J. Trump was already seated in his high-backed leather chair in the Oval Office as the cameras focused in on him and the row of men standing shoulder to shoulder behind him. The event was supposed to be about his new $700 million plan for what he calls America's beautiful clean coal industry. Instead, he spent much of the afternoon insulting his fellow Americans and in the process explained how he intends to interfere with the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections. And in doing so, he may have revealed one of the greatest threats facing American democracy over the next five months. Within minutes of his event starting, he had already wandered through bizarre mockeries and complaints. He called Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate candidate from Maine, a basket case. He mocked James Tellerigo, the Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, by comparing him to Alfred E. Newman, the gap-toothed mascot from Mad Magazine. When speaking about Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah, he said that in some circles, he has a very good reputation, actually. Then added he would be honored to meet him and would be respectful. Then he drifted back into the old grievance loop, attacking Biden as never the sharpest guy, and bragging that his Wears Hunter shirt was once the number one shirt anywhere in the world. Almost nothing about the event unfolded the way he and his handlers must have imagined. As the cameras continued rolling, Trump repeatedly appeared to fall asleep and he slurred his words. His face looked noticeably swollen, his eyes heavy and deeply bad, and he seemed increasingly disconnected from the conversation and folding around him. The man who was supposed to be promoting a major energy initiative looked like he was struggling to make it through the next hour. But underneath the latest public spectacle coming out of the White House, something far more important was happening. Because here's the thing about this president. Even at his most incoherent, even when he is drifting off to sleep in front of the cameras and reaching for insults instead of answers, he tells us the truth about what he is planning. He always does. And that is exactly why we cannot afford to get bored or numb with his antics. We cannot let ourselves scroll past one more clip of him saying something outrageous and tell ourselves it doesn't matter, that it is just Trump being Trump or that it is just noise. Because it is not noise. Every single thing this man says is of the utmost importance because he is telling us out loud and on camera exactly what he intends to do. And yesterday afternoon, somewhere between mocking a Senate candidate and praising the Ayatollah, he told us how he plans to handle an election he already knows he's going to lose. He spent the entire day setting it up. Over the span of an hour and a half, earlier in the day, he posted, look what's happening in California. The Democrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the vote. I hope the Republicans are watching so that they can finally pass the Save America Act. He also posted, I believe we have the most dishonest elections of any country, anywhere in the world. And then later in the evening after the event, he posted again about California, writing that our election process is bad or worse than any third world country, and that they don't wait seven days to tell you who won, rigging the election during each and every one of them. And at the event itself, earlier in the day, he said much of the same thing, bragging about his own passelins by saying, They tried with me, they did it successfully the second time. The third time we made it too big to rig. He told the room to watch California, where he claimed it would take seven or eight days to count the votes. And where, in his words, the numbers are looking strange because without any vote counting, the numbers dropped very precipitously for two Republicans. He is betting his most loyal followers won't put two and two together. Because he says we have the most dishonest elections of any country anywhere in the world. The most is dishonest on earth, but he won twice. So either he won under the most dishonest election system in the world, which would make his own victories meaningless, or it is not true. Or I guess he does not actually believe a word of it. Because there's no version of this where the math works, because rigged has only ever meant one thing to Donald Trump. It means Trump lost. Every election he wins is clean and beautiful and historic. Every election he or his side loses is stolen. Because the complaints are never just complaints. They are a sales pitch. And he is pulling out all stops to get us to buy into his lies, including his obsession with the Save America Act. He posted a whole list again about it yesterday morning. All voters must show photo ID. All voters must show proof of citizenship. No mail in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel, and then bolted onto an election bill for no reason other than to rile people up. He wrote, No men and women's sports and no transgender mutilization surgeries for our children. It's all a joke to him. He recited the same list behind the big solid desk he was sitting at yesterday afternoon. And this is the part we have to notice. The manufacture crisis and the pre-packaged solution arrived on the same day within hours of each other because they are not two things, they are one thing. You declare the fire and then you sell the country the extinguisher you happen to be holding the whole time. This is the modern version of authoritarian propaganda. Simple solutions to complex problems. Or in Trump's case, many of the problems he talks about don't actually exist and are simply there to further radicalize his base. What made yesterday different, what genuinely concerned me though, was when he blurted out that he had started building the machine to overturn, interfere with, block, or challenge our next major elections in November. He said it while talking about appointing Bill Poulti as acting director of national intelligence, not the head of one agency, the head of the entire United States intelligence community. A reporter asked him a straightforward question. Given the pushback, even from Senate Republicans, why did he think Poulti was the best person for the job? And Trump did what he always does. He rambled, he praised Poulti's high integrity. He went on a long tangent about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack, and then buried right in the middle of all of that, he said Poulti may find out some things about the rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera. The president of the United States explained that the man he just put in charge of all of our intelligence agencies, or he plans to, is there to find out some things about the rigged elections. He didn't say that Poulti would protect our elections or help keep us safe from foreign threats, which is the actual job of the director of national intelligence. And then he told us the term twice. It's an acting position, he said. He was interviewing people right now, and Poulti was just someone to take over for a little while. And when he was asked a follow-up question about whether Poulti had the necessary national security experience to take on that position, Trump answered, Well, I do. And I think he does actually because he's smart. Then he compared Poulte to himself a lot of national security. I wasn't greatly experienced in national security, and I think I've done a really great job with it. In other words, when asked point blank whether the man has the qualifications to lead American intelligence, the president's answer was that qualifications do not really matter. Being loyal is enough. And that is the whole point. The job was never about intelligence. He told us what it was really about. Trump's plan to stay in power regardless of how we, the people, actually vote. And he was careful to emphasize that Poulte would serve in an acting capacity because an acting director can remain in that position through at least the end of this year, through November, through the midterm elections. The word temporary is not reassuring. If anything, it sounds closer to a confession. And that matters because it would likely be difficult, even with a Trump-backed Congress, to get someone like Poulti confirmed. But as an acting director, Trump doesn't need confirmation. He can place the least qualified but the most loyal person in charge of the nation's intelligence apparatus and still remain within the boundaries of the law. And if we want to know what find out some things looks like, when this particular man has the power to do it, we already know how far he will go to prove loyalty to Trump. At his last position running the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte sent the Justice Department criminal referrals against four Democrats who had investigated Trump. That's New York Attorney General Letisha James, former Congressman Eric Swalwell, the Senator Adam Schiff, Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis. He also referred Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. That is the skill he is known for: taking a position of power and turning it into a weaponization against the president's enemies. And now he has been handed the keys to every intelligence agency we have. Donald Trump has been screaming that elections are rigged for years. We have heard it a thousand times. What changed yesterday is the capacity of his propaganda. Because in intelligence, she can produce intelligence. He can manufacture a document, surface a raw and unverified report, declassify exactly what is useful, and bury the rest. And hand the president a piece of paper that looks official enough to call an election into question. And I'm not saying he will do any of those things, but he could. The distance between a sore loser and an actual attempt to overturn a result is the machinery that he is building. And yesterday we watched to put the last piece of that machinery into place. The false claims, the proposed law, and now the loyalist and the chair whose stated job is to find the proof. And I'm not the only one who saw it. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat in the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been sounding this alarm for months, warning of a coordinated effort to try to interfere in the 2026 midterms. He said we have a president that can't get over the fact that he lost in 2020 and now, in kind of a Nixonian effort, is going to try to do everything he can to make sure he doesn't get another beating in 2026. And on Pulti specifically, Warner said, if he's been able to manipulate and weaponize mortgage information, continuing with, think about if you got the keys to all of the intelligence agencies. Truff is building the excuse to reject a loss before a single mid-term vote has been counted. And there is really only one person, and there is only one reason a person builds that machinery ahead of time. You build it because you already know you are going to lose. This is the oldest authoritarian move there is. You do not wait for the election and then cry foul. You poison the well first. You tell people for months that the system is rigged so that when the results come and they are not what you wanted, half the country is already primed to believe the count was stolen. And then the remedy, the purges, the prosecutions, the claims that certain votes and certain people were illegal looks justified to the people who believe you. Warner reached for the word Nixonian, and he is right. But Nixon at least still felt he had to resign. What we are watching now is a man who has spent a year learning that there are no consequences, assembling the tools to make sure he never has to. Yesterday was a lot. There were over a dozen other atrocities I wanted to share with you. Some days are just like that now. And so I sat with all the stories and tried to bring the one that mattered most. And as I wrote all of this, it became even more real what we are up against. Because I don't want to keep having to share his reckless attacks or his endless sleeping or whatever he does, nodding off or long blinks, or how he was looking more ill by the day. I would rather be spending the evening with my husband and my daughters. But I know that this is what authoritarians want. They want us to feel hopeless and overwhelmed by the chaos and the cruelty. And I reminded myself that I write these every night and I read these the next day, every morning, so that there will come a day when we can live fully again, where this will be a memory of dark days and a lesson for future generations, a warning, if you will. That is why we have to keep calling it what it is, even if it feels like groundhog day. Because that is how they win. They count on our exhaustion, they count on us looking away, they count on us believing that because the outrage is constant, it somehow matters less, but it doesn't. And even on the days when it is hard to see a future without Trump's nonstop terror, we're already seeing glimmers of better days. It looks like the Save America Act that he spent all day demanding failed once again. In the Senate, yesterday afternoon, it went down 48 to 50. He could not even get a simple majority, let alone the 60 votes he would have needed. And the same for Republicans who have broken with him on this before broke with him again. That's Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, Tom Tillis, four members of his own party stood against it. And if that wasn't enough, the Kennedy Center began ordering its staff to remove Donald Trump's name from the building less than a week after a federal judge ruled it had been added there illegally. The judge wrote that it was crystal clear, the center was named for President Kennedy, the Congress named it, and that only Congress can change it. Trump put his name on the front of a national memorial on the banks of the Potomac, and a court told him no, and the name is coming back down. The machine Trump keeps building to stay in power is real, and we have to see it clearly for what it is. But we also need to remember that the man building it is far weaker than he wants us to believe. And that is why I still have hope for America and you should too. And remember, no matter how dark the days get, I will be here every single day, and together we will always find hope for America. I'll see you tomorrow.