Trump’s “Truth” About Voting

Civil Discourse

It’s one of those days with so much going on that it was clear to me early in the day I needed to do a standalone post on the topic of Trump’s most recent attack on our elections to give that topic the focus it deserves. I hope you’ll share this post with friends and family – and whoever needs to hear it. A President telling lies to the American people, especially about something as important as the integrity of our elections, is intolerable.

Early this morning, Trump was on Truth Social. His post (he calls them “truths”) was yet another screed about voter fraud and ending mail-in voting – something that’s up to every state, and not the president.

Here’s the post (but you should feel free to skip it for now, we’ll discuss the salient points below):

I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly “Inaccurate,” Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election. We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED. WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Remember, the States are merely an “agent” for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do. With their HORRIBLE Radical Left policies, like Open Borders, Men Playing in Women’s Sports, Transgender and “WOKE” for everyone, and so much more, Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM. ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS. I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS. THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!! REMEMBER, WITHOUT FAIR AND HONEST ELECTIONS, AND STRONG AND POWERFUL BORDERS, YOU DON’T HAVE EVEN A SEMBLANCE OF A COUNTRY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!!! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Trump elaborated on the post Monday afternoon, saying the quiet part out loud:

“If you [end] mail in voting, you’re not gonna have many Democrats get elected,” 

he said in the Oval Office. Trump mumbles a bit as he’s making the comment, but the context is plain. He’s moving beyond his failed plan to rig the House with his midterm redistricting in Texas – now capably checkmated by Texas state legislators, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and other Democrats. Trump, who says that ending mail-in voting is “bigger” than redistricting, has a new plan to interfere with the 2026 election: Making it more difficult for fully eligible American citizens to vote.

For many election cycles, I woke up early, got my kids ready, and voted on the way into work, because it was difficult – and sometimes impossible – to get away during the workday. That was relatively easy for me, because everything was nearby, and the lines were short. Voting added 15 minutes max to the commute, and the kids loved going with us. For people with long commutes, limited mobility, reliance on public transportation, nontraditional work hours, or family care responsibilities, mail-in voting is essential to exercising their right to vote. And despite the myths spread by Trump and his allies, there is no evidence that mail-in voting is linked to fraud. Trump has been searching for that evidence since he stood up his “Election Integrity Commission” in 2017, which was supposed to find it but couldn’t, and was  forced to fold just months into its work.

Trump believes the best hope for his party to win, or at least not lose too badly in the midterm elections and beyond, is stripping Americans of their right to vote. He seems to be afraid of the outcome if Republicans have to run on his record – and their own records – because there’s no need to cheat if you’re confident you’ll win.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded to the post:

“Two facts: Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and vote by mail is safe, secure, and reliable. Let’s be clear – this is not based in fact or reality, but it is yet another way for Trump to silence Americans from using their voice in the democratic process and implement Jim Crow laws across America.”

Trump’s post is full of – I’ll be generous and call them – errors. Some of his other lines, beyond the lies about mail-in voting, include:

• His claim is that he will get rid of “Highly Inaccurate, Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES.” It’s ironic that he put this out there the same day Newsmax agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 million to settle their defamation lawsuit for lying about the machines. That settlement, of course, follows one agreed to by Fox News. Smartmatic also obtained  settlements from outlets that had falsely inflated its role in the 2020 election and claimed its machines were faulty. Trump continues to circulate these mythical claims, in what, at this point, can only be viewed as a deliberate effort to deceive Americans.

• Trump also endorses “accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper,” which is supposed to allow detection of tampering. States are free to use it if they want to. Trump could encourage that by making funding available to those who do. There is no suggestion he has, nor is there much to suggest it’s needed.

• Trump claims that “We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.” That’s not true. Countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland use mail in ballots, and there is no more suggestion of fraud there than there is here.

• Trump continues, “WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE.” I’m not going to even dignify this with a response. Trump lost dozens of cases making this claim after the 2020 election. Joe Biden Kamala Harris conceded the Democrats’ loss in 2024 and gave Trump a smooth transition to power.

• Trump claims he will sign an executive order to this effect (he hasn’t yet) because “the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY.” That’s another wild and false claim. Congress sets the date and the time for national elections, but all other matters are reserved to the states, and each state runs its own elections with its own rules. If that wasn’t clear to Trump previously, it should be now. In June, a judge blocked the part of Trump’s March executive order that sought to stop states from counting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but arrived afterward. The judge emphasized that presidents can’t impose their views about how to conduct elections on the states.

• Trump tries to argue that Democrats can’t win because of policy positions he doesn’t like. But isn’t that the whole point of having an election? We let the voters decide; that’s the essence of democracy.

It’s nauseating. Trump voters should be offended, although I’ve seen few signs of this, that he would tell such blatant lies and expect them to stomach them. The hypocrisy of Trump claiming that only free and fair elections guarantee democracy can’t be lost on elected Republicans, even if they refuse to publicly acknowledge it.

Trump conflated policy choices with the right to vote. Voters choose their elected officials—and the policies they want them to pursue—through free and fair elections, where each of us has the right to vote. It’s up to Republicans to compete for those votes in the marketplace of ideas. Trump doesn’t get to dictate the outcome of our elections. But Trump wants to be a dictator—that’s abundantly clear in this post.

It is true that Democrats will oppose ending mail-in voting, as Trump has predicted. That’s because Democrats believe that who you vote for is a political choice. But your ability to vote, your right to vote, is a fundamental part of being an American. Having mail-in voting makes that easier for some people, including a lot of older people who tend to vote Republican. Trump and his wife, Melania, have notoriously voted by mail in the past.

Trump always returns to his fantastical myth of voter fraud, which doesn’t exist, in moments of stress. It’s the fairytale he tells the kids when he wants to distract them. Was it the embarrassing meeting with Putin, for whom he literally had American service members roll out a red carpet on their hands and knees? Or is he still worried about Jeffrey Epstein, with that matter heating up again this week? Trump seems stressed, but the lies are dangerous.

We know from his earlier executive order on voting, the SAVE Act, and the whole redistricting scam in Texas that Trump is worried that his presidency cannot carry a free and fair election for his party. As I’ve written to you before, there will be elections in 2026 and beyond, but it will likely become harder for us to exercise this fundamental right. We will have to fight to register to vote, to stay registered, to cast our ballots, and to make sure they get counted. We must do that because it matters. We should not have to, but this is our fight for democracy. And Trump has made it clear it’s time for us to get to work.

Our democracy depends on truth. When disinformation is spread deliberately by a president and permitted to take hold, Civil Discourse is about cutting through the noise and explaining what’s really happening, in plain language. If you value clear, fact-based analysis in an era of intentional distortions, I hope you’ll subscribe and support my work, so it remains available for everyone.

We’re in this together,