On Thursday night, Donald Trump did it again, trashing another American tradition with his primetime address from the White House’s East Room about election integrity. Other presidents have used such speeches in times of national emergency, to announce major new policies designed to improve Americans’ lives or to honor American traditions.

His speech broke the mold. It was a declaration of war on US elections, delivered in Orwellian fashion in the name of protecting them. It offered his audience a chance to witness his obsession with the 2020 presidential election on full display, this time seemingly blessed by the trappings of America’s highest office. Trump’s White House address was also a reminder of just how much time and energy he and his administration have devoted to explaining away or denying his 2020 electoral defeat.

Amid foreboding allusions to the “deep state”, Trump put on what the New York Times’s Peter Baker called “an astonishing spectacle featuring a president intent on persuading the country that its elections cannot be trusted, at least not the ones where he or his allies fall short … [and] sensational claims about vulnerabilities of the election system”.

Trump did not just rehash history. He tried to prepare this country for what might unfold in the run-up to, and after, the 2026 midterms.

The president claimed that the “election system is so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it”, and he outlined a series of steps the federal government will take to protect elections from threats that are, in fact, nonexistent. As the New York Times notes: “No evidence has ever emerged showing that vote counts have been manipulated or corrupted … Among Mr. Trump’s false claims........

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