Not even Fox News buys Trump’s new lies, but they will be used to undermine the midterms.
Monitors display Donald Trump during a prime-time address to the nation in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
(Aaron Schwartz / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Surprisingly, there are some lies so outrageous that even Sean Hannity is reluctant to endorse them.
As expected, Donald Trump’s address to the nation on Thursday night was a farrago of nonsense promoting his conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump has been pushing this lie since the moment he lost that race, and, as his latest speech showed, even his victory in 2024 wasn’t enough to stop him from trying to rig American election laws to favor the Republican Party.
The speech was long on claims of shadowy conspiracies by China and the Deep State and short on actual evidence. While Trump presented China as the main threat, he also alluded to possible election hacks by North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela. None of these claims were credible.
In fact, the speech was so disgracefully packed with lies that even some of the president’s most loyal lapdogs decided to keep their distance from it. Before the speech, Republican officials were already leaking to Politico their concern that Trump was wasting his time rehashing conspiracy theories that appeal to the base rather than offering a positive economic message that would win over moderate voters in the midterms.
Fox News was even more cautious, as The New York Times reports:
Fox News, which paid $787 million to settle a defamation suit over false statements about the 2020 election, took a careful approach in covering Trump’s remarks. Sean Hannity, a Trump ally, said that the president’s claims were “pretty remarkable,” but was careful not to endorse Trump’s allegations. “I’m sure anybody that cares about truth will want to do a deep dive into all of this,” Hannity told viewers.
A Fox News correspondent, Aishah Hasnie, then stated bluntly on-air that the network “is not in a position to evaluate the accuracy of the president’s statements and claims at this time.”
The lukewarm response from flunkies like that is telling. They were right to want nothing to do with the speech.
Current Issue
Trump’s allegations added up to virtually nothing. One of the incendiary claims he made was that “raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, stated that Chinese activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden.” But as the Times notes, this “raw intelligence” stems from a tip sent to the FBI by someone with no direct knowledge of the claims being made (a “sub source,” in the lingo of law enforcement). Further, “more senior agents questioned whether the source, who was new, was getting good information or random, erroneous gossip.” One reason to be suspicious of this “sub source” was that they also claimed the Chinese government was operating underground military bases in the United States spreading Covid.
Reporters from outlets such as the Times and The Bulwark are doing the necessary but tedious work of fact-checking Trump’s lies. But the main objection to the speech was well made by Senator Mark Warner, who stated:
Trump’s shocking “bombshells” about China are totally bogus. The fact is our intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that China did not even try to change a single vote in the 2020 election. A single concurring opinion suggested China may have tried to sway voters’ opinions… but that’s been public knowledge since 2021.
Maverick Republican Representative Thomas Massie made a similar objection in more colorful terms, telling MS NOW: “I don’t think the problem is that our elections aren’t secure because we control the House, Senate, White House, and to some degree we control the Supreme Court. So I ask my Republican colleagues, why are you complaining about election fraud? We won all the damn elections!”
The speech is unlikely to convince anyone who is not already a MAGA diehard. Aside from the fact that Fox News was visibly trying to keep a distance, it was not carried live by ABC, NBC, or CNN. CNN’s Kaitlin Collins offered a perfectly rational explanation for not running the speech: “We’ll be monitoring what the president says tonight, as we always do, but aren’t taking it live, given the president has a well-documented history of saying blatantly false things about elections.” True to form, Trump ranted against two of these networks in the speech, threatening to revoke the licences of ABC and NBC.
But even though the speech was ridiculous, that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. He made his outlandish claims as a preemptive move to discredit the results of the midterms. As political scientist Norman Ornstein notes, Trump has ample means to subvert the election:
Trump is trying to lay the groundwork for seizing ballot boxes in key states and congressional districts based on false claims of foreign interference.
Beware of Trump declaring a national emergency and abusing the emergency powers. He has to overturn the legitimate election results. Remember, he also has the power under the telecommunications act of 1934 to seize control of electronic communications outlets.
Deploying military & Homeland Security are clearly dangers we need to face at voting precincts. Blue State governors, secretaries of state, mayors, Attorneys General need to be prepared for this, mobilizing national guards and state and local police to protect their sanctity.
Ornstein’s scenario is a dire one, but it must be taken seriously. The lies in Trump’s speech were clearly made with the intent to destroy faith in the electoral system. But as president, Trump has the power to do more than just make speeches: He can also try to use his executive authority, including his position as commander in chief, to intimidate voters. The coming midterms will, like the 2020 election itself, be a test of American democracy.
More from The Nation
Yet Democrats such as Haley Stevens, Angie Craig, Wesley Bell, and Greg Stanton are still voting for blank checks. Their primary rivals have something to say about that.
Trump’s attacks on Somali kindergarteners, immigrants, and the rule of law form a coherent authoritarian project. But voters and the courts are pushing back.
SNAP-Ed helped children in food-insecure Los Angeles neighborhoods grow fresh produce. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill cuts have ended the program that made those gardens possible.
ICE enforcement actions continue to separate families, disrupting lives and communities across the country.
