How Donald Trump screwed up the “biggest speech” of his life

How Donald Trump screwed up the “biggest speech” of his life

Donald Trump wanted to present the alleged fraud in the US elections in a speech. But it only provided alleged inconsistencies. His claims and facts.

Fabian Reinbold, Washington / t-online

Donald Trump does not give up. This is the one message about which, after his 46-minute presentation, there is no doubt. The president recorded a speech in the White House and posted it on social media Wednesday afternoon (local time).

These are Trump’s most detailed statements since the election a month ago. This is once again his allegations of card counting fraud.

The President-in-Office of the United States begins with these words: “This is perhaps the most important speech I have ever given.” Trump calls the election a “total catastrophe”. It was “statistically impossible” that he lost and would only accept an “accurate election result”.

You can see excerpts from the speech in the video above or here.

The setbacks for Trump

The speech is his attempt to take the offensive again. On Tuesday, Justice Minister William Barr, who is always loyal to Trump, had to admit that he has not encountered any major fraud in the election so far. Previously, dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump’s private lawyer Rudy Giuliani had run out, and multiple recounts in various states had only confirmed rather than altered the results.

Does Trump now have something new to offer? No, when appearing behind the presidential desk, the electoral activist mainly repeats accusations that have been known for some time and at the same time unproven or even completely refuted on the course of the elections. His speech is permeated with distortions and falsehoods.

Three key statements in fact-checking:

Trump sagt …

… on the vote in Wisconsin: “And then at 3:42 in the morning there was this: it was a massive drop in votes. Especially for Biden. Almost everything for Biden. And to this day everyone is wondering where it came from. “

And the facts:

The “casting vote” has long since been clarified. At that moment, on election night, the postal vote count in the capital, Milwaukee, was stopped and reported. The electoral law did not allow the counting of votes until election day, which is why it took so long. Biden was leading in Milwaukee, as in other cities, and especially in the postal votes that Trump had advised his supporters not to cast for months.

Trump sagt …

… about Pennsylvania: «In the districts of Philadelphia and Alliegeny (to which the metropolis of Pittsburgh belongs, ed.), a large number of postal votes were illegally evaluated in secret, without the presence of our election observers. (…) You were thrown out of the building. “

And the facts:

Nowhere in Philadelphia have there been incidents where Republicans could not look at the tally, according to the AP news agency. The controversies mainly revolved around the question of how close they can get to election officials. The Earl of Philadelphia was broadcast live. In one court case, Trump’s lawyers had to admit that their side had observers in the room.

Are you interested in American politics? Washington correspondent Fabian Reinbold writes a newsletter about his work in the White House and his impressions of the United States under Donald Trump. Here you can subscribe for free to the “Post from Washington”, which will then end up in your inbox once a week.

Trump sagt …

… on Dominion’s voting software: “We have a very suspicious company. His name is Dominion. With the flick of a switch (…) you can push a button for Trump and the vote is up to Biden. (…) We must go back to paper. “

And the facts:

In the highly contested state of Georgia, the first manual recount of ballot papers produced a result very similar to that of the Dominion scanner. The company’s servers are in place in polling stations and not, as Trump claims, in Germany or Venezuela. Electoral security authorities in Trump’s own government had already made it clear in a joint statement: “There is no evidence that a voting system has canceled or lost or changed votes and has been compromised in any other way.”

Indeed, there have been occasional problems in the election, but there is still no evidence of Trump’s alleged fraud.

Trump has announced that he will no longer just ask for a recount, but rather a “forensic” examination of postal ballot envelopes to check signatures. He offered the prospect of a move to the Supreme Court. But Trump won’t be successful with this as long as he only warms up allegations that have long been refuted.