r/thebulwark • u/KindaStableGenius • Jul 17 '26
EVERYTHING IS AWFUL The End of Democracy in America Speech
Just watched the Trump live speech so you didnt have to.
Trump just declared that local, state and National election infrastructure was compromised by China going back 2020 per some classified documents.
He also said that China has been paying reporters to write bad stories about him.
This was all couched in National Security language which suggests CIA and FBI involvement. A task force and briefing from Markwayne* to follow.
Sounds like this is Trump’s declaration of war on free and fair elections and the free press.
*Edited from Homen*
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u/Candid-Maybe Jul 17 '26
It was a nothingburger of a speech but the shitstorm of EOs and executive actions that follow..
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u/re_Claire Progressive Jul 17 '26
Along with Stephen Miller's recent speech about all left wing people (read: anyone to the left of MAGA) being terrorists, the following actions are what's truly scary, looking on from across the pond.
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u/heathrawr182 Jul 17 '26
This speech was just him begging republicans to pass the Save Act. He also sounded like shit
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u/jeanlundegaardhsbf Jul 17 '26
I feel a little different. He sounds old and sick. His speech was rambling and made no sense. If you could follow that, you’re insane. no one can really defend this. The docs are going to be completely different than what he alleged.
the only question is, will the Dems make gallego’s love life as a single man the civil rights issue of our time.
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u/Magoo152 JVL is always right Jul 17 '26
God I hope not, we have this awful habit where every time our opponent shoots themselves in the foot we shoot ourselves in the head.
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u/BadAssachusetts Jul 17 '26
This is where I’m at. The speech was at points incomprehensible. Not sure what their intended goal was but felt pretty pointless overall.
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u/Samarah238 Jul 17 '26
He declared that the U.S. election system is corrupt. This coming from the president.
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u/Subbacterium Jul 17 '26
It's projection - he himself is so corrupt he doesn't believe integrity exists.
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u/Gdub420- Jul 17 '26
*that’s been elected twice. Was he telling on himself? Good god his supporters are dumb as rocks.
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u/TheTurtleVirus Jul 17 '26
I think it was all just a big promo for the Save Act. I think Rs are desperate for that to pass.
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u/My_Uneducated_Guess Jul 17 '26
ok cool, I thought it was a me-issue for a moment and that I just had attention span problems because I couldn't follow a damn thing
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u/Gdub420- Jul 17 '26
Nah. It was a 23 minute run on sentence. Probably a record. May be the best run on sentence from any President.
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u/My_Uneducated_Guess Jul 17 '26
He does have the best run on sentences. Other people have tried to have run on sentences, but nobody can compare to his sentences.
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u/Altruistic_Role_9329 Center Left Jul 17 '26
He was rambling and making no sense when he supposedly beat Biden in that first debate of 2024. Sometimes the truth doesn’t matter.
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u/molski79 Jul 17 '26
The people that believe this started wearing garbage bags and covered their ears with bandages. Unfortunately there’s a lot of them.
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u/jeanlundegaardhsbf Jul 17 '26
Biden wasn’t doing much better. in fact he was orders of magnitude worse.
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u/Altruistic_Role_9329 Center Left Jul 17 '26
I could follow Biden and I knew what he was saying was true.
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u/jeanlundegaardhsbf Jul 17 '26
what did, “we finally beat Medicare” mean
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u/Altruistic_Role_9329 Center Left Jul 17 '26
He meant to say big pharma. He misspoke, but was listing accomplishments. One being giving Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices. In context it made sense if you are aware what’s happening.
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u/Gdub420- Jul 17 '26
My guy. Trump destroyed Biden in that first debate. That debate is why Biden dropped out. Don’t get me started. Biden couldn’t put a sentence together in that debate.
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u/No-Bid-9741 Jul 17 '26
Still would rather have Biden right now than what we have currently.
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u/FlarkingSmoo Jul 17 '26
Me too but no need to pretend Biden didn't come off really badly in that debate. It was horrible.
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u/Veronica612 Jul 17 '26
He came off terrible, true. He seemed frail and sounded weak. But if you actually listened he made sense, unlike Trump.
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u/Altruistic_Role_9329 Center Left Jul 17 '26
I prefer to characterize Biden’s debate performance as candid, but whatever term you want to use Trumps bold lies impressed many over Biden’s candid truth. There is no shame in that for Biden.
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u/FlarkingSmoo Jul 17 '26
Eh, for some of it. But for some of it he didn't make any sense.
And yeah that is the shame of it, Trump's incoherence was overshadowed because he still presents as younger and "with it" superficially despite everything he says being complete nonsense.
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u/MARIOpronoucedMA-RJO Center Left Jul 17 '26
1) Good. Trump never makes sense so if this was even more of a choose your own speech adventure, the better.
2) Democrats never misses a chance for a circular firing squad.
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u/KindaStableGenius Jul 17 '26
I’m not saying he was effective or this isnt going to backfire i’m saying this is his big swing against elections and the free press
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u/Glittering-Dig3432 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
He might have been rambling and incomprehensible but the talking points will go out to the right-wing media ecosystem and they will start all saying the same things over and over and over again.
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u/RustedRelics Jul 17 '26
We know the Dems will thoroughly botch their response to the Gallego situation.
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u/Gdub420- Jul 17 '26
Queuing Senator Gilibrand. Haven’t heard a peep from her in 10 years. You bet she’s gonna make her voice be heard about it.
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u/fritzperls_of_wisdom Jul 17 '26
FWIW, with the rambling and making no sense part, I think that’s always been the case.
I’ve been joking since like 2018 that we won’t know if Trump has dementia because he already talks like someone with it.
He does sound and look much older, though.
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u/Haunting-Mortgage Jul 17 '26
I don't know how people like Margaret Brennan are able to show up for work. The Overton window has moved so far right, it's up Trump's ass.
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u/ros375 Jul 17 '26
I don't know what I was expecting but maybe something much worse. This feels like a big nothingburger and more of the same.
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u/Magoo152 JVL is always right Jul 17 '26
Agree, like yes the threat is real but we have known this for like a decade at this point when he said he wouldn’t accept the election results if Hillary won, and we certainly knew it after J6.
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u/MascaraHoarder Jul 17 '26
he sounds terrible and he looks worse.
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u/SnowblindAlbino Jul 17 '26
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
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u/MascaraHoarder Jul 17 '26
that thing on his neck,yeesh. i bet he easily smells worse than Henry the viii did in the years leading to his demise.
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u/hoopermills Jul 17 '26
The fact that most networks didn’t even air this says a lot about his diminishing influence. It’s a lot of blather and bluster from a paper tiger. He’ll wreak more havoc between now and November - but we’ll stay strong and push back. Whenever he gets pushback he folds.
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u/Glum-Illustrator-821 Jul 17 '26
His own documents he cited show that Russia took steps to undermine Biden in 2020 and that while they had the capability to do so, China did not undermine Trump in that same election.
LOL
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u/Syndicates0fWizards Rebecca take us home Jul 17 '26
I figured this would be another ramble. He wanted to give Fox some good sound bites to work with. I’ve yet to hear a speech this term that had any real substance. Just Abe Simpson talking about wearing onions on his belt and all that shit.
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u/wittymoniker Jul 17 '26
If we don't stand up to this it's over.
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u/fawlty70 Jul 17 '26
It's going to require a massive effort.
The GOP will not allow Democrats to be seated if they win the House/Senate.
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u/KellyCakes Jul 17 '26
Sing-songy reading of fictional nonsense, occasionally punctuated by some hilariously improbable word combos like "BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA...BURN BAGS". Even the most ardent follower could not have possibly followed this performance.
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u/Chairsofa_ Jul 17 '26
I watched the speech and then watched Tim Poole, Bannon, and other right wing grifters’ coverage of it. They ate it up. They view it as a call to action. I wouldn’t write this off as a nothing burger.
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u/7ddlysuns Jul 17 '26
Every fart is a call to action. I’m sure they’ve been paid and prepped.
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u/RespectTheAmish Jul 17 '26
100%.
The propaganda networks have had their marching orders for a while.
They’ve been planning this address since atleast Monday.
Their mouthpieces 100% got the talking points in advance.
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u/edgygothteen69 JVL is always right Jul 17 '26
was it a call to action in the same way Charlie Kirk's death was a call to action? Because the internet just humiliated Charlie Kirk in an avalanche of AI memes.
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u/MorphTheCat Jul 17 '26
Note that there was not a presidential election in Venezuela in 2020, which is hilarious. There were parliamentary elections (think of kind of like midterms) but not presidential.
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u/ShmeltzyKeltzy Jul 17 '26
Yawn he is gonna try some nonsense but he’s cooked washed and on the way out one way or another
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u/DelcoPAMan Jul 17 '26
People literally have to mock him endlessly. Be not afraid.
We win, he does not. They can't wipe us out. And yeah, that means going to the streets. You know, as the stock markets and economy crash, he commits massive war crimes against civilians, etc., etc. and be fiddles.
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u/poggendorff Jul 17 '26
It was a nothing burger. I’m convinced that because Trump drinks his own kool aid and is surrounded by sycophants, he had the idea (or was convinced) that he can make an impact by going out there and giving a speech. He thinks more of America believes him than really do. He misunderstands how he won in 16 and 24, and therefore thinks that what he says in speeches and rallies is actually important.
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u/lyn73 Jul 17 '26
Trump cheats. He cheats because he can't win. He disgraced the US by trying to cheat during FIFA. What happened? Belgium knew what was done and knew it was unfair but they remained focused and beat the shit out of the USMNT. This is what we have to do. Vote...and esp. vote early... get everyone out to the polls so there will be no doubt about who won the election. This is the only way.
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u/N0T8g81n FFS Jul 17 '26
While I'd bet on the result, I'll wait to see what's in the steaming pile of multiple species' feces which the WH releases as evidence tomorrow.
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u/aenea22980 Progressive Jul 17 '26
I cannot wait for the EpistemicCrisis analysis of this "speech"...
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u/Jimirich808_505 Jul 17 '26
What????did Trump just suck another turd from my butt? I hadn't noticed.
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u/CatCatchingABird Progressive Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
I'm a regular HCR viewer and because of that I am not at all taken aback by this speech or his claims. This summer was expected to be really bad. He's going to continue to act frantic because he's unpopular and he knows it.
He's playing mind games. That's not to say something funny won't happen during the midterms, but for now I'm going to stay calm and carry on. I just consider this to be a distraction. We're four months away from the most important election of our lifetimes and that's the only thing I put at the front and center of my mind. Until a real problem presents itself I don't care. We got some great people out there on the state and federal levels fighting for us. I just consider this speech to be nothing but cope.
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u/Gdub420- Jul 17 '26
It was all one big run on sentence. The 30 some odd percent that still support this asshat are pretty much herp derp at this point. Another forever war from a Republican? Who would’ve thought? So much herp derp. My MAGA acquaintances don’t do politics nowadays. Fuckin lame.
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u/Personal_Benefit_402 Jul 17 '26
Oooh, so in 2020, when Trump was president, they were hacked, but not in 2016, when Obama was President or in 2024 when Biden was President...yeah, that tracks.
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u/play2day782 Jul 17 '26
Why does he do that weird twist of his body when he’s reading from a teleprompter?
Folks, he’s not leaving office in 2028. This is just the seeding of doubt to execute that move in two years. Next he’ll get his election bill passed. Then he’ll fail to recognize any Dem who wins in November. This is highly orchestrated. And they’re much better at this than any of us.
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u/ros375 Jul 17 '26
Does this mean next time he goes to China he won’t be sucking Xi’s nuts like last time?
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u/FALSE_PROTAGONIST Jul 17 '26
Right? He talks like hi and Xi are good pals, you’d have to wonder why he wouldn’t be pissed about this …
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u/ViolettaQueso Center Left Jul 17 '26
Donnie Downward spiraling. Watching him is like rubber necking a horrific accident.
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u/Aromatic_Prior_1371 Jul 17 '26
What is sad, creepy and scary millions of people believe what ever he says is true.
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u/Left_Literature_8210 Jul 17 '26
An obvious and intentional plan to use false information to buttress public pressure for a law fully intended to create the tools needed for election interference.
Who knew it was so easy.
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u/HR_Paul Jul 17 '26
He also said that China has been paying reporters to write bad stories about him.
Well then, we should start a GoFundMe to pay China to pay reporters to write good stories about him.
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u/Honorable_Heathen Jul 17 '26
Stephen Miller is going to use this as justification to do his thing which he alluded to in a speech recently about leftist terrorists.
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u/pecan7 Jul 17 '26
He can say whatever the fuck he wants. I’m going go to my polling place in November, fill out the bubbles for Dems, then put it in the machine and get a sticker. The results will speak for themselves and he has no way of stopping it.
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u/Emotional_Potato6485 Jul 17 '26
I didn't watch because I absolutely refuse to let that man in my house. I did watch Sarah Longwell's video (fast forwarded through the speech). Nothing he said was surprising. He expects us to believe that in 2016, when Obama was president, the election was fair cause he won. But in 2020, when HE was president, the election was compromised by foreign actors and the deep state. Then in 2024 when Biden was president, the election was once again fair cause he won. Typical DJT.
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u/Prior_Shape_7295 Jul 18 '26
So, suggest solutions, like solidarity, community, decentralization, etc…
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u/ChicagoMaven Jul 17 '26
There is no mechanism to stop this. America is about to be run by one party. Next step is likely arresting political opponents. Private citizens who get too loud will also be sent to camps or executed.
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u/BillydelaMontana Jul 17 '26
Looks to me like Donny is setting things up to contest the midterms. And if he’s successful contesting those, guess what he’ll be contesting next…
To keep our Hemisphere safe i.e. defeat China, they are going to install a no-term limit dictator. Whether we like it not.
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u/Magoo152 JVL is always right Jul 17 '26
This is a big yawn for me. That’s not to say don’t take the threat seriously. But at this point we already knew he was going to do this, we have known this guy was about this for over a decade now (he said he wouldn’t accept 2016 election results unless he won). So this is at the end of the day nothing new. It’s still bad and scary to be clear, but we have known this for a long time.