{"id":7689,"date":"2026-07-16T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7689"},"modified":"2026-07-16T14:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:00:36","slug":"scared-s-tless-republicans-brace-for-trumps-primetime-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7689","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Scared s\u2013tless\u2019: Republicans brace for Trump\u2019s primetime speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/83\/cb\/e938ab6b489d9b3986f85be94078\/trump-29789.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump is promising to reveal \u201creally big news\u201d on election security. Many Republicans wish he wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>The president\u2019s speech, expected to be delivered in prime time Thursday from the White House, comes amid renewed hostilities with Iran, which are once again <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>driving up fuel prices<\/u><\/a> ahead of an election that most strategists still expect to turn on cost-of-living issues.<\/p>\n<p>But instead of touting the recent good news <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/inflation-fed-warsh-rates-iran-00995912\" target=\"_blank\"><u>on declining inflation<\/u><\/a> or hyping <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/2026\/07\/landmark-housing-affordability-bill-becomes-law-00993895\" target=\"_blank\"><u>the new housing law<\/u><\/a>, Trump plans to talk about 2020 and \u201cfree and fair elections,\u201d alarming some in the GOP who worry he will continue to make baseless claims or repeat debunked conspiracies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people I talk to are scared shitless,\u201d said a former Trump administration official, granted anonymity to speak candidly. \u201cIt\u2019s not scared shitless about the text of what he&#8217;s going to say, it\u2019s, what does he add to the text?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Republican operatives, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/11\/05\/donald-trump-affordability-2025-elections-james-blair-00637711\" target=\"_blank\"><u>including those in Trump\u2019s inner circle<\/u><\/a>, have pleaded for months for an unrelenting focus on the economy. And while the president has talked up his tax cuts and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/04\/trump-accounts-economy-00986998\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Trump Accounts<\/u><\/a> during campaign stops, his decision to use a rare prime time address to focus on election integrity is a missed opportunity, the former official said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the White House, they would prefer to be talking about economic conditions improving,\u201d the former official said. \u201cAnd any second of the day that\u2019s not spent talking about that right now I\u2019m sure frustrates many in the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he\u2019d reserve judgment until he heard what the president says but stressed that the economy is what\u2019s top of mind for most voters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re asking me, when moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can\u2019t, what are they mostly worried about? I would say cost of living,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I believe, but he\u2019s the president and he was elected by the people and he can talk about whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rehashing grievances about the 2020 race, which President Joe Biden won, could motivate the Republican base and help close a yawning enthusiasm gap between the two parties. Some of the president\u2019s most die-hard supporters have argued that core MAGA voters need to see movement on the president\u2019s 2024 campaign trail promises, like mass deportations and prosecuting voter fraud, or else they may stay home come November.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe election integrity revelations coming on Thursday and thereafter will be the exact tonic the MAGA grassroots base need to fire them up \u2014 to remind them of what they are really fighting for in these crucial November elections,\u201d said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.<\/p>\n<p>But that strategy does little in races where Republican victory relies on persuading more moderate voters, said Steve Cortes, a former Trump adviser.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of people in our base, as I do, who believe it was a grave injustice,\u201d Cortes said of the 2020 contest. \u201cBut I believe for the persuadable voters, the non-MAGA people, talking about an election from six years ago sounds like sour grapes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The White House hasn\u2019t previewed the announcement and press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on speculation that Trump would talk about the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs usual, anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening. The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, however, is fixated on the 2020 election, which he insists was stolen. And in Trump\u2019s telling, it\u2019s an ongoing plot. Trump over the last several weeks has accused Democrats of cheating <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/14\/us-news\/trump-rages-about-spencer-pratt-losing-los-angeles-mayoral-election\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Spencer Pratt<\/u><\/a> in the Los Angeles mayoral primary.<\/p>\n<p>He has used these allegations to press Republican lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, an election reforms bill that would require voter ID and documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, and is expected to do so again Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Senate doesn&#8217;t act on [the SAVE America Act], there&#8217;s going to be great disappointment. A lot of elections are going to be decided by very close margins,\u201d said Trump pollster John McLaughlin. \u201cIf the Republicans disappoint their base in a turnout election, it&#8217;ll be really bad for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senate Majority Leader John Thune maintains there are not the votes to pass it while some of his MAGA allies in the Senate, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/990852956911088\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.) <\/u><\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/03\/21\/mike-lee-save-america-act-00839127\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Mike Lee (Utah),<\/u><\/a> have pushed the upper chamber to deliver it for the president by ending the filibuster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no idea what the president will talk about tomorrow night, and nobody does because he hasn&#8217;t talked yet. Am I concerned about election integrity? Yes. Do I think that we should pass voter ID in this body? Yes, we should,\u201d said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). \u201cIf you go poll Missourians, \u2018Do you like voter ID or not?\u2019 you&#8217;re going to find it&#8217;s overwhelming. It&#8217;s like 80 percent of Missourians want voter ID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A POLITICO poll from May found that key provisions of the SAVE America Act <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/07\/poll-trump-save-america-act-voters-uncertain-00908224\" target=\"_blank\">are popular<\/a> among Americans overall. But that does little to allay concerns that Trump will veer into misinformation and personal grievance surrounding 2020 at a moment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/03\/16\/gop-trump-voter-fraud-messaging-midterms-00828317\" target=\"_blank\"><u>when most in the GOP<\/u><\/a> are eager to attack a slate of Democratic socialists who\u2019ve grabbed the mantle on the left.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans won Hispanics, swing voters, and young Americans in 2024 by exposing that extremism and offering a better alternative to open borders, the Green New Deal, and left-wing identity politics,\u201d said a GOP senate campaign official, granted anonymity to speak about intraparty dynamics. \u201cIf we spend our time looking in the rearview mirror instead of through the windshield, we\u2019ll drive our coalition right off a political cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thune said on Wednesday that he didn\u2019t know what Trump will say in his speech but that he also wants to look ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only thing I can tell you is we are focused on the 2026 election \u2014 at least I am and I think most of my colleagues are,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n<p>In one of his first acts as president in 2025, Trump pardoned Jan. 6 defendants who were jailed for their role in the riots at the U.S. Capitol and earlier this year he subpoenaed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/03\/09\/donald-trump-arizona-2020-elections-maricopa-subpoena-00819024\" target=\"_blank\"><u>2020 election records<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Democrats have asked Trump\u2019s administration nominees about the 2020 election, testing if they agree with the president\u2019s view that the race was stolen while it\u2019s treated as a litmus test among MAGA. Director of National Intelligence nominee Jay Clayton was asked several times by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday who won the 2020 election. Clayton responded, \u201cI\u2019m not going to do this with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn\u2019t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president\u2019s delusions? Ossoff said. \u201cWe know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question. Why can you not give it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump said on Tuesday the speech will \u201cconcern\u201d the subject of election machines and integrity. He called the announcement, without previewing it, \u201creally big news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur country has to shape up,\u201d the president said. \u201cWhat we&#8217;re going to be talking about Thursday, is, it doesn&#8217;t get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don&#8217;t have a country.\u201d<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump is promising to reveal \u201creally big news\u201d on election security. Many Republicans wish he wouldn\u2019t. The president\u2019s speech, expected to be delivered in prime time Thursday from the White House, comes amid renewed hostilities with Iran, which are once again driving up fuel prices ahead of an election that most strategists still&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/83\/cb\/e938ab6b489d9b3986f85be94078\/trump-29789.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}