President Donald Trump promoted his upcoming speech — which continues his lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him — since the beginning of the week. Journalists anticipated it by describing it as a “trap” and, reportedly, even many White House insiders reportedly opposed the address.
Read more ‘I didn’t hear anything shocking’: Expert derails Trump’s central claim
Now that the speech was delivered, conservatives are joining liberals in roundly mocking it.
“This affordability speech will turn it around for the Republicans,” Rick Wilson, the Republican co-founder of the anti-Trump GOP group The Lincoln Project, sarcastically posted on X, referring to how Trump’s speech focused on his disproved claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Another conservative commentator, Jim Hanson, wrote that “ProTip: When this guy’s cakehole is openCake is going in and BS is spewing out.”
Sarah Longwell, a polling expert for the conservative site The Bulwark, posted that “Trump is really terrified that Democrats might have some oversight after the 2026 election, so he preemptively working to delegitimize America’s elections. That’s all this speech was. Undermining American elections. Outrageous.”
Liberals joined in the mockery. Dean Withers, a popular left-wing commentator who is particularly liked among young people, ridiculed Trump’s claim that influencers who oppose him do so because they are paid by China.
“its time to be honest, i hate trump because im paid by china,” Withers wrote. “I promise it’s not because hes a rapist or anything.”
Read more Misfire: Trumper accidentally snarls commissioners’ own election data
Meanwhile Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) appeared on MS NOW with Jen Psaki to denounce Trump’s speech.
“What I’m hearing — what I’m hearing is a president that’s flailing and failing,” Warner said. “His policies are roundly rejected by Americans, frankly, of all political stripes. And if we as Americans don’t push back and say no, we’re not going to have a free and fair election.”
He also described it as “disgraceful,” while Psaki pointed out the irrationality of Trump claiming that the elections were stolen in 2020 when he was in power and lost, but not in 2016 or 2024 when Democrats were in power and he won.
After losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Donald Trump refused to concede and instead launched an unprecedented campaign claiming the election was “stolen” through widespread fraud. Trump falsely alleged that mail-in voting enabled massive ballot fabrication and that voting machines were rigged, particularly in Democratic-led cities.
Election officials, courts, and Trump’s own Attorney General William Barr found no evidence supporting these claims. Despite dozens of lawsuits being dismissed—including by Trump-appointed judges—Trump continued pushing the narrative. He pressured state officials to overturn results and encouraged supporters to march on Washington on January 6, 2021, leading to a violent Capitol riot as Congress certified the election.
Maintaining the “Big Lie” throughout 2021 and beyond, Trump raised hundreds of millions from supporters while establishing himself as leader of a movement centered on the false stolen-election claim. These conspiracy theories inspired ongoing protests, lawsuits, and efforts to restrict voting access.
Read more Trump just made some wild claims about America’s election security
