President Donald Trump A much-hyped speech promising huge revelations about meddling in the 2020 elections failed to deliver. On Thursday night, the president made sweeping claims about Chinese meddling and cover-ups by the “deep state” and repeatedly dismissed false claims about non-citizen voting. He pointed to a document drop on the White House website as evidence, although there was no evidence in the files to back up his claims.

For Trump’s loyal army of followers, it didn’t matter. “This is a grand salute from President Trump,” election denier Patrick Byrne told school shooting conspiracy theorist Alex Jones moments after the speech ended, “bigger than if he released the JFK files.” (Byron failed to mention what the Trump administration did. Release the JFK files. Last year.)

Jones added during the broadcast: “The deep state is just throwing a brick.”

Conspiracy theorists claimed that the speech would provide grounds for Trump to invoke the Sedition Act. Allow the President to deploy the army for the elections in November Legal Capabilities of the Army Such a situation remains unclear.

Laura Logan, former CBS News reporter turned A star in the electoral denial community, Called Speech “An Account” and Written on X that it was “the opening salvo in a much larger plan.”

That plan, according to many election deniers, has already seen Trump push Congress to pass the anti-voting SAVE America Act, and, if that fails, demand even more powers.

“Trump has the optics to do whatever is necessary to secure the 2026 midterm elections, including invoking the Sedition Act to secure polling places with the military and federal law enforcement,” a member of the election denial group Sarasota Patriots wrote on Telegram.

Jacob Creech, “After Trump proves he’s exhausted every option before going the executive route, he’ll invoke the Sedition Act and save the Republic.” A popular conspiracy theorist Known as WarClandestine Online, written on X.

Wendy Rogers, Arizona state senator and leading election conspiracy theorist, shared Creech’s post, writing: “This is what’s called ‘predicting’ and it’s exactly what’s going to happen. You’re seeing it in real time.”

Michael Flynn, the notorious former national security adviser who has been at the center of the election denial movement, called for an immediate arrest, without offering any evidence beyond Trump’s words. “The directors of the CIA and NSA during their first term should be immediately charged with treason,” Flynn said. Written on X.

This is exactly what experts who closely monitor the election denial movement expect.

“Tonight the White House played a tired playbook: cherry-picked intelligence and a deluge of raw, discredited reports, dressed up as national security disclosures, to excuse illegal action,” said Alexandra Chandler, director of impact programs at the nonprofit Protect Democracy, who has worked in the intelligence community for 31 years. “This was not about 2020 or national security. This was about deploying foot soldiers who would be asked to deny the results of 2026 if they lost in November.”

Speech and Document release It faced the wrath of election officials and polling experts. “This is all nonsense,” Cisco Aguilar, Nevada’s secretary of state, wrote in an emailed statement to Wired. Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, a former House impeachment manager, said Zetio that Trump’s speech was “dismissive,” “intrusive” and “almost self-indulgent.”

But perhaps most of the condemnation has come from within the Trump administration. John Solomon, a conservative journalist known for challenging the narrative about Trump’s ties to Russia, was recently appointed to review documents inside the White House that the administration claimed were related to election meddling. (While Trump did not mention Russia’s role in election meddling in his speech, documents released by the White House referenced Russia. Assessment That Russia was the only country trying to interfere in the 2020 US election. Targeting (Former President Joe Biden.)