‘Whoopsie!’: Trump’s Moment in the Spotlight Comes Crashing Down in Real Time, and the One Thing He Thought Was Buried Is Now All Anyone Can Talk About
President Donald Trump stood on national TV, repeating his incessant falsehoods about “stolen” and “rigged” elections in 2020 and offering up to Americans what he called proof of the interference against him … except it wasn’t.
In his primetime address Thursday, Trump pointed to newly unclassified documents as evidence that China interfered in the election. Trump, for some reason, never mentioned that the information also shows Russia and its strongman dictator Vladimir Putin sought to influence the election results, too.
But the head-scratching part of all this, critics say, is that the documents reveal the interference targeted former President Joe Biden’s campaign, not Trump, and Biden won anyway.
Trump urged Americans to go to the White House website and see for themselves. Then he looked incredibly foolish when the site crashed, and the documents revealed what he was trying to hide.
CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter drew attention to the problem, writing on X, “The White House apparently did not adequately prepare its servers for the moment when Trump would encourage everyone to go to his website.”
According to CNN reporting, the documents do not prove Trump’s claims that any election was adversely affected and/or changed by fraud or foreign interference, including the 2020 presidential election.
Tommy Vietor, a staffer of former President Barack Obama and co-host of “Pod Save America,” also posted on X about the new information the president cited as proof of election interference.
“Trump released documents that confirm Russia tried to interfere in the 2020 election to hurt Biden. It says Russia tried to ‘orchestrate a high-profile corruption scandal’ and push narratives about ‘voter fraud resulting from mail-in balloting.’”
But Trump focused on China for some reason, not Russia, or the fact that Biden was the target.
In an unprecedented move on national TV, Trump tried again to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election, despite court rulings, recounts and audits repeatedly rejecting claims that widespread fraud changed the outcome.
His dubious address comes as he tries to convince Republican senators to pass an election-restriction measure ahead of the November midterms. Polls show Trump’s approval rating is in the toilet and that more Americans have a favorable view of Democrats than GOP lawmakers.
Opponents say the president is worried about losing his majority in Congress and will go to any length to prevent that.
Social media erupted in criticism over Trump and his administration, accusing them of “incompetence” and “lying.”
“My god – you have to wonder if anyone in the White House or administration even read the documents before releasing them – glorious incompetence on their part,” an X user noted.
Others pointed out, “They’re astonishingly bad at lying” and “Trump has to be the most incompetent criminal in human history.” Another jokingly stated, “Whoopsie! Or was it intentional?”
This Threads user proclaimed what was on millions of peoples’ minds, “Everything he is in contact with turns to sh-t.”
Threads user Rocket agreed, “And it’s all redacted. If it was real he’d want you to read it all. . He’s a pathetic liar.”
Lawmakers and Democratic leaders say Trump’s latest rant about the “stolen” and “rigged” 2020 election and the alleged proof amounts to “unsubstantiated conspiracy theories,” according to Newsweek.
They also point out that Trump, during his second term, has made major funding cuts to the government’s cybersecurity agency, a department that helps state and local officials identify election threats.