Trump uses speech to repeat false claims about fraud in upcoming elections

US President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address on Tuesday night (24) to pressure Congress to move forward with a stalled proposal that, according to him, faces widespread electoral fraud — allegations repeated several times by Trump and already repeatedly denied.

In front of parliamentarians and an audience of millions of Americans, Trump directly called for the approval of the project known as the Save America Act. The proposal requires citizens to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, creates a national photo ID requirement to vote, and gives the Department of Homeland Security access to states’ voter rolls.

When defending the measure, Trump once again stated, without evidence, that US elections are full of fraud and accused Democrats of manipulating elections to impose an agenda rejected by voters.

“They want to cheat,” Trump said about the Democrats, reinforcing a speech that has been consolidating itself as the central axis of his message for the midterm elections. “They cheated. And their politics are so bad that the only way to win is to cheat.”

Although these allegations are recurring, Trump and conservatives aligned with the MAGA movement have in the last month intensified pressure on Republicans in Congress to pass a stricter national voter identification law before the elections.

Faced with the risk of significant losses in the election, Republicans are seeking to approve voting restrictions or, alternatively, use the coming months to accuse Democrats of opposing the measures, casting doubt on the result if the opposition wins.

In the speech, Trump also defended the end of voting by mail, “except in cases of illness, disability, military service or travel.”

The SAVE America Act, passed by the House this month almost entirely on a party-line vote, does not include these limitations. The project is stalled in the Senate, where practically unanimous Democratic opposition prevents the proposal from surpassing the 60-vote threshold necessary to end the regulatory obstruction.

With the support of high-profile allies, such as billionaire Elon Musk and rapper Nicki Minaj, Trump and a group of conservatives are putting pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to take the clash to the plenary. The strategy is to force a vote despite Democratic resistance or, at least, dedicate relevant time to publicly defending the proposal.

“We need to stop this, John,” Trump said, referring to Thune. According to him, the measure should be assessed “before anything else”.

Trump and the conservative group that supports the project have recently started to defend the so-called “talking filibuster”, a model in which opponents need to continually occupy the platform to prevent the approval of a proposal.

“We will have the Save America Act, in one form or another, after approval by Congress through the proper use of the filibuster or, at the very least, through a talking filibuster,” Trump wrote on social media last week.

Thune said he is considering alternatives to bring the bill to the floor and said Republicans will discuss the possibility of resorting to the traditional filibuster model, which has not been required in the Senate for years.

The senator, however, has warned that this strategy could compromise the processing of other proposals in a year in which Republicans seek to demonstrate commitment to issues such as the cost of living.

Trump, who has shown contempt for Senate norms and rules, has downplayed these concerns. Republican allies have begun to openly argue that maintaining control of Congress in the November elections depends on the bill’s approval.

Democrats classify the proposal as excessively restrictive and say it could deprive millions of people of the right to vote due to lack of adequate documentation, in addition to discouraging other voters. Lawmakers particularly cite women whose birth certificates or passports do not reflect their married names, arguing that the requirements would be unduly onerous. They also point out possible impacts on legal immigrants and workers with limited access to documents.

Representative Joseph D. Morelle accused Trump of lying about election security to undermine the integrity of the midterm elections. “These lies are a desperate attempt to manipulate the elections and stay in power,” he said.

Trump has never abandoned his baseless claims of large-scale voter fraud, speech that helped fuel the violent invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by supporters trying to overturn his defeat in the previous presidential election.

The president resumed these statements before the November elections, amid polls that indicate disapproval of his leadership and a risk for Republicans in decisive races. He has focused attacks on the accusation, without evidence, that undocumented immigrants are seeking to vote for Democrats.

Even after repeated denials, Trump continues to claim that there is illegal voting on a large scale. During the 2024 campaign, when exploring fears about immigration, he accused Democrats without evidence of encouraging the illegal entry of immigrants to turn them into voters.

Republicans in the Chamber, aligned with the president, embraced the agenda. Last year, they passed the SAVE Act, a more restricted version that only required proof of citizenship on voter registration. This year, after moving forward with the broader proposal, they also articulated a second project that prohibits the universal sending of ballots by mail and vetoes the counting of votes after Election Day.