President Trump addresses the nation on election fraud.

By Todd Lassa

In his address to the nation Thursday night, President Trump released old evidence to once again express his anger and frustration from having lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. This was all to reinforce his argument that Congress should pass his SAVE America Act (it won’t without the Senate quashing the filibuster, and even then Trump doesn’t have enough Republican votes) with its requirements for government-issued photo identification and documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, to vote in the November midterms.

And then, when Congress fails to pass the SAVE Act, Trump will use the empty old evidence he presented Thursday to claim the midterms were stolen, if Democrats take the House and possibly the Senate.

Trump told Americans over nearly 30 minutes in his address that the Chinese government paid US journalists to write negative articles about him and that there were manufactured illegal ballots for Biden. The president also blamed the “deep state” for covering up such “voting irregularities.”

China wanted Trump to lose the 2020 election, the president said, “because they knew I was wise to them” and thus he has since charged the country “billions of dollars” in tariffs while building the world’s greatest military. 

Beijing Friday morning accused Trump of “unfounded defamation” in his remarks, the BBC reports.

“Trump quoted years-old intelligence committee reports, including some that had been declassified or partially redacted, without noting a distinction between what China may have planned versus what analysts say it did,” reports the Poynter Institutes’ Politifact.

In his address, Trump claims his administration’s investigations have identified 279,000 non-citizens on voter rolls, Votebeatreports, but election officials said they “weren’t sure how the number was arrived at.”

_______________________________________________

Burnham to PM – Minister of Parliament Andy Burnham took over as Labour Party leader from Kir Starmer Friday, on his way to taking over as the United Kingdom’s new prime minister, BBC reports. Burnham will become the seventh UK PM in 10 years Monday after Starmer meets King Charles to formally offer his resignation. Then the King meets Burnham and asks him to form a government. 

Both meetings typically take place at Buckingham Palace.

Once he accepts Charles’ request to form a government, Burham officially becomes PM. This typically is followed by a speech by the new PM at Number 10 Downing Street, according to the BBC.

•••

Nearly $4 Again – National average of a gallon of unleaded regular is $3.981 Thursday, AAA reports, up 3.8 cents over Wednesday and $1.179 over February 27. Diesel is back up over five bucks, to $5.058, which is 5.3 cents higher than Wednesday and $1.284 over late February. –TL