Trump never conceded the 2020 election. He claims to believe he won the race, which he lost fair and square to Joe Biden. By a lot.
But he continues to lie about that, claiming he won and the result was a fraud.
In a crowded field, it’s one of the most damaging things a world leader has ever attempted to do – casting doubt on the veracity of a free and fair election in the the world’s proudest democracy.
But because he does it so often, it’s kind of background noise at this point. You tell a lie often enough, etc etc.
Well, last night the US President found a way to ramp up this particular falsehood.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk has big plans to set up the Ministry of Truth and JD Vance accidentally mis-named a Senator by an ethnic stereotype.
Everything is fine, here’s what you need to know.
1. Trump, somehow, ramps up his lies about the 2020 election
Trump last night took to Truth Social demanding a Special Prosecutor be appointed to investigate how the 2020 election was stolen from him.
In the US, a Special Prosecutor is a lawyer appointed to investigate a case of suspected wrongdoing, when there are concerns about conflicts of interest – for example, if it is a claim of government corruption.
In his post, Trump claimed “Sleepy, Crooked Joe Biden” lost the 2020 election “by a LANDSLIDE!”
Biden won the 2020 election by 74 electoral college votes, and more than 7 million actual votes.
That’s 7 million people the current US President claims doesn’t exist. About the combined population of LA, Chicago and Boston combined.
“Biden was grossly incompetent,” he went on. “And the 2020 election was a total FRAUD! The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING?”
There is no evidence to back up the President’s claims, and the claims have repeatedly been laughed out of court. People have been successfully sued for defamation over the claims.
Trump added: “A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin! What this Crooked man, and his CORRUPT CRONIES, have done to our Country in 4 years, is grossly indescribable! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
2. ‘You are in danger’
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at Morristown airfield in New Jersey, Trump issued quite a startling warning.
Asked if he was concerned about Iran or its proxies launching terror attacks against the US, Trump said he was.
“You are even in danger talking to me right now,” he said.
“Do you know that? You are in danger talking to me right now. So I should probably get out of here. But you guys are actually in danger.”
3. A Nobel cause
Close Trump watchers will be aware that Trump is obsessed with getting a Nobel Peace Prize.
He hates that Barack Obama got one, and is convinced he deserves one.
Well, twice in the last 24 hours, he’s gone on a massive rant about why he should be given not one, but several.
He posted on Truth Social about a draft peace treaty Marco Rubio managed to get Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to agree to sign next week.
And maybe it’s because he’s still getting stick for considering joining Israel in strikes on Iran, but he seems somewhat bitter about being passed over for the award.
“This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World!” He wrote.
“I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for this, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia (A massive Ethiopian built dam, stupidly financed by the United States of America, substantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River), and I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing the Abraham Accords in the Middle East which, if all goes well, will be loaded to the brim with additional Countries signing on, and will unify the Middle East for the first time in “The Ages!”
“No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!”
Speaking to reporters in Jersey he gave a similar rant, claiming he should have been given the Nobel Prize “four or five times.”
4. No way Jose
JD Vance was asked about the California democrat Senator who was tackled to the floor by police last week for trying to ask a question at a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
In his reply, the Vice President referred to “Jose Padilla.”
The Senator, who is of Mexican heritage, is named Alex Padilla.
Asked why he had, presumably mistakenly, referred to Padilla – with whom Vance served in the Senate – by a stereotypically Mexican name, Vance’s Press Secretary said: “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.”
It’s also possible Vance spent a bit too much time at Ibiza’s Cafe Del Mar in the 00s and was thinking about the legendary late sundown DJ.
5. All hail the glorious leader
Regular readers will recall Tammy Bruce, the Press Secretary at the State Department, who has a habit of making particularly Pyongyang-style declarations of faith in the dear leader, punctuated by what can only be described as cartoon villain laughs.
Well, she’s at it again – urging journalists questioning Trump’s approach to Iran not to “second guess” the President.
Trump, she said, is “the most powerful leader in the world right now”, adding he “would likely know a little more about the nature of the situation than you, or I.”
She, chillingly, added: “I think it’s important not to second guess the President, and to not speculate and to not presume that what he’s doing is not in the process of peace.”
6. We have always been at war with Eastasia
Speaking of terrifying moments of authoritarianism, Elon Musk has a plan to re-write history.
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, hero Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents and newspapers so they match the tyrannical government’s constantly changing party line.
Fast forward to this morning, Musk vowed on Twitter to use the latest version of AI chatbot Grok to “rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.”
He said Grok, which X users can access directly within the app, would be “retrained” based on the “corrected” data.
AI systems are trained on huge sets of data – mostly from publicly available sources like books, newspaper articles and other sources on the internet.
ChatGPT, the main competitor for Musk’s Grok AI, is estimated to be trained on more than a trillion words of information.
Musk’s suggestion would be for his next model to be trained not on original historical sources, but on Grok’s revisions of them – with the erratic tech billionaire’s team stepping in to remove “errors”.
Musk posted: “Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data.”
As tension between the White House and Europe heats up, the Mirror has launched its very own US Politics WhatsApp community where you’ll get all the latest news from across the pond.
We’ll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in.
All you have to do to join is click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group.
We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
7. Now, watch this drive
Trump bitterly complained on Truth Social on Friday that Americans have it too easy, and there are too many federal holidays.
“Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,” he said on Juneteenth, a national holiday to mark the end of slavery in America.
“The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
So presumably he spent Friday with his nose to the grindstone, right?
Well, kind of. He flew mid afternoon to his Bedminster resort in New Jersey, where he hosted a MAGA fundraising dinner.
Presumably he’ll get a round or two in before he returns to the White House this evening.