U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner, which was rescheduled from April after it was interrupted when a man tried to force his way through security and fired a shotgun, at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 24, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump may have just laid down the tracks for one of his boldest election plots yet, according to one political analyst.
John Heilemann, an MS NOW political analyst, said on Sunday's broadcast of "Deadline: White House: Weekend" that Trump's recent national address about election security was an attempt to "lay down the tracks" for his next wave of lies about the election results.
"I think he's justtrying to lay down the trackson which he can make falseclaims in the future," Heilemann said. "Forhim, it's enough to have saidthose things publicly so thatwhen he does what he's going todo, whatever that turns out tobe in November, he can lookback and say, 'I told you so. Isaid, this was rigged. Youdidn't believe me. You didn'tlisten to me. But it was riggedthen, and it's rigged now ... This is an illegitimateelection. And here's what we'regoing to do going forward.'"
Heilemann noted that recent polling appears to back up his assertion. A recent poll from The Economist and YouGov found that 67% of Americans, including 77% of independent voters, thought Trump was trying to sow doubt about American elections during his national address rather than back up his claims of election interference with concrete facts.
"So,all of this is about pretext,not about persuasion, and notabout some kind of good faithattempt to govern," he added. "It'sabout ... laying the groundwork for what comes nextcomes next."