Air President Trump's Speech Live. Then Debate It.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:00)
Energy, it's more than a utility. It's what powers all life's moments and possibilities for generations to come. It's what helps build brighter futures for all. So no matter how the world and its energy needs change, Southern Company's commitment to meeting those needs stays the same. They're continuously looking forward, forecasting how to support communities and deliver clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy. And that means together, we're ready for what's next. Learn more at southerncompany.com.
Southern Company, building the future of energy.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:33)
Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. From roof repair to emergency plumbing and more, when you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at angi.com.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:49)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:53)
So put yourself in the position of one of the network affiliates or one of the cable outlets, a media platform that's in a position to deliver live programming. And it's last Thursday, and it's President Trump, and he says that he wants the nation's attention for a prime time address. Are you taking it live? Because that happened last Thursday. You had a sitting president asking for the nation's attention for the first time in memory, at least my memory. Most of the country's biggest broadcast and cable outlets said no. ABC, NBC, CNN, they declined to put President Trump's 22-minute, quote unquote, election integrity address on their main channels. CBS carried it, then they broke into a fact check. Fox News aired it in full with some kind of a disclaimer. By Friday morning, you had the president calling for ABC and NBC to lose their broadcast licenses. Why wasn't he saying the same thing about CNN? Because CNN doesn't have a broadcast license as a cable outlet. But these questions are colliding. Should networks air a presidential address they think might contain claims about elections or does refusing to air it prove the president's points to his supporters and deny the American people the opportunity to judge for themselves? And then separately, the easier call is, you know, whatever you might think of the network's call, is it acceptable for a president to threaten their licenses over? I think they made mistakes, but no. Their licenses should not be in jeopardy. The marketplace ought to sort this out. I assume that sophisticated listeners of the POTUS Channel know the particulars. It was last Thursday, it was 9 p.m., it was from the White House, all told it was 22 minutes, and it was billed as an address on election integrity ahead of the midterms. So the president opens with a victory lap that don't pertain to the midterms. He talked about the economy, he talked about the border, he talked about crime, then he pivoted to the elections. Many outlets, many observers, you know, reading it as a midterm campaign pitch cast as a policy address. The claims that he made included the following. He talked about declassified documents. He announced the release of documents that he says expose election vulnerabilities, foreign interference, fraud, one quote. No country can be great without fair and honest elections. Then he threw shade on China. He claimed that China obtained files on 220 million American voters during the 2020 cycle, quote, the largest compromise of election data in history. Although I noticed to bring this full forward to today, Monday, there's been no investigation launched of any Chinese meddling. Kind of made me wonder as I watched him deliver that speech, if he'd sent word to President Xi so as not to offend him. Hey, I'm going to make some, cast some aspersions on China, but don't sweat it. Voting machines, another of his targets, he called electronic voting systems terrible machines that are easily compromised, cited Intel assessments of vulnerabilities to Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. He also made an unclowned, unfounded claim that there were nearly 300,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote. Then he set his sights on Michigan, pointed to FBI files, alleging paid canvassers submitted forged 2020 voter registration applications for gift cards. And the ask that he made was the Save Act. Photo ID, documentary proof of citizenship, elimination of mail-in voting except for illness, disability, military service or travel. He called mail ballots inherently corrupt.
He offered no any evidence whatsoever that the 2020 vote total had been changed. The Arizona Secretary of State, Arizona being a focal part of a lot of what Trump has said, responded by saying, I have seen zero new facts, I have seen zero evidence.
Much of the compromised voter data that he referenced already is commercially or publicly available. In Wisconsin, election official Ann Jacobs, if they bought our voter data, that's public data.