{"id":84986,"date":"2026-02-06T09:49:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/analysis-trump-obliterates-an-aides-efforts-to-downplay-his-comments-again\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:49:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:49:57","slug":"analysis-trump-obliterates-an-aides-efforts-to-downplay-his-comments-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/analysis-trump-obliterates-an-aides-efforts-to-downplay-his-comments-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Trump obliterates an aide\u2019s efforts to downplay his comments \u2013 again"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n At this point, when an aide or adviser to Donald Trump offers to translate something the president has said, you should probably assume they have no idea what they\u2019re talking about.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump on Tuesday laid waste to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt\u2019s efforts to pretend he didn\u2019t say something as controversial as he did. And this has become an altogether familiar exercise.\n <\/p>\n

\n The controversy du jour in the Trump administration right now is Trump having floated nationalizing elections<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Republicans should say, \u2018We want to take over,\u2019\u201d Trump told former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino in a podcast episode published Monday. \u201cWe should take over the voting, the voting in at least many \u2014 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n This is highly impractical, given the Constitution<\/a> gives the power to run elections to the states. But it\u2019s also provocative, in that this is the president who tried to overturn an election based on a volume of false voter fraud claims. Imagine that guy commandeering control of an election.\n <\/p>\n

\n So up stepped Leavitt to suggest that Trump hadn\u2019t actually said what he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n She claimed Trump was instead referring to Congress passing the SAVE Act<\/a>, a bill that aims to combat noncitizen voting in federal elections \u2013 something that is already illegal and that experts say rarely happens.\n <\/p>\n

\n That was nonsensical, of course. The SAVE Act would add federal requirements to register to vote, sure, but Trump was talking about taking over the voting in a specific number of places (15) \u2013 not passing a law that would apply to the whole country.\n <\/p>\n

\n And sure enough, Trump on Tuesday made clear that he meant what he said. Asked by CNN\u2019s Kaitlan Collins what he meant by nationalize the election, he made no mention of the SAVE Act and doubled down on the idea of the federal government asserting a more expansive form of control.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf a state can\u2019t run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it,\u201d Trump said, referring to congressional Republicans standing alongside him at an Oval Office signing ceremony.\n <\/p>\n

\n He pointed to purported \u201ccorruption on elections\u201d in Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta and said: \u201cIf they can\u2019t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t know why the federal government doesn\u2019t do them anyway,\u201d the president mused.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s the kind of contradiction that would be a scandal in any other administration. Trump\u2019s top spokesperson said he meant one thing, and that turned out not to be true. If nothing else, it\u2019s a huge mark against a spokesperson\u2019s credibility. After all, their job is to quite literally speak for the president.\n <\/p>\n

\n Except that this is largely par for the course. Trump has regularly contradicted his aides\u2019 and advisers\u2019 attempts to play translator:\n <\/p>\n

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