By Gordon Heslop
For over 5 years now President Trump has continually claimed that the 2020 election was rigged and that he won. He did not. Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential election. No Republican will come out and say it but the reality is that Donald Trump’s ego is too big to admit that he lost the election. And lost it to Joe Biden. His constant claims help to undermine our electoral system and need to stop. Most voters are not interested – they know he lost and they are focused on current issues related to their everyday life. President Trump needs to focus on everyday middle-class issues such as food costs being increased by his tariffs, gas prices, housing costs, medical coverage and other current issues.
Just repeating a claim hundreds of times does not make it true. There has been no verified proof of a rigged election. Claims that China has millions of names from the voter rolls prove nothing. Anyone can get them. This does not mean that China or its agents actually voted. No one is more opposed to the communist Chinese government than me and they likely have many other data bases on Americans but rigging an election requires more than just having lists.
Ironically, the two elections President Trump won were achieved under Democratic administrations and the one he lost was under his own administration. Furthermore, in 2020 in many of the toss up states, Republicans controlled the state government.
In reality, the biggest acts of interference in foreign elections have been carried out by Donald Trump himself. Foreign leaders are not supposed to interfere in the elections of other nations but Donald Trump has inserted himself into many elections since returning to power in January 2025.
- Maybe the most notable was his statement that if the party of President Milei of Argentina did not win the recent elections, the US would not make a planned loan to the country. He also eagerly endorsed Milei.
- He was very vocal in supporting Orban in Hungary and several members of his administration went to Hungary supporting Orban (who lost).
- He endorsed the candidate who won the recent election in Colombia.
- He endorsed the son of the former president of Brazil for the upcoming election.
- He supported the newly elected president of Peru,
- He supported the new president of Costa Rica.
- He endorsed the new president of Honduras and linked aid to his election
- He endorsed the new president of Chile.
- He supported the new president of Bolivia.
- He supported the re-election of the president of Ecuador.
- He continually insulted Canada, hoping for a change in government. It back fired when the new Liberal party leader won a bigger victory, becoming a majority government with the help of a couple of recent byelections.
- He endorsed the recently elected Prime Minister of Japan.
- His homeland security chief, Kristi Noem, visited Poland and endorsed the conservative candidate for president (who won).
- His favored candidate in Romania lost the presidential election.
- He has strongly praised Nigel Farage of Reform UK in Britain.
- He criticized a court ruling in France against Marine le Pen.
- D. Vance criticized some political rules in Germany.
In May, in a speech in Saudi Arabia, Trump denounced interventionism in the Middle East.
So, the record is quite clear, President Trump is a mega endorser in foreign elections.
We need a sea change. I implore President Trump to forget about the 2020 election, drop many of his vanity projects and naming efforts and focus like a laser on the issues of most concern to the vast majority of Americans.
Gordon Heslop
Republican candidate in the 8th Congressional District of Missouri