Cherry-picked quotations
CLAIM: “Maddow points out frightening truth about Trump’s lack of concern about votes”
On July 30, 2024, Rachel Maddow alleged that the “frightening truth” was that when Trump said “We don’t need the votes,” he was suggesting he could seize power without winning the election:
He doesn’t think he needs to win the vote to win the election. He doesn’t think he needs to win the election in order to take power
But Maddow’s interpretation relies on cherry-picked quotations that twist the meaning of Trump’s words. After reviewing the full context, it’s clear that in two of her five quotations, Trump was actually imploring his supporters to vote within 45 seconds of her clipped soundbites. Her own producer admitted as much, blogging 4 days earlier that Trump isn’t literally telling Americans not to cast ballots, he’s instead arguing that he’s so wildly popular, receiving support from voters will be effortless as Election Day nears.
Here’s the truth behind those five misleading quotes.
Contents:
- Watch: Rachel’s Theory: the frightening implications of 5 cherry-picked quotations.
- See the actual context of these 5 quotes.
- Read Rachel’s producer admit that he knew all along that Trump did not mean what the Rachel Maddow Show “theorized.”
1) Watch: Rachel’s “frightening” theory:
Trump’s statement, “We don’t need the votes,” was not a call for a power grab but a reference to his belief that his popularity would ensure a win—unless there was significant cheating. The real focus of his remarks was not on undermining the election process but on guarding against alleged electoral fraud. Despite his lack of evidence and his setting up a scapegoat for his potential failure, the context here is crucial: Trump wasn’t saying he could ignore the vote; but was invoking the “bandwagon effect” — everyone can see that we’re winning. Look at all the yard signs! — and he was suggesting that the only remaining battle was against fraud, not voter turnout.
2) The Five Quotes — now with Full Context:
Click the quotes to play the videos and view the context for the 5 quotes cited by Maddow:
1. my instruction we don’t need the votes I have so many votes
Trump emphasizes the importance of election monitors to prevent cheating:
“They cheat on elections. They cheat. That’s what they do the best. They’re no good at policy. They’re no good on the border. They’re no good with the economy. But they cheat like hell. That’s what they’re good at. We have lawyers at every pole booth.”
Trump sees he is popular in Florida because all the yards sides say “Trump”.
“I’m in Florida now and I drove to another location yesterday and every house has a trump Vance sign on it”
- Fox and Friends: July 25, 2024
2. We don’t need votes
Trump implores supporters to vote: “Go out. Get your family get your friends. Get everyone you know and vote. Vote early. Vote absentee. Vote on Election Day. But whatever you do you have to go out and vote. You have to vote.”
Trump also promotes protectthevote.com
- Chesapeak, VA, June 18, 2024
3. I tell my people I don’t need any votes We got all the votes we need
.
Trump implores supporters to vote: “If you want to save America get your friends get your family and get everyone out to vote you got to go vote I’ll say it again and again vote [Applause] I’ll say it again and again — vote! Christians you gotta vote, and do it early if you want. You know do it early do it. Just do it. You got to vote! And watch your vote. Guard your vote, and follow your vote. Follow your vote.”
- Right Side Broadcasting, Washington, DC Rally, June 22
4. we don’t need votes we got more votes than anybody’s ever ever had
Trump implores supporters to prevent cheating: “We need to watch the vote. We need to guard the vote.” “Don’t worry about votes. We got all the votes. I was in Florida yesterday. Every house has a trump sign. Trump trump Trump trump. We have to we have to guard the vote”
- Turning Point USA, Detroit, June 15, 2024
5. you don’t have to vote don’t worry about voting the voting we got plenty of votes
We had plans for a New VA building, but the last election went astray. We need to prevent cheating:
“You got to watch election night. You know it used to be Election Day, election night. Now it’s election month. Now it’s election period, some of these things going for 53 days. It’s terrible we want to bring it back same day voting, paper ballots, right, voter ID”
- Forbes, Derry, NH, Oct 23, 2024
3) Were Rachel and her producer “playing dumb?”
It’s hard to believe that Rachel Maddow and her producer, Steve Benen, were unaware of the full context of Trump’s statements as their staff had to locate and clip out these 5 soundbites. In a July 26 column, Benen himself acknowledged that Trump wasn’t telling supporters not to vote because he could simply seize power some other way, but was instead focusing on his belief that he could win unless significant cheating occurred.
Maddow’s show is so blatantly misrepresenting Trump that within less than 30 seconds of her soundbites, we hear Trump say:
So if you want to save America get your friends get your family and get everyone out to vote you got to go vote I’ll say it again and again vote [Applause] Christians you gotta vote and do it early if you want you know do it early do it just do it you got to vote and watch your vote guard your vote and follow your vote follow your vote Michael Watley is doing a great job he’s here Michael thank you very much Michael thank you and if you want to volunteer to help us defend election Integrity sign up at protectthevote.com I tell my people I don’t need any votes we got all the votes we need I don’t need votes all I want to do is make sure that we guard our vote
— Right Side Broadcasting, Washington, DC Rally, June 22Go out get your family get your friends get everyone you know and vote vote early vote absentee vote on Election Day but whatever you do you have to go out and vote you have to vote
— Chesapeak, VA, June 18, 2024
So why did Maddow’s show (apparently) deliberately misinterpret Trump’s words? The answer likely lies in the incentives the media has to distort complex statements to fit sensational narratives, even when the truth is clear. Here is Maddow’s producer Steve Bennan, admitting on July 26 that he knows Trump is not telling his supporters they don’t need to vote because Trump will seize power some other way:
But making matters worse is the message behind the message. Despite the odd phrasing, Trump isn’t literally telling Americans not to cast ballots, he’s instead arguing that he’s so wildly popular, receiving support from voters will be effortless as Election Day nears.
The real challenge, the former president invariably adds, is dealing with cheating and electoral fraud that definitely exist in his weird imagination, despite Trump’s inability to substantiate his conspiracy theories with evidence.
I understand that MSNBC doesn’t believe significant cheating occurs, but Trump’s meaning was pretty clear and consistent. There should be no confusion. While Maddow’s show seems to be “playing dumb”, an article on the NBC website shows that Trump’s message was perfectly intelligible to NBC writers and :
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his strategy for the fall is less geared toward turning out supporters to vote and more focused on ensuring Democrats “don’t cheat” in the general election.
“Our primary focus is not to get out the vote, it is to make sure they don’t cheat,” Trump said in remarks at a campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina
4) Reforming Journalism
The misrepresentation of Trump’s words by the media is just one example of how modern journalism distorts the truth to fit a narrative. Matt Taibbi’s book Hate, Inc. argues that much of the media industry thrives on emotional manipulation and sensationalism, often at the expense of their audience and of truth. This approach erodes public trust and undermines the integrity of our civic discourse.
To help combat this trend, I’ve developed the CiteIt App used in this article. The App looks up the full context for cited quotes—allowing readers to easily see the surrounding information and make up their own minds.
The video below shows how easy it is for authors to create the type of contextual citations featured in this article:
Demo: Using the CiteIt App to lookup and display quote context:
If you’re a journalist or writer looking to build reader trust and understanding through transparency, check out the CiteIt homepage. I’d like to pitch the App to Substack and your feedback could be helpful with my pitch.
More: CiteIt Articles
- Solutions for Journalism Reform, November 8, 2024
- Demo Article: Who Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipelines? “Russia, Russia, Russia!”, by Matt Taibbi