Bulwark Takes - Trump’s New Conspiracy Is So Dumb, He Must Think You Are Too

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Will Saletan breaks down Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy theory claiming that Barack Obama time travelled in order to rig the 2016 election after it had already happened.

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If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BenMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hey, it's Will Salatan from The Bullwork. Today, I want to fill you in on Donald Trump's new conspiracy theory. So we've all heard Trump's old conspiracy theory about the 2020 election, that it was, you know, rigged and stolen. But now Trump has a new theory. Those dirty cheaters, the Democrats, they've also tried to steal the 2016 election.

In fact, here's the plot twist. They tried to steal the 2016 election after it had already happened. Whoa, I know you're thinking how could they do that? So let's find out. Okay so here's Trump's usual theory which he repeats all the time. Here he is on July 1st. The election in 2020 was rigged. Millions and millions of votes. And then on July 3rd. And then they cheated and rigged the election. And then on July 6th. The election was totally rigged. And then on July 3rd, and then they cheated and rigged the election and then on July 6th The election was totally rigged and then again last week. That's why I ran again. I got cheated they rigged the election

Okay, so the problem with this theory is that it's been totally debunked My favorite quote on this comes from Trump's own attorney general in his first term, Bill Barr. I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit. Right. So everybody knows Trump's story about 2020 is bullshit. But this week he came up with his new theory. Here's Trump at a reception with congressional Republicans on Tuesday night. He's talking about documents that were just released by Tulsi Gabbard, who is the director

of national intelligence. She has all the documents. She has everything that you need. And she found out that Barack Hussein Obama led a group of people and they cheated in the elections and they cheated without question. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Obama? Remember, the old theory was that Joe Biden did the cheating because he was the Democratic

candidate in 2020. Obama was totally out of the picture in 2020. He hadn't been president for four years. Does Trump really mean that the guy doing the cheating was Obama? Obama cheated on the election. Remember this, Obama cheated on the election. And we have it cold, hard.

What is Trump talking about? He can't be talking about 2016, can he? Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader. Hillary Clinton was right there with him, and so was Sleepy Joe Biden, and so were the rest of them. Comey, Clapper, the whole group. And they tried to rig an election, and they got caught. And then they did rig the election in 2020.

Huh, so Trump says they did rig the election in 2020. Huh. So Trump says they did rig the election in 2020, but before that they tried to rig the previous election, which was 2016. And Trump says the evidence for this conspiracy in 2016 is the documents released by Gabbard, which supposedly, but not really, proved that Obama which supposedly, but not really, proved that Obama manufactured intelligence to frame Russia for interfering in the election. So when exactly did this happen? Here's what Gabbard told Sean Hannity on Friday. And the very next day after they pulled that document, President Obama called a National Security Council cabinet meeting to discuss how Russia interfered with the election. Again, this is the first week of December.

President Trump had already won. Correct. Wait a minute. Trump had already won? This treasonous conspiracy was directed by President Obama just weeks before he was due to leave office after President Trump had already gotten elected. Okay. So according to Gabbard, this conspiracy happened after the election.

But Trump says it was a conspiracy to rig the election. Remember, he says they tried to rig the election and then they got caught and then they did rig the 2020 election. Remember, he says they tried to rig the election and then they got caught and then they did rig the 2020 election. So what's going on here is Gabbard cooked up a story about Obama manufacturing intelligence and Trump is so dumb or so indifferent to reality that he's trying to twist that story into his favorite shtick, which is about a rigged election. And Trump doesn't care that in his version of the story, to rig that election, Obama would have had to travel backward through time.

Why would Trump tell such a ridiculous story? The answer is Jeffrey Epstein. Check out what Trump said on Tuesday when a reporter asked about the Epstein files. I don't really follow that too much. It's sort of a witch hunt, just a continuation of the witch hunt. The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely called Tulsi Gabbard. Ah, there you go. Trump is trying to change the subject from his cover-up of the Epstein files to this

wacky theory about 2016. In fact, at the reception on Tuesday night, Trump told congressional Republicans that when they get asked about the Epstein files they should pivot to his conspiracy theory about Obama. And you should mention that every time they give you a question that's not appropriate just say oh by the way Obama cheated on the election. Look I don't know how much Trump knew about Epstein or whether he had anything to do with the sexual abuse. And I don't know if Trump is trying to cover it up.

But I do know that when somebody is so desperate to change the subject that they try to sell you a conspiracy theory that requires time travel, they probably got something to hide. See you next time.