Last Time He Had a Mob. Now He Has Congress.

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bulwark Takes
Episode: "Last Time He Had a Mob. Now He Has Congress."
Date: February 27, 2026
Host/Speaker: Will Saletan
Main Theme:
An urgent breakdown of how Donald Trump and leading Republicans are laying the rhetorical and legislative groundwork to delegitimize the outcome of the upcoming elections—this time wielding Congressional influence, not just populist mobs. Will Saletan details the “big lie” strategy: claiming Democrats can only win by cheating, and examining the dangerous consequences as top GOP leaders openly support this narrative.

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Main Theme and Purpose

• The episode tackles the Republican Party’s evolving plan to delegitimize this year’s elections. It centers on how Trump’s old rhetoric—asserting Democrats “cheat” to win—is now amplified with cooperation from powerful GOP congressional leaders, setting up a potential refusal to accept any Democratic victories in November.
• Will Saletan walks listeners through a series of Trump quotes, actions, and the supporting statements from top Republicans, demonstrating the coordinated effort to undermine faith in election results.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The GOP’s Strategy on Voter Fraud Narrative

[01:00–03:51]

• Trump and Republicans allege Democrats oppose their "Save America Act" (expanded voter ID bill), equating Democratic resistance to voter fraud itself.
• Saletan deconstructs the tactic: pass increasingly strict ID requirements, and when Democrats say no, claim it’s proof they want to “cheat.”
• This creates a narrative loop: “Democrats can only win by cheating.”

“The point of this whole exercise is to get Democrats to say no to something so Republicans can say, see, the Democrats just want to cheat.” — Will Saletan [02:27]

2. Trump's Longstanding Delegitimization Playbook

[03:51–06:57]

• Saletan highlights how Trump’s rhetoric hasn’t changed since before the 2020 election.
• Trump conflates his rally crowd sizes with public support, implying that if he loses, it must be fraudulent.
• The 2020 playbook is being run again: refusals to accept loss, encouragement of supporters to reject results, now fused with official party support.

“I can't have lost. It has to be fraud.” — Will Saletan (paraphrasing Trump’s logic) [05:55]

3. Using ‘Crowd Size’ and Alternate Realities

[04:54–07:54]

• Trump repeatedly cites crowd enthusiasm at rallies as evidence he’s beloved and cannot legitimately lose.
• Discounts any opposition, invoking a “bubble” of support to delegitimize results that don’t match his expectations.

“He says the people around him love him … Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you lose the election. How can that be? It has to be fraud, right?” — Will Saletan [07:54]

4. Mainstreaming the ‘Why Even Have Elections?’ Theme

[08:29–09:52]

• In comments to House Republicans, Trump jokes about “canceling the election,” while claiming Democrats’ policies are so unpopular that Republicans shouldn’t need to compete.
• Saletan underscores: although posed as joke, this rhetoric lays groundwork for non-acceptance of results.

“I won’t say cancel the election. They should cancel the election because … [the] only way they can win … is to cheat.” — Donald Trump [08:29]

5. Expanding the ‘Big Lie’ to State and Policy Outcomes

[09:22–10:43]

• Trump cannot accept Democratic victories, like Abigail Spanberger's in Virginia, interpreting every loss as proof of cheating.
• He discounts polling and positions himself as leader of a “silent majority” whose votes are allegedly hidden by fraud.

“I think it's silent … They cheated in this election, too. It was just too big to rig. Too big to rig. But they cheated like hell.” — Donald Trump [10:19]

6. No End to the Accusations, No Satisfying the Demands

[10:43–12:35]

• Trump’s demands on voter ID (and investigating old elections) are described as intentionally endless: when one requirement is met, new ones will be invented to perpetuate the accusation of cheating.

“There's no end to this game. The game is to find something to accuse Democrats of cheating. And the point of the game is to justify rejecting the election results in November.” — Will Saletan [12:35]

7. Congressional Republican Leaders Amplifying the Narrative

[12:35–14:50]

• Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is described as fully onboard, repeating lies about Georgia’s 2020 election and fabricating claims about fraudulent vote shifts in California.
• Johnson and Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri repeat the mantra that the only way Democrats can win is by cheating, echoing Trump—and signifying this is no longer just Trump’s battle, but the party’s mainstream position.

“Their policies are so unpopular, they are refuted and repudiated … so they feel like they've got to allow, they've got to cheat, frankly. That's it.” — Mike Johnson [14:36]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Will Saletan [02:27]:
  “The point of this whole exercise is to get Democrats to say no to something so Republicans can say, see, the Democrats just want to cheat.”

• Donald Trump [03:37]:
  “Why would anybody not want voter id? One reason. Because they want to cheat.”

• Will Saletan [05:55]:
  “It can't have happened. I can't have lost. It has to be fraud.” (summarizing Trump)

• Donald Trump [08:29]:
  “I won’t say cancel the election. They should cancel the election because the fake news will say, he wants the elections canceled. He's a dictator … They cheat. That’s the only way they can win.”

• Will Saletan [12:35]:
  “There's no end to this game. The game is to find something to accuse Democrats of cheating. And the point of the game is to justify rejecting the election results in November.”

• Mike Johnson [14:36]:
  “Their policies are so unpopular, they are refuted and repudiated … so they feel like they've got to allow, they've got to cheat, frankly. That's it.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:00] – Will Saletan introduces the Republican strategy and context around the Save America Act.
• [03:37] – Trump’s statements in the State of the Union used to frame Democrats as inevitable cheaters.
• [05:42] – Trump’s 2021 rally and call to “fight like hell” after losing Pennsylvania.
• [07:35] – Trump’s remarks about “rigged” elections and the disbelief at his own loss.
• [08:29] – Trump to House Republicans about canceling the election.
• [09:22] – Trump discussing the Virginia governor election and claiming Spanberger’s win is fraud.
• [10:19] – Trump’s reference to the “silent support” and untrustworthy polls.
• [11:58] – Linking voter ID to further investigations and perpetual accusations.
• [13:18] – Speaker Mike Johnson echoes and amplifies Trump’s election fraud claims.
• [14:36] – Johnson and Senator Schmidt reinforce the “Democrats must cheat” narrative.

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Conclusion

Will Saletan delivers a clear, urgent warning: What began as Trump’s personal insistence that he cannot lose is now a coordinated strategy among GOP leadership, designed to weaponize election denial as official party doctrine. Through repeating and escalating the “Democrats must cheat” lie, Republicans are setting the stage to refuse Democratic victories in 2026—this time with Congressional power behind them, not just crowds in the street.

“Trump has Johnson in the House and … support in the Senate for the same big lie. … What do you think they're going to do when Democrats win in November?” — Will Saletan [14:50]

Transcript

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[Will Saletan]

Love letter to his squeaky Avocado Dearest squeaky Avocado, my heart yearns to chew thee. Alas, I've devoured a small action figure and have taken ill, unable to partake in our jubilant squeakings. Worry not, as I am on the mend. And Lemonade pet insurance covered 90% of the veterinarian's cost. I recommend all the cats and dogs of the land. Get a'[e-mail] Peter soon my tummy will be unburdened and we shall frolic once more. Yours, Jerry. Hey, it's Will Salitan from the Bulwark. Serious topic. We gotta talk about the Republican plan to delegitimize this year's elections. So here's where we are. Donald Trump and Republicans are claiming that Democrats support voter fraud because they're refusing to go along with the Save America Act. Here's Trump talking about it in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

[Donald Trump]

It's very simple. All voters must show voter id.

[Will Saletan]

So that is the centerpiece of the act, voter id. But what Trump didn't mention is the House already passed a version of that bill last year, which would require an ID to register to vote. So they already passed that. The new version says even though you already presented an ID to register and they have your information in the system, you have to bring an ID again on Election Day. And the trick is, if Democrats go along with that, Republicans are going to keep going. They'll keep Adding hassles and demands until Democrats say, no, no, no, that's too much. And the point of this whole exercise is to get Democrats to say no to something so Republicans can say, see, the Democrats just want to cheat. What I want to show you today is where all of this is going. The goal is Trump and the Republicans want you to believe not just that Democrats cheat, but that cheating is the only way Democrats can win elections. And if they can get you to believe that, or if they can get the public to believe that, then when Democrats do win this year's elections, Trump and the Republicans can claim that they don't have to accept the results because Democrats cheated. Now, I know that may sound alarmist, so let me take you through it. Here's what Trump said in his State of the Union about the Democrats.

[Donald Trump]

Why would anybody not want voter id? One reason. Because they want to cheat. There's only one reason they want to cheat. They have cheated. And their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat.

[Will Saletan]

So that last line is the key. Democrats, according to Trump, are so unpopular on the issues that the only way they can win is to cheat. Which means any election won by the Democrats is, by definition, stolen. Now, you might ask, come on, does Trump really mean that? Would he actually follow through and try to block Democrats from taking office? And the answer, of course, is, yeah, he already did. Here's what Trump said two months before the 2020 election and the ballot sending.

[Donald Trump]

Where do you see that. These unsolicited ballots, where do you see the mess that they want? They want it to be a. The only way they're going to win. It's. The only way they can win is to cheat, in my opinion.

[Will Saletan]

So Trump was laying the groundwork to claim that if Democrats won, they must have cheated. And he used his own crowds, the big crowds that showed up at his rallies to prove that voters loved him. So if he lost, it had to be cheating.

[Donald Trump]

These ballots, the ones we're talking about, whether it's Pennsylvania, because we're going to win in Pennsylvania, you got to watch. But you have a governor who's in charge of ballots. They're going to try and ste. Look at this crowd. The only way they can win Pennsylvania, frankly, is to cheat on the ballots. That's the way I look at it.

[Will Saletan]

You heard what he said. Look at this crowd. Never mind all the people who didn't go to the rally because they hated Trump. Those people, they don't exist, right? All these people, the people in my rally they love me. I can't lose. So when Trump actually lost Pennsylvania in the election, he said, no, no, no, that's fraud. Here's what he said on January 6 when he had another rally, and this time he told the crowd to march on the Capitol.

[Donald Trump]

So Pennsylvania was defrauded. But I said, something's wrong here. Something's really wrong. Can't have happened. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.

[Will Saletan]

Again, you heard him, he said, it can't have happened. I can't have lost. It has to be fraud. And he sent those people to the Capitol and they tried to overthrow the election. So this is deadly serious. There's a straight line from saying Democrats can only win by cheating to overthrowing the election. And then Trump said it again when he ran for president in 2024. Here he is in Michigan on the night before the 2024 election, talking about the Democrats very high taxes.

[Donald Trump]

They're campaigning on the fact that they're going to raise everybody's taxes. And you have men playing in women's sports. You have to cheat. Who the hell is going to approve that? Who's going to approve open borders with criminals pouring into our country by the millions? No, they have to cheat. They have to cheat. And they do. And they do it very well, actually.

[Will Saletan]

So the message was, Democrats are so far left, they can't possibly win on the issues. It has to be cheating. And in fact, after the election, Trump did claim that Democrats cheated, but because he won, he didn't need to overthrow the results. So now we're approaching another election, the midterms, and Trump is claiming again that because he's surrounded by crowds who love and adore him, any election his party loses must be rigged. Here's what he said at the White House in October.

[Donald Trump]

The best thing you can do is have honest elections, because the elections are totally rigged in so many of these places. You know, you take a look, the people, they're all loving you. They. They can't breathe. They love so much, every one of them. You don't see one negative. Then all of a sudden, you lose the election by 20 points. The elections are so rigged, and we proved that in 2020.

[Will Saletan]

Again, you can see the bubble he lives in. He says the people around him love him. They love him so much, they can't breathe. You don't see one negative, he says. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you lose the election. How can that be? It has to be fraud, Right? And then last month, at a meeting of House Republicans, Trump said Democrats were so clearly out of touch, they were so totally incapable of winning a fair election, that Republicans shouldn't even have to run against them.

[Donald Trump]

For four years, we had the worst president, did the worst job, they had the worst policy. We have to even run against these people. Now, I won't say cancel the election. They should cancel the election because the fake news will say, he wants the elections canceled. He's a dictator. The election. And they'll fight it like crazy because they cheat. That's the only way they can win.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, no. Trump's not saying he'll cancel the election. No, no, no. He's just saying there's no point in having an election since everybody knows there's only one party that can win without cheating. But the thing is, Democrats have been winning elections. They just won the election in Virginia in November. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, is the new governor of Virginia, and Trump can't believe it. Right? He can't understand how she won. In fact, he says it has to be cheating.

[Donald Trump]

She came into Virginia, raised everything to a point like no taxes that nobody ever even heard of before. And I don't understand. How do people get elected with this kind of philosophy? You know, I give tax cuts, and they give tax increases. I don't know how they get elected. They get elected because they cheat. You want to know the truth? If they didn't cheat. If they didn't cheat, they'd have no chance. They have horrible policy, transgender for everyone.

[Will Saletan]

And then just this week, on Monday, Trump basically said he also doesn't believe the polls that show most people don't like the way he's treating immigrants and protesters. He said he has a silent majority that apparently doesn't show up in the polls because the polls are fake. And also, this silent majority somehow gets hidden or erased by election fraud.

[Donald Trump]

It just amazes me that there's not more support out there. It's just we actually have a silent support. I think it's silent. I think it's a. Well, that's how I won. I got probably 85 million votes. They say 78 million, 79 million. They cheated in this election, too. It was just too big to rig. Too big to rig. But they cheated like hell.

[Will Saletan]

So all of that brings us to this voter ID bill. Trump's message is Democrats are opposing this bill because it would take away cheating, and they can't win without cheating.

[Donald Trump]

They don't want voter ID because they want to cheat in Elections because they cheat. And the fact is they could never get elected if they ever changed. They know it. If you had voter id, if you had proof of citizenship, they could never win an election, and they know that. And they're fighting to the Hill.

[Will Saletan]

So all of this is about reinforcing his plan for the midterms. If Democrats win, Trump will say the election was stolen. So why shouldn't Democrats just go along with the extra voter id? Well, the problem is Trump already has another level he can go to. If Democrats say yes to the extra voter id, Trump will say they're still trying to cheat. And because they're opposing his new thing, which is reinvestigating the 2020 election. Here's what he said last week after the FBI, prompted by Trump, raided a ballot warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia.

[Donald Trump]

Voter id. The Democrats don't want to give us voter ID because they want to cheat. By the way, did you see they raided the Fulton county place storage house and now they have the ballots and the Democrats are fighting like hell. And I think it goes before a judge tomorrow to not let anybody see the ballots. Why don't they want them to see the ballots after all these years? You know why they don't want? Because they cheated. That's why.

[Will Saletan]

You get the picture. There's no end to this game. The game is to find something to accuse Democrats of cheating. And the point of the game is to justify rejecting the election results in November. Now, you might say, okay, maybe Trump would do that, but he didn't get away with overturning the election in 2020. And he won't get away with it this time either, because Republicans, this won't go along with it. Well, let me introduce you to the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. He already is totally on board with Trump's campaign to reinvestigate the election in Georgia. Here's Johnson. Three weeks ago on Meet the Press.

[Mike Johnson]

I find it comical that one of the senators from Georgia is talking about schemes in elections. Remember, Georgia was example a of that. And in the 2020 election, there were

[Donald Trump]

two statewide recounts in Georgia.

[Mike Johnson]

They mail out ballots to everyone. Everyone knows all of the problems that occurred in Georgia, and the president is keeping a proper focus on it. This investigation is to ensure that all the questions that that about the elections in Fulton county are investigated properly.

[Will Saletan]

That's all bullshit, by the way. The whole thing about fraud in Georgia was totally debunked years ago. But Johnson is trying to bring it back to help Trump spread his lies about fraud. In fact, Johnson is pushing his own lies about the 2024 election.

[Mike Johnson]

In California, we had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on election Day in the last election cycle. And every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost. In no series of ballots that were counted after election Day were our candidates ahead on any of those counts. It just, it looks on its face to be fraudulent.

[Will Saletan]

That was Johnson on February 3rd. And then four days later, he repeated Trump's overarching lie that the only way Democrats can win is fraud.

[Mike Johnson]

Their policies are so unpopular, they are refuted and repudiated at the ballot boxes over and over. And so they feel like they've got to allow, they've got to cheat, frankly. That's it. They've got to allow illegals to participate in elections so that they can continue to win.

[Will Saletan]

So Trump has Johnson in the House and he's getting support in the Senate for the same big lie. Here is Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri, a Republican, right after the State of the Union, talking about the Democrats. And I think you have this convergence of illegal immigration that they support. Also this, you know, they don't believe people should have to, you know, prove who they are when they vote. There's no coincidence that those two things are tied together for them because they have to cheat at this point. There you go. Democrats have lost the American people. They can't win legitimately, so they have to cheat. And that message that the only way Democrats can win is by cheating is coming from Trump, the Speaker of the House and Republicans in the Senate. What do you think all those people are going to do? These people who control the government under a president who already tried to overthrow the one election he lost? What do you think they're going to do when Democrats win in November? See you next time. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why, hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.