U.S. President Donald Trump [Photo=White House]

Ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to the nation, scheduled for 9:00 PM on the 16th (U.S. time; 10:00 AM on the 17th, Korea time), American political columnist Jin Cummings shared his personal insights via Facebook.

Amid growing public anticipation that President Trump might directly address South Korea’s election issues in this speech, Cummings stated bluntly, "Based on public information and the political situation President Trump is currently facing, it is unlikely that he will specifically address South Korea's election issues in this speech."

She explained that the direct reason President Trump is focusing on election issues right now is that the 'SAVE America Act,' a core piece of legislation he is pushing ahead of the November midterm elections, has failed to pass in the Senate.

She described the bill, stating, "It includes provisions requiring proof of U.S. citizenship during the federal voter registration process and the presentation of a photo ID when voting in federal elections," adding that it is "a necessary bill that must be passed to expose the fraud in the 2020 election and ensure that election fraud cannot occur in the United States in the future."

However, she noted that while the bill passed the House in February with a 218-to-213 vote, it was blocked in the Senate in March, failing to secure the 60 votes required for cloture, resulting in a 53-to-47 vote.

According to Cummings, the Trump administration has since been re-investigating the 2020 presidential election process and the security of U.S. voting machines through intelligence agencies, and President Trump has granted the Acting Director of National Intelligence the authority to declassify related materials, leading to what he calls "a fierce internal war."

She continued, "As the security of the election system and voting machines has emerged as a critical political issue for President Trump, it appears he intends to clearly state his position on this matter during tomorrow’s speech ahead of the midterms."

Ultimately, the purpose of tomorrow's speech is to inform the public about newly declassified information, the potential for foreign cyber intrusion, and security flaws—such as the use of outdated software and vulnerabilities to hacking in certain voting machines—in order to push for the passage of the SAVE America Act.

Nevertheless, she emphasized a clear distinction, stating, "While the ODNI report known so far points out various security vulnerabilities that need to be addressed in U.S. voting machines, no definitive evidence has been presented, nor has any ruling been made, to prove that these vulnerabilities actually altered voting results or led to manipulated votes in the 2020 presidential election."

"This bill is not just a simple election-related bill for President Trump. He attempted to pressure the passage of the SAVE America Act by delaying his signature on a housing bill, but the Senate did not budge, and the housing bill became law on July 11th without the President's signature."

In effect, President Trump's attempt to use the housing bill as a bargaining chip to pass the SAVE America Act has failed.

With no way to use that bill as leverage against Congress, Cummings suggests that President Trump will use his national address to explain this situation directly to the American public, shift the responsibility for the failure of the SAVE America Act onto the Democratic Party, and launch a political counterattack to make this a central issue of the November midterms.

"Currently, all of President Trump's attention is focused on changing the U.S. election system according to his vision and pressuring the Senate to implement these changes before the November midterm elections.

In this situation, dragging in election issues from other countries, including South Korea, could dilute the core message he needs to deliver to American voters.

Furthermore, it could provide the Democratic Party with ammunition to attack President Trump, accusing him of politically exploiting foreign election suspicions ahead of the midterms. Therefore, while he might mention them briefly, I believe it is highly unlikely he will explain and focus on election issues of other nations in detail."

Cummings identified the appropriate timing for publicly raising foreign election issues as "after the SAVE America Act is passed and the U.S. government has actually implemented measures such as citizenship verification, voter ID requirements, and strengthened voting machine security." This would be more politically advantageous for President Trump.

He also noted that with even domestic election reform stalled in Congress, if he were to raise the issue of South Korea’s election management, it would inevitably invite counterarguments from the American public, such as, "Shouldn't we fix our own election system first?" or "Why should we care about election problems in other countries?"

Regarding Iran, she mentioned that while it might be brought up, the focus of the speech, based on current intelligence, will remain on U.S. elections and voting machine issues.

In other words, while the President may indirectly mention China, Iran, Russia, or Venezuela while explaining foreign election interference or supply chain issues for voting machines, it is highly unlikely he will specifically mention South Korea's election management system or the suspicions raised regarding Korean elections.

"President Trump is currently emphasizing that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election. By highlighting that elections were manipulated in numerous states—such as Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Georgia, California, Arizona, Louisiana, Colorado, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Washington—his entire focus is on changing the U.S. election system so that the Democratic Party can no longer intervene in elections or manipulate results."

Therefore, Cummings' opinion is that the date for the national address was set out of a sense of urgency, fearing that if this issue is not resolved now, they could lose the midterm elections to manipulation once again.

Finally, she offered a word of caution: "While it would be nice if President Trump addressed South Korea's election issues directly in his speech tomorrow, it would be best not to have overly high expectations this time."

Reporter Lim Yo-hee