Some people familiar with Trump’s tactics shrugged it off as a riff that meant very little – or possibly nothing at all. They said he was most likely referring to so-called tele-rallies with Republican members of Congress that he has been participating in regularly, such as one he held before the Madison Square Garden rally, hosted by congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York and attended by eight Republican incumbents and candidates from her state.
House Speaker Mike Johnson seemed to confirm that there was, in fact, a “little secret”. Credit: AP
They also noted that he liked to poke his detractors and might have enjoyed the frenzy the comment created among Democrats.
“[Ex-]President Trump has done countless tele-rallies reaching millions of Americans across the country in key regions that also help bolster Republicans in congressional races,” said Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, when asked about what the “little secret” comment meant.
Either way, the episode was a reminder of how difficult it can be to determine whether Trump’s musings are insignificant chatter, serious statements of intent or something in between.
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Johnson, for his part, has contemplated the uncomfortable position he might be in in the unlikely scenario that he is re-elected Speaker of the House, Harris wins the presidency and there are threats of violence around the electoral certification by Congress.
“I don’t think we’ll see anything like that. I certainly pray and hope that’s true,” he told CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan this month. “There’s a lot of great work that’s been done at the federal, state and local level to prevent the chaos that ensued after 2020, the COVID election year, when all the states were changing their laws and regulations.” Johnson added that he was praying for a “free and fair, legal election across the board”.
Democratic nightmares about what havoc Johnson could wreak may, in fact, be overblown. It is the vice president who presides over the certification of the election, not the speaker. An overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, which Congress passed after the 2021 mob attack on the Capitol, tightened the safeguards around the process to make it less likely to happen again.
Still, Johnson would not be a powerless bystander. He could help organise Republican lawsuits or pressure state boards of elections to throw out legitimate votes. He could reject the electors from certain states, and he could try to refuse to seat new Democratic members of the House.
“I do not have faith that Mike Johnson will fulfil his constitutional obligations,” former Republican representative for Wyoming Liz Cheney said this month on Meet The Press, referring to Congress’ role in certifying the election.
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Some Democratic legislators said they heard Trump’s comment and saw no reason to give him or Johnson the benefit of any doubt.
Democratic representative for New York Dan Goldman said that given Johnson’s role in trying to undermine the 2020 presidential election results, he assumed the secret was a “back-up plan” for if Trump loses.
“There’s a lot of ability for a bad actor to mess with the Electoral College if he’s the speaker of the House,” Goldman said in an interview. “If I’m wrong, they should say so. Trump has a lot of secrets: his medical records are secret, his taxes are secret, his phone calls with Vladimir Putin are secret. Clearly, he hides a lot from the American people. Now, he’s openly stated that he’s hiding something from the electorate.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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