It didn't take long for President Donald Trump's latest conspiracy rant about elections, this time dressed up like a national address on July 16, to start falling apart.

Trump's claims about China meddling in American elections flopped, even as the documents he declassified inadvertently confirmed that Russia tried to influence our presidential elections in his favor. Ultimately, Trump offered zero proof that any votes had been changed in the 2016, 2020 or 2024 elections.

But what really stood out is just how much Trump showed us he doesn't know about how elections are run in America. And this, too, matters – he doesn't seem at all interested in learning the ins and outs of elections, even as he has spent a decade trying to destabilize America's confidence in how we vote.

David Becker, a former Department of Justice lawyer who founded The Center for Election Innovation & Research, told me the president's allegations in his speech were "remarkably flimsy." For Becker, a big takeaway was Trump's obvious, and maybe intentional, ignorance.

"We've known for some time that the president just doesn't understand how elections are run and is resistant to learning," Becker said. "He has no clue about any of this stuff."

A key difference here, according to Becker: Trump, during his first term as president, had staffers who understood election law and administration, while the second-term staff lacks that expertise, like the........

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