When Trump accuses others of wrongdoing, you can bet he’s up to something himself | Arwa Mahdawi

America’s mad king is spiraling. Donald Trump’s approval ratings are mired in the 30s as the Iran war rages on with no end in sight. As prices rise and the US’s reputation tanks, Trump is building self-serving monuments and putting his face on new $1 coins to ensure he leaves a lasting legacy. Don’t worry, Donald, we’ll never forget you! Your name will forever be associated with corruption, crime, and a nationwide outbreak of explosive diarrhea.

When the going gets tough, Trump tends to go into full-on victim mode. This week was no exception. On Thursday, the president gave a televised primetime speech in which he rehashed all his usual grievances. A random jab about trans people? Check. Boasting about how he’s single-handedly made America great again? Check. Demonizing the media? Check. Complaints about how unfair it was he lost to Joe Biden in 2020 coupled with accusations about Chinese interference and misinformation about election integrity? Check. “No country can be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump announced. “If there can be no trust, there can be no greatness. Unfortunately, the system we have falls catastrophically short of that standard.”

The president isn’t completely off-base about trust being in short supply. NBC and ABC – two of the “big three” TV networks in the US – had so little faith that Trump’s speech would contain anything of public importance that they declined to run his speech on their main broadcast channels. CBS, which has become the official Trump appeasement channel, did end up broadcasting the speech. However, even they warned their viewers not to trust Trump. “Honestly, much of what the president has said on [election integrity] ⁠is false,” anchor Tony Dokoupil said in advance of the speech.

Trump’s claims about the electoral system being compromised aren’t just false: they’re a calculated attempt to undermine future elections. Trump is a master of projection. Whenever he accuses others of wrongdoing, you can bet that it’s because he’s up to something himself. As numerous Democrats and voting rights groups are warning, the president appears to be laying the groundwork to interfere with the upcoming midterms.

Step one in rigging an election: undermine people’s confidence in the electoral system. Trump has been doing this repeatedly for years. Thursday’s speech was simply the latest installment of this ongoing crusade.

Step two: get rid of the independent agencies that ensure election integrity. Trump has been hard at work on this as well. Earlier this month, Trump fired the last three members of the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan agency that develops election administration guidance. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called the move a “brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast”.

Step three: pass the Save America Act, which requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Critics warn that the logistical burdens of the act, which featured heavily in Trump’s Thursday speech, could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. These include married women who changed their maiden names and lack proof of citizenship reflecting their current names, as well as low-income Americans who don’t have a valid US passport.

Trump has been working on step three for a long time: the Save America bill has died and been resurrected multiple times. Still, Trump is desperate for success by any means possible, even calling for eliminating the filibuster to get the legislation to pass. “We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish, stupid and unwise,” Trump said in a speech in front of Mount Rushmore on 4 July. “But if we terminate the filibuster as we should do and immediately vote for the Save America Act, then we will not lose an election for a hundred years.”

Attempting to abolish the filibuster isn’t the only trick Trump has up his sleeve. On Wednesday, Republicans in Congress tried once again to get a version of the Save America Act passed by linking it to an unrelated spending bill. Its fate, however, is still far from clear.

Step four: use threats and intimidation to try and get your way. On Friday, Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, threatened state election officials with possible prison time if they don’t comply with Trump administration efforts to determine if noncitizens are on voting lists. To be clear: data shows that non-citizens registering to vote is exceedingly rare. The real message Mullin is sending here is that there will be consequences if state officials don’t bow to Trump’s election security demands.

And if all the above fails and it looks like the Republicans will lose miserably in the midterms? Then there’s always step five: declare an emergency that lets you seize voting machines or deploy the national guard to intimidate minority voters. Ty Cobb, a member of the first Trump administration legal team, told PBS on Thursday that he thinks Trump’s speech “is intended to add the predicate that he needs to declare an emergency at or about the time of the elections”. And that’s certainly not an unreasonable supposition, considering that Trump has insisted there are “no limits” to his power, argued that the constitution gives him “the right to do whatever”, and joked about being a dictator. Trump has made it clear that he will do whatever it takes to ensure Maga doesn’t lose an election for “a hundred years”. We should take him at his word.

Jesse Watters warns women to ‘watch out’ for military men hopped up on testosterone

The Fox News host appears to be thrilled about Pete Hegseth’s testosterone screening program for the military. “The guys who don’t need [testosterone] are going to take it,” Watters crowed. “Women on base, you better be careful. Port calls, women in Asia, you better be careful. Because these guys are going to be wild animals and you better watch out.” Is he joking about rape? Because that’s certainly what it sounds like.

Rising number of Afghan girls being sold into child marriage

More than 2.2 million Afghan girls can no longer get formal education after the age of 12, thanks to the Taliban. According to one estimate, as many as 70% of girls pushed out of school have been forced into marriage.

Sweden’s political gender gap is growing

In what is considered Europe’s most gender-equal country, twice as many men as women support the far-right party, with men in the private sector most likely to vote rightwing. A political science professor told the Guardian: “The fact that women have not shifted to the right to the same extent, regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector, stems from their greater reliance on a well-functioning welfare state, given that they still bear the primary responsibility for caregiving in the private sphere.”

Gaza flotilla activist tells of rape in Israeli detention

“It’s clear they want to break our will and silence us, making this so traumatic that we will never talk about Palestine again,” Anna Liedtke told the Guardian. Liedtke is the first flotilla activist to talk publicly about rape in Israeli detention, but more than a dozen others have reported sexual assault. Meanwhile rape of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli officials is so pervasive that the UN has added Israel to a blacklist for sexual violence in conflict.

The Vances are taking ‘helicopter parenting’ to new levels

Healthcare may be unaffordable in the US but at least your taxpayer dollars are going towards efforts to helicopter JD Vance’s son to his golf lessons!

Kesha keeps human and cat teeth in jars around her house

She’s been gifted more than 1,000 teeth by her fans over the years, apparently. “I just started collecting them because it kind of freaks out straight men,” the singer said on a recent podcast. I think it might freak out other demographics too.

The week in pawtriarchy

In bank heists gone wrong: a Maryland man stole a kitten called Magnolia from the rescue section of a pet store then tried to use the filched feline in a robbery. He reportedly asked a bank employee to hold Magnolia before slipping them a note asking for all their money. The man has now been arrested and a be-mewsed Magnolia is now available for adoption. Cat burglars need not apply.

• Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist