August 17, 2025

Hold on to your hats! In a surprising twist, U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees with him: mail-in voting threatens honest elections! After a nearly three-hour meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, Trump told Fox News Channel's "Hannity," "Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can't have an honest election with mail-in voting." He added, "He said there's not a country in the world that uses it now." This bold statement came as Trump again pushed Republicans to work harder on election reforms to tighten voting rules in the U.S. Despite Trump's past use of mail-in ballots and even urging his supporters to vote by mail in 2024, he now calls for stricter laws, saying, "You can't have a great democracy with mail-in voting." He expressed frustration, noting, "The Republicans want it, but not strongly enough." But wait, there's a spicy twist! Putin himself won 87% of the vote in Russia's 2024 election—a victory shadowed by serious accusations of vote rigging from independent observers, opposition groups, and Western governments. The top opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, tragically died in an Arctic penal colony that same year, adding fuel to the controversy. Russia's embassy in Washington has not responded to questions about Putin's chat with Trump. Interestingly, the Russian president has also claimed some U.S. elections saw fraudulent votes, though he offered no proof—echoing Trump’s own false narrative about the 2020 U.S. election results. U.S. investigations have confirmed Russia's attempts to influence U.S. elections in 2016 and possibly 2020, supporting Trump's campaign preferences. However, U.S. intelligence never confirmed claims that Trump or his team colluded with Russia, a claim Trump reiterated in Alaska on Friday. Many Republicans share Trump's concerns, calling for tighter absentee voting rules and voter ID requirements, aiming to avoid fraud—even though experts say voter fraud is rare. Around 30 countries, including Canada, Germany, and South Korea, allow some form of postal voting, but most control who can use it, according to Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Since the Trump administration, the U.S. has eased off commenting on election fairness in other countries, a sharp break from its usual role promoting democracy worldwide. So, the drama continues: two world leaders linked by skepticism over mail-in voting but wrapped in their own election controversies. Will stricter election reforms take center stage in the U.S.? Stay tuned!

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Tags: Donald trump, Vladimir putin, Mail-in voting, Election reforms, Voter fraud, 2024 elections,