🚨⚖️ Trump’s most extreme election talk yet — and why it won’t happen

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In an interview with former deputy FBI director Dan Bongino on Monday, President Donald Trump proposed — for the first time as far as I can tell — that the federal government take over the 2026 election.

“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he told Bongino. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

This is a significant escalation in Trump’s rhetoric around elections — and comes less than a week after Trump’s Department of Justice executed a search warrant in Fulton County (Georgia) to collect 700 boxes of ballots from the 2020 election.

Add it up and I get why people are concerned. Maybe panicked. Because ever since 2024 there have been fears — especially on the left — that Trump is simply going to cancel the 2026 election (especially if it looks bad for his side) or change the rules so that it works out better for Republicans.

I am here to tell you NOT to panic. Here’s why.

Elections administration is directly addressed in the Constitution. It’s Article I, section 4 and it reads this way:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The first line says it all: Elections are the states’ business. And you will (rightly) note that there is NO mention of the executive branch in those lines. The executive simply does not have a role in how elections work.

But wait, you will say. It says “Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations”!!! That’s a clear opening for the Republican Congress to change the laws and give Trump what he wants!

It is — sort of. I think that Congress is very unlikely to change how elections work for two reasons:

1. Politically, it would be a MASSIVE deal. How would all of the strict constitutionalists in the GOP justify totally ignoring the Constitution? Plus, could such a proposal get 60 votes in the Senate? No way.

2. Legally, it’s fraught. Yes, Congress can make laws on elections that supersede states but they also can’t make any law that limits a voter’s right to, well, vote. As the National Constitution explains:

   The power of states and Congress to regulate congressional elections under the Elections Clause is subject to express and implicit limits. Fundamentally, neither entity can enact laws under the Elections Clause that violate other constitutional provisions. For example, the Constitution specifies that anyone who is eligible to vote for the larger house of a state legislature may vote for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate as well. The Elections Clause does not permit either the states or Congress to override those provisions by establishing additional qualifications for voting for Congress.

Look. I think it’s incredibly dangerous for Trump to even talk about nationalizing elections. And I believe that if he could snap his fingers and put himself in charge of how votes get counted in the states, he absolutely would.

But, I simply think the constraints on the executive and legislative branches are too tight here. Trump can bluster but his ability actually change how elections work is very limited.

With that said, do I expect Trump to continue to talk about how 2026 is going to be corrupt and fraudulent? Yes. Do I worry about him trying to use the DOJ to confiscate ballots or mess with counts post-election? Yes.

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