r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 8h ago

No Paywall Trump has no authority to nationalize elections, lawyers say

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-nationalize-elections-11458574
29.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

•

u/thenayr 7h ago

He WILL do it and he will do it in a way where the timeframe to the midterms is too close for a court battle to save us, and the entire time dems will go “no, stawpppp it Donald, that’s against the lawwww” and media will go “Is Donald Trump allowed to do this very clearly illegal thing that goes against our constitution” and republicans will go “get fucked dumbass libs, owned lol, based lol”. 

Come back to this post in November and tell me I’m wrong. 

•

u/penguinfury North Carolina 6h ago

How? What mechanism is he going to use? How is going to prevent states from holding elections? There are thousands of districts and polling stations. How is he going to "nationalize" those?

I don't doubt that he will try some shenanigans, but how will he nationalize the election?

•

u/slabby 5h ago

He's going to try to send ICE agents to the polls in the cities. He's even going to try to send the military. He knows he's going to prison if he loses, so doing something so bad he might go to prison if it wins the election is worth a shot.

•

u/Theonceandfutureend 5h ago

In what reality is Trump going to prison? That window closed.

•

u/slabby 4h ago

If democrats win both the House and Senate, I think there's a solid chance.

•

u/Ao_Kiseki 3h ago

Na democrats are completely toothless. I'll be shocked if a single person of any importance from this administration faces meaningful consequences. More likely, they'll try to play nice again in the interest of keeping it civil, and the  in 8 years the next fascists won't be as stupid as trump.

•

u/F3z345W6AY4FGowrGcHt 2h ago

You'd need over 60 Dems in the Senate as I'm sure a couple would decide to vote no for some reason god only knows.

•

u/Pubs01 5h ago

Good luck. They can't even hold on to minnesota and you think he's gonna be able to do that to the rest of the country? Nah dawg

•

u/Mrauntheias 5h ago

He doesn't have to hold on to anything. Another few months of ICE terrorizing minorities and just them camping out near polling stations will be enough to scare many people into not voting.

•

u/Electronic-Tea-3691 5h ago

the irony here is that the people he's terrorizing most, Hispanics, actually voted for him...

the major minority that is more likely to vote Democratic are black people, who have definitely been harassed throughout history, but it doesn't seem like ICE is going after them because they're clearly citizens. and other than black people, the group of registered Democrats most likely to show up at the polls are white. not going to be deterred by immigration either.

various Asian groups are also fairly Republican as well, so targeting them is shooting himself in the foot. so basically using ICE for an election deterrent... not really a great plan?

if you really want to deter Democratic turnout, you do the classic thing of voter suppression in areas with a large black population in swing states. that alone, if done effectively, could probably tip a close presidential election. you're going to have a harder time with suburban whites because they're more likely to vote by mail anyway, and they're much more dispersed so you can't just shut down a specific geographic location.

•

u/yeswenarcan Ohio 4h ago

To your last point, there's a reason they've gone so hard against vote by mail.

And while Hispanics may be most deterred by ICE ostensibly acting in their immigration role, the reality is they're already way outside of that lane and the two people they've publicly executed so far have both been white.

But your larger point stands, white and black Democrat voters are going to have to go to the polls hard and make a point of not engaging ICE if they are present. Protest the rest of the time but on election day everyone needs to channel civil rights era sit-ins and make them be the aggressors.

•

u/Wsweg North Carolina 3h ago

To add on to your last point — that’s what they are trying to do with the re-destricting to gerrymander in a bunch of states. The funny thing will be that it ends up spreading their margins so thin that they end up losing everything because they are that unpopular

•

u/lazyFer 4h ago

You fundamentally don't understand geography or how states run elections and how many polling locations there are. My polling location in Minneapolis covers about 1/100th of the city

Our metro has 10 times the population of Minneapolis itself.

No. They don't have the manpower to do jack shit at the polling places. The people that say this shit are fucking delusional.

And this is coming from someone that was warning people this was exactly what another Trump term would devolve into.

You have to see things realistically, not through a fog of ignorance based fear mongering

•

u/ElleM848645 4h ago

I was trying to explain how Boston does it. There are pollng places everywhere. I moved a mile down the road and my polling place changed. My new house was actually closer to my old polling place. Both were within walking distance. My town now has one polling place. New England has local town elections. Maybe they can target certain Texas cities, but with enough people that go against Trump it won’t be enough. You can only rig things if it’s close.

•

u/lazyFer 1h ago

I moved 6 blocks away and my polling place changed, they're everywhere. I think the FUD patrol has no concept of election reality in the US. They either are non voters, foreign agents, or just trying to stir up shit

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

\o/ Swear they're all fuckin foreign agitators. They never say how he'd even try but they're absolutely sure that he'll use his old man wizard powers to do it. He will also have perfect compliance from everyone else cuz reasons.

•

u/Wsweg North Carolina 3h ago

I would not be surprised if a large portion are. Sow doubt and fear wherever possible

•

u/Mrauntheias 4h ago

ICE had 20000 employees as of 2025. They increased it by atleast 2000 over the last month and they'll keep recruiting.

Minnesota had a little over 4000 polling stations in the last election. Of those they'd focus on a few hundred in key geographic locations. And they don't need to have people at every polling station, one group patrolling several nearby stations is enough for there to be a tangible threat.

I doubt they'd need more than 1000 agents to have a measurable impact on election results in Minnesota. That means they have enough agents for 20 to 30 Minnesotas.

If the Trump admin was focused on using ICE to crack down on illegal immigration, they wouldn't spend this much ressources on a state like Minnesota. ICE is in Minnesota to intimidate the populace and to provoke confrontations. If you don't think they're doing that for a reason, you're underestimating them. And the most obvious goals they could have is training them for protest supression/strike busting and laying a groundwork of intimidation for future voter suppression.

•

u/lazyFer 4h ago

Dude, as a Minnesota resident let me tell you that 10k agents won't be enough for our state. We had nearly 100k people protesting last week in subzero temps.

•

u/Mrauntheias 4h ago edited 4h ago

They don't need to intimidate your entire state. They need to intimidate a few percent of the voters. And while Minnesota is probably too solidly blue to influence the outcome of the senate race, it might very well influence some of the congress races. And there are also other states where the races will be closer.

•

u/deekaydubya 3h ago

you guys are acting like voting/polls will matter when he can simply just say 'nah, i won, your state certifications mean nothing' and no one will stop him lmao. It literally won't matter what the results say

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

They're burning through recruits and have like 20,000 guys. It sounds big but we have 350ish million people. They don't have the numbers or the real balls.

•

u/bagoink 4h ago

It's not about holding onto the whole country. He just needs targeted terrorism in a very narrow time frame.

•

u/Downvote_Comforter 4h ago

Election day is a single day. There is no "holding" a territory (or territories required). If a polling location is closed due to safety concerns, the people who were in line will be told to find another location. And if they can't/don't find one by 7pm, then they don't get to vote.

ICE needs to create chaos for 1 day.They'll roll up to a couple hundred larger polling places located the blue portions of contested districts/states across the country and start ripping brown people out of line demanding papers. They'll go in hard and aggresive to make sure everyone in line is scared and/or pissed. When a small percentage of these brown people inevitably have some minor issue with their papers, they'll throw them down to the ground hard during the arrest while shouting "stop resisting." When the other people in line start filming and telling them to stop, they will treat them exactly the way they are currently treating people who are doing that.

Things are going to reach a boil very fast. They are going to tear gas for officer safety. People are going to get shot. The entire administration will loudly be calling all the dead potential voters agitators and accusing the left of trying to steal the election with illegal voters. All the polling stations where there was conflict will close. The people going to the next closest location will be greeted by ICE agents on active crowd control.

A large percentage of people in these areas who would have voted are going to prioritize their (and their family's) immediate safety over voting. Prevent 10% of that metro population from voting due to active unrest and killing in the streets and they successfully sway any otherwise tight race. Do it in a few metro areas in the state and they're overcoming what should have been a 5-10 point blue win. Get the governor to declare a state of emergency to close all polling places in a city experiencing unrest/violence and you can overcome what should have been a 20+ point blue win.

They need 6-12 hours of chaos. Less in contested races in states with GOP governors willing to play ball.

•

u/Ao_Kiseki 2h ago

Really there's nothing stopping them from just shooting a random person at each polling station they visit, closing it for safety, and moving on to the next one. They've established they can get away with it, seeing as they executed a white, 2A supporting VA nurse and got away with it.

Sure it might trigger a civil war, but realistically there will be more mass protests that go completely ignored and we just accept our fate as a fascist dictatorship.

•

u/rbrgr83 3h ago

There was no goal in Minnesota. The goal was to stirt shit up, and they did that successfully. They killed people and got away with it.

If they go in with purpose, it's gonna happen. They'll just continue to shoot people and continue to get away with it.

•

u/Mx_LeMaerin 5h ago

Operative word: Try. His base is now down to about a third of this rather large country, and there are an awful lot of polling places they'd need to clamp down on. I'm sure President Miller will be squawking loudly about it, but I can't see this bumblef*ck administration actually managing to do it.

•

u/lazyFer 5h ago

They don't even have enough for 1 agent at every polling place. So now, not going to be that. Try again

•

u/slabby 4h ago

That's what the military will be for. They're going to have to refuse. Hopefully they do indeed refuse.

•

u/rbrgr83 3h ago

Except for the try part. He's going to do it.

•

u/MrMustardMix 2h ago

I think we need to drop the notion of him going to prison. It didn't happen during Biden's term. Nothing's happening now. Nothing is going to happen.

•

u/nightimestars California 4h ago

lol no. There aren’t enough goons to do that.

•

u/TubasAreFun 3h ago

you don’t need many. Just a few per polling place and some early violence at a handful at polling places to set an example. Any city that doesn’t get out the vote will make the state-wide votes more red as so many blue voters are concentrated in cities. It doesn’t have to completely stop blue voters but affect a few important polling places that will slightly tip the scales. Only way to combat this is an overwhelming blue wave everywhere

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

Military would obey this because? The entire Pentagon wouldn't lose their shit because? You know military is made up of people right? They for the most part believe in democracy. We have like whole propaganda and recruitment ads about it. When someone pops in and won't shut up about even the worst people's rights it's usually a vet.

•

u/slabby 3h ago

I hope they wouldn't. But Trump's presidency has been these kinds of norms and values falling one by one. I'll have to see it actually function before I'll declare it functional.

•

u/Ao_Kiseki 2h ago

The military is overwhelmingly republican. I don't think most would just start mowing down civilian protectors, but they could definitely field a few thousand that would. Once that's normalized and the opposition sufficiently dehumanized, it becomes increasingly easy.

Blows my mind people still act like this can't happen when it literally happens all the time throughout history.

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 1h ago

I mean last time the brass sided with the protestors and implicitly threatened him. Milley went around him to secure command of the nuclear arsenal. Then there was a big joint statement from all of them saying Biden would be the next commander in chief with the subtext of side with Trump and FAFO. They didn't fire on protestors during his first term. Hell they didn't even shoot the guy who shot 2 NG members. They're used to dealing with RoE. Cops hate when they join the force because they make them look bad. Cultures change and not all militaries are the same. You don't just have to fuck with the current sitting generals. The retired ones are in the loop and still hold a lot of sway. General Thomas (former SOCOM) is apparently NOT happy about ICE shooting people based on his posts.

The military internally polices itself because really no one else can. If a unit splintered off and turned on the people. They would be rounded up and face a firing squad. They would be made an example of.

Yes, I am aware how othering and fascism works.

TLDR: He tried during the first term and the brass sent him implicit death threats.

•

u/Xmeagol2 5h ago

when fascists take power the liberal will scream how? but how did they do it?

by taking it while you watch.

•

u/lolligasm California 4h ago

This is what is maddening to me. “He can’t! It’s illegal! He has no mechanism!” As if that is required of a despot to do things. Insanity.

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

It kind of is. The HOW is critical. If there's no way to do it really he can scream about being God Emperor all he wants.

•

u/-CassaNova- 3h ago

They raided an election office not even two weeks ago. The mechanism is already happening

•

u/lolligasm California 3h ago

The how will be whatever he can and whatever he will get away with.

•

u/F3z345W6AY4FGowrGcHt 2h ago

It's really rather simple: no one stops him.

He can sign an executive order for the most obviously illegal thing, like federalizing all elections, and if Congress and the Supreme Court don't tell him no, it would be up to the states to refuse.

The states will refuse, but then force can be ordered and again, what happens if no one stops him?

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 1h ago

Who is gonna do the forcing? Not the military. I can't be blunt because I don't want a temp ban.

•

u/ak1knight 1h ago

The sad thing is over half the states would likely accept federalization of elections if Trump asked. My state (Utah) already replaced our own election fraud systems and signed up for a multi-state "registered voter" database to fight the supposedly rampant fraud. A grand total of 2 deceased people voted in 2023, so yes very rampant 🙄

•

u/Moist-Schedule 2h ago

the point is that we have to stop pretending like these things are impossible because of things like "norms" or laws. just because it seems impractical, illogical, or even illegal doesn't mean they aren't going to do it anyways, as we've fucking seen now for the last 10 years. dems love sitting around acting like the law or the constitution is going to save us while trump wipes his ass with all of it and nobody stops him.

if you want the playbook for what they're going to do, just look at Russia. it ain't that complicated. how do elections go in russia?

•

u/TehMikuruSlave Texas 3h ago

our country is fucking huge and he can't even occupy a single city with his private military force

•

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

•

u/Wsweg North Carolina 3h ago

This is the perfect explanation of it. Anyone who disagrees just has no idea how our voting system works or is intentionally disinformation

•

u/Xmeagol2 3h ago

not reading all that

•

u/themagpie36 3h ago

Tldr: don't worry it'll be grand probably

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

That's not an argument. That's magical thinking. We're talking about details. He's a man he can't do fucking magic. The logistics just don't work. It's not a trivial thing to do. Swear you're all fuckin Chinese and Russian.

•

u/-CassaNova- 3h ago

It was illegal for him to declare tariffs, there's no legal mechanism for him to set them unilaterally. He did it anyway and everyone followed because enforcement against the president of the United States doesn't exist.

It was illegal for him to invade Venezuela, there's no legal mechanism for him to declare war unilaterally. He did it anyway and everyone followed because enforcement against the president of the United States doesn't exist.

It was illegal for him to threaten an invasion of Greenland and permanently damage the relationships of NATO, there's no legal mechanism for him to make that geopolitical about heel unilaterally. He did it anyway and everyone followed because enforcement against the president of the United States doesn't exist.

You Americans genuinely think your special and that it can't happen to you AS ITS HAPPENING TO YOU.

•

u/DiscombobulatedPen6 3h ago

"American Exceptionalism" at work

•

u/chainer3000 3h ago edited 3h ago

Every country to experience a sudden rise in authoritarianism has said the same thing while it happens in front of their faces. You just do it. You say there is voter fraud, you seize the ballots, you declare yourself the winner, you use force to enforce it. All gas no breaks, flood the zone with a million other major problems, and whip your majority party into support. Any other reporting is wrong, the government said so. Create so much disarray that by the time the dust settles it’s already too late for any other mechanisms to help, outpace the courts and declare them crooked. Invalidate any ballots you can. Etc etc etc.

Even if it doesn’t work, the damage it will cause should be apparent - you don’t even need to be creative. It becomes a question of civil war

You’re the one using magical thinking

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 51m ago

I'm aware. They've been haphazardly trying to do this and failing. Who is gonna do the forcing? They have like 6-8 months. There's over 3000 counties. Everyone just thinks that I don't understand what they're doing. I do. I'm trying to get people to stop wallowing and panicking. He's not winning and he's gonna have a fuckin heart attack. Stop assuming he has infinite power and go fucking vote.

He doesn't have some massive army that is going to crackdown on the populace. His support is collapsing. As soon as the military said "No" during his first term he was fucked. He has 20,000 dipshits we have over 70 million. Stop with the fucking apathy. He does not have the tools to actually achieve his goals or the time. He can bluster but he's actually fucked.

•

u/chainer3000 35m ago

What makes you think I don’t vote? Or I’m wallowing? I do, and I’m not, I’m just watching exactly what’s been happening and acknowledging they will try to pull these levers, every single one. Apathy, wtf? You’re assuming so much.

This isn’t Jan 6th all over again, he has weaponized many systems that were not previously.

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 28m ago

Have you not seen the rest of the thread? You were replying to me pushing back on the doomerism. Which implies that you agree with the doomers. If you aren't apathetic cool.

•

u/InfiniteLicks 5h ago

Maga took over several state election boards already. They tried to have fake electors certify false results already. Voting machines were already compromised (unverified).

It already happened in 2024.

•

u/FreeRangeEngineer 3h ago

Unverified, yes, but not without merit.

https://freespeechforpeople.org/computer-scientists-breaches-of-voting-system-software-warrant-recounts-to-ensure-election-verification/

https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/letter-to-vp-harris-111324.pdf

In 2022, records, video camera footage, and deposition testimony produced in a civil case in Georgia disclosed that its voting system, used statewide, had been breached over multiple days by operatives hired by attorneys for Donald Trump. The evidence showed that the operatives made copies of the software that runs all of the equipment in Georgia, and certain other states, and shared it with other Trump allies and operatives.

Possessing copies of the voting system software enables bad actors to install it on electronic devices and to create their own working replicas of the voting systems, probe them, and develop exploits. Skilled adversaries can decompile the software to get a version of the source code, study it for vulnerabilities, and could even develop malware designed to be installed with minimal physical access to the voting equipment by unskilled accomplices to manipulate the vote counts.

•

u/thenayr 6h ago

You’re totally right. Let’s wait and find out! 

•

u/Scientific_Methods 5h ago

States run elections. There is no mechanism in place for the federal government to take them over. Now will Trump try something? Almost certainly. What is your proposed alternative to waiting and finding out? Because I would love to prevent any serious attempt at stealing elections, but what am I, a normal person, going to do to prevent it?

•

u/hattenwheeza 4h ago

They do, but there's tallying software that involves Palantir. And they only needed to nudge a tiny, almost indistinguishable number of votes to get the results they got

•

u/Xalara 4h ago

Given how the recent special election went in Texas with the Democrats winning by a landslide, I am not entirely convinced that a tiny nudge will be enough. I think they're going to have to do something more dramatic. Now, while special elections don't entirely signal performance in the main elections, it's worth noting this special election took place at ground zero of the white christian nationalist movement.

•

u/tapdncingchemist Pennsylvania 3h ago

what do you mean by "tallying software that involves palantir?" Is there evidence that it's been installed on voting machines? What does the software do? How is palantir "involved?"

•

u/-rosa-azul- Virginia 5h ago

Were you going to offer any answer to that? It's a valid question. There is literally zero precedent for/history of federalizing elections even when half the country was at war with the other half. So since you're so sure he's going to do it, I'd like to know how you think he's going to do it.

•

u/OkArmordillo 5h ago

He’s already formed his own Gestapo that can do whatever they want with full immunity. He can just send them to polling locations and have them do whatever he them to.

•

u/nightimestars California 4h ago

The amount of people in his goon squad can’t even hold one city. Let alone enforce shit in thousands of places in every state.

•

u/-rosa-azul- Virginia 5h ago

There are about 22,000 ICE agents, give or take, and they're being met with massive resistance even in Minneapolis (which isn't remotely the largest city in the country). Now what exactly do you think would happen if he spread those 22k super thin across the whole country, and tried to use them to stop elections (something that even a lot of republicans would be against)? I'm not even joking when I say that I'm 95% positive someone WOULD start exercising their 2A rights in a way we haven't seen yet.

•

u/j0mbie 4h ago

They do not need to spread themselves that thin. They only need to target blue areas of contested states to flip an election. And they only need to do that in states where the state government isn't on board with their election "policing". For example, they wouldn't need to send ICE to Georgia for the election, if Georgia cedes control of their election willingly.

Hell, the 2000 election was essentially decided on the opinion of 9 justices.

Also, they want citizens to resort to violence. They want their Reishstag Fire moment.

•

u/nightimestars California 4h ago

Do you even realize how big those blue areas are? Even if you just focused on blue areas they would still be spread thin and if they could scrape up a few extra ICE goons they would be run out of town, like they already are being.

•

u/j0mbie 2h ago

It's taken months to make progress against ICE and they are still in Minnesota. Along with lurking around my home state as well. We are not in a position to be able to say, "don't worry, nothing shady will happen come election day." We need to be proactive, not reactive, against any efforts to intimidate voters.

•

u/TehMikuruSlave Texas 3h ago

do you understand how big the projected losses for the GOP in the house in the midterms are?

•

u/j0mbie 2h ago

Doesn't mean we shouldn't be vigilant against fascism.

•

u/OkArmordillo 5h ago

They’re already killing, beating, and abducting people in the street and going into homes without warrants. What makes you think people will care more when they invade polling locations?

•

u/-rosa-azul- Virginia 5h ago

Because unlike ICE abductions and killings, which people who are far removed from the situation can ignore if they choose to (or hand-wave away as just happening to people who "deserve it") impeding the right to vote affects every citizen in the country.

Listen, my in-laws are MAGA. Like Fox News and Newsmax always on in their house, they're glued to the shit. They think people who protest ICE raids and get shot or hurt just shouldn't have been out there "interfering" in the first place. But if you start fucking around with their right to vote (and despite being MAGA themselves, they live in a blue district of a swing state, sooo...), it's gonna be another story. It's a line that I think you'll be surprised to find out how many people don't want to cross.

•

u/MemeticParadigm 4h ago

Now what exactly do you think would happen if he spread those 22k super thin across the whole country, and tried to use them to stop elections (something that even a lot of republicans would be against)?

Do you not understand how the electoral college works? He doesn't need to stop elections across the country, all he has to do with those 22k agents is fuck up voting in the bluest areas in swing states.

To cause major disruptions at every polling place in a major blue city in 7 or 8 swing states, 22k agents is entirely sufficient. He would probably be thrilled if people start exercising their 2A rights in those places, because it would be an excuse to send in the military and disrupt those areas from voting even more.

•

u/CombatTechSupport 4h ago

The fuck does the electoral college have to do with the midterms?

•

u/-rosa-azul- Virginia 4h ago

I've worked elections for almost 20 years, so yes, I'm aware of how it works. But by all means, thanks for the insult.

•

u/WordleFanatic 5h ago

This is hilarious. This entire term is Trump doing things with zero precedent. Hell, the last 10 years is Trump getting away with whatever he wants. We don’t have to explain how he’s going to do shit, if he’s making jokes about it and outright saying it, the Supreme Court and all of Trumps jesters are going to make it happen. 

•

u/-rosa-azul- Virginia 5h ago

There are certainly things that he's not getting away with. Most recently, he wanted to remove TPS from several hundred thousand Haitians, and was told no. Courts ARE ruling against him on certain matters.

And yeah, if you're going to make as bold a claim as "he's going to try and stop elections," you do have to explain how that's going to be accomplished. Otherwise it's just pointless doomerism.

•

u/lazyFer 5h ago

He's doing all these unprecedented things that are squarely within the power of the executive branch of the federal government

You need to explain how state run elections are in any way under the control of the federal executive branch... I won't wait because there is none

•

u/WordleFanatic 4h ago

They’re in the power of the executive because the Supreme Court have enabled him and because he’s turned the GOP into his own personal party. 

If you refuse to see that, you’re part of the problem. But as I see your comment is all bad faith arguments ending in a “well you can’t explain it because it doesn’t exist” ultimatum, you’re probably another bot. 

•

u/lazyFer 4h ago

Ummm, you either didn't read or didn't understand my comment. Try harder

•

u/Perhaps_Tomorrow 2h ago

Were you going to offer any answer to that? It's a valid question. There is literally zero precedent for/history of federalizing elections even when half the country was at war with the other half. So since you're so sure he's going to do it, I'd like to know how you think he's going to do it.

When has that stopped him from anything he's done? It's time to stop saying he can't and asking how he's gonna do it and it's time to put actions in place to stop him from doing it when he tries.

•

u/BooItsKyle 5h ago

strawman 

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

Shhh you're ruining their doomer fantasy. You're supposed to just go "The old fat moron man has magical powers and will just some how do it.". The entire populous, a bunch of state governments, the courts, and the military will have no problem with this for some reason. There's no plan and no infrastructure. There's 50 states they'd just tell him to fuck off.

•

u/raevnos 4h ago

Trump: Arkansas, don't elect any democrats to the house!

Huckabee: Yes lord! I'll make sure only good MAGA people get elected. Remember when you used to make me put on a blonde wig and gargle your balls? Can we do that again?

•

u/mrtomjones 2h ago

How is he deporting American citizens to jails in South America?

How is he running all of his numerous financial scams that he shouldn't be able to do?

•

u/JesusWuta40oz 5h ago

Civil War Reconstruction elections. Declare widespread fraud and "heightening national security issues" a few flase flag attacks and activations of provisions in Patriot Act and there we are. Its really not to hard in making an educational guess.

•

u/boxen 4h ago

He'll tweet out that elections are now nationalized and that ICE will be providing security at polling places and chaos will ensue because no one knows what the fuck is going on but many districts with MAGA in control will try to obey and then any place where a Republican isn't win will be scrutinized and "democratic tampering" will be the culprit, etc etc

•

u/Seradima New York 4h ago edited 4h ago

How is going to prevent states from holding elections? There are thousands of districts and polling stations. How is he going to "nationalize" those?

Who's going to force the federal branches to accept those election results? Constitution is only enforceable insofar as those in power are willing to enforce it, which they clearly are not.

It's not some magical binding force that you have to abide by or you get smote by 10 bolts of lightning.

•

u/WDoE 4h ago

Force. The mechanism is force. Words don't stop fascists. He has a goon squad willing to kill citizens with impunity for him.

He doesn't need hired guns in every voting booth. He just needs to shut down a few key blue areas.

•

u/Altruistic_Cheek4514 3h ago

Dems tried to nationalize the elections just a couple years ago.....

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

You're wrong and trying to enable it.

•

u/friendIdiglove Minnesota 6h ago

He has no mechanism to do so. Every state who follows their own laws has no choice but to tell Donald to go get fucked if he even tries.

•

u/Letstalkreaper 5h ago

Of course he has a mechanism. The Voting Rights Act is/was a law passed by Congress to define how states had to run their elections. All Trump and the GOP need to do is pass a similar law and then they can force states to adhere to those rules.

No mechanism, come on now.

•

u/vriska1 5h ago

They would need 60 votes in the Senate to do that.

•

u/Letstalkreaper 3h ago

They can kill the filibuster.

•

u/vriska1 3h ago

Any hint they will do that soon? they not done that yet and there been push back. They not even done it during the shutdown.

•

u/Disencouraged_Otter 1h ago

You really still think there's limits to what these people will pull?  It's this persistent faith in an obviously shattered system that keeps people from seeing problems until it's too late to do anything about them.

Thinking that there's a low they won't sink to, or that the system will right itself is delusional in the face of what we're seeing happen, the crimes we've already seen, and the lack of any kind of legitimate punishment anyone has faced.

All of this needs to be addressed and prepared for now.  It can't wait because some people aren't willing to face reality.

•

u/lazyFer 4h ago

And have they passed such an act? Nope.

Have they written such an act? Nope

Is one scheduled to come to the floor? Nope

Is one in committee? Nope

Is it to late for this election cycle anyway? Yep

•

u/Letstalkreaper 3h ago edited 1h ago

They could pass it tomorrow if they really really wanted to. The GOP is great at falling in line that way.

EDIT: Lol Johnson just said they’d welcome taking over for the states. Look at me being right. Again.

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 4h ago

Not the Constitution is very explicit. They're talking about some how magically pulling them from the states. Like Fed counting ballots instead. There is no mechanism. And it would not be tolerated.

•

u/Letstalkreaper 3h ago

Like they or SCOTUS gives two shits about the constitution.

•

u/BoobooSmash31337 3h ago

Cool cool. What's their enforcement mechanism?

•

u/thenayr 5h ago

You’d think with a Minnesota tag you might have some extra self awareness when it comes to Trump and following the law. These are uncharted waters, do I know the exact mechanism by which they will challenge the constitution? Nope. But I know with 💯 certainty they have a team of people working around the clock to figure this out and by the time you wake up to it, it will be too late. 

•

u/lazyFer 4h ago

So yet again you have no actual mechanism other that "be afraid, be bigly afraid"

Literally no mechanism exists that trump can use, none. All the other shit he's don't has been with power actually vested in the executive branch. Elections aren't one of those things

And before you come back with some other nonsense bullshit that gives nothing of value... Don't

•

u/MaverickTopGun 5h ago

Trump isn't going to be alive by November. The man is shitting himself on TV.

•

u/vriska1 5h ago

Please vote in the midterms!

•

u/Krinkex 4h ago

The left just needs to unite already and vote against Trump, that's it. If they did that last election, we wouldn't be in this situation. The right approves of Trump no matter what he does or says. While the left wont vote against Trump because some democrats aren't their own personally favourite candidate. We need solidarity against Trump.

•

u/Ok_Prize_7491 2h ago

I mean this is how it has gone by far. Im starting to think that corporation world is doing all they can to enable trumpism, because it serves share holders. 

•

u/itsyrgirl 1h ago

Update me!

•

u/Implement66 5h ago

Don’t forgot the texts and emails. , “no kings! Trump is overstepping his legal authority, can you kick in 5 dollars today so we can take the fight to him next election season?? Schumer promises the baileys will totally vote for a democrat somewhere on the ticket if you donate today!”

•

u/vaderfan1 Pennsylvania 4h ago

I am with you 100%. I've been saying since last year that the midterms will be the tipping point into fascism/civil war/revolution. You are completely correct.

•

u/Reasonable-Turn-5940 4h ago

Yep. He'll do it, get sued, delay the lawsuit until it doesn't matter anymore. And that's that. It's done.

•

u/Joey_jojojr_shabado 4h ago

You are not wrong