From renewed demands that his Republican Party “nationalise” voting to his continued insistence that past elections were stolen, President Donald Trump is intensifying his criticism of the American electoral system as the United States approaches this year’s midterm elections.
The latest proposal from Trump, who has consistently refused to accept his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, is to strip some states of their role in administering elections and instead place that responsibility under federal control.
Speaking this week on a podcast hosted by former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, Trump said Republicans should move to take over election administration in several parts of the country. “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least—many, 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” he said.
The remarks, which drew sharp condemnation from Democrats, come at a politically sensitive moment for the Republican Party. With the November 3 midterm elections approaching, polls indicate declining approval ratings for Trump in his second term, while Republicans have suffered multiple defeats in recent local elections, raising the prospect of losing control of Congress.
Despite this, Trump has continued to amplify long-discredited allegations of widespread voter fraud, arguing that such claims justify federal intervention in elections. When questioned in the Oval Office on Tuesday about his nationalisation comments, he told reporters, “I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway.”
He reinforced that position during an interview with NBC News aired on Wednesday, alleging that “there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt.” Trump added that if elections “can’t be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen.”
‘No debate’
The president’s statements have renewed concerns among critics that he is challenging the constitutional foundations of the US electoral system.
“The Constitution clearly says that states are the ones that do the running” of elections, Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, told AFP. “There is no debate about this.”
Levitt, who previously served in the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, explained that state control of elections reflects not only the country’s vast geographic size but also principles of separation of powers and safeguards against corruption.
Nevertheless, Trump has shown little sign of retreating from his efforts to reshape how elections are conducted. The 79-year-old president, who has openly warned that he could face a third impeachment if Republicans lose control of Congress, remains unwavering in his belief that the 2020 presidential vote was rigged, despite repeated court rulings affirming its legitimacy.
“It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that,” Trump declared to global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. “People will soon be prosecuted for what they did.”
Since returning to office last year, Trump—a billionaire businessman—has expanded presidential authority to levels critics describe as unprecedented, deploying the full weight of federal power to address what he views as injustices stemming from the 2020 vote.
On January 28, the FBI seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and related materials in Georgia as part of a controversial investigation into Trump’s election defeat in the southern state. The operation was notable for being overseen by Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of National Intelligence, a role traditionally focused on external threats rather than domestic electoral matters.
‘Cast doubt’
At the same time, the US Justice Department has initiated lawsuits in roughly 20 states in an effort to obtain voting records. The administration has also repeatedly, and falsely, alleged that undocumented migrants are voting illegally on a large scale.
Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told AFP that such moves appear to be “part of a broader strategy to, at least, cast doubt on the validity of the upcoming elections.”
“At worst, it suggests he may try to use the federal government to actually interfere in how states run elections in 2026,” Hasen said, adding that civil society organisations should remain alert.
One such organisation, the NAACP, accused the Trump administration of attempting to wear down public resistance. The group said it was “looking to exhaust our nation with these deplorable and unconstitutional antics in hopes that we will grow tired and concede.”
Some critics fear even more extreme actions. They warn that Trump could seek to deploy law enforcement agencies—or even the military—to influence the conduct of the midterms.
Those fears have been fuelled by comments from prominent Trump allies. Steve Bannon, a former aide during Trump’s first term and a leading figure in the “Make America Great Again” movement, suggested a heavy-handed approach this week.
“We’re going to have ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) surround the polls come November,” Bannon said on Tuesday. “And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”
What you should know
President Donald Trump is escalating rhetoric and actions that challenge the traditional state-run system of US elections as the midterm polls approach.
By reviving debunked fraud claims and proposing federal control of voting in some states, his administration has alarmed legal experts, civil rights groups, and political opponents.
Critics argue these moves risk undermining constitutional principles, eroding public trust in elections, and setting the stage for unprecedented federal вмешательство in the democratic process.
