“You have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections,” said conservative radio host Wayne Allen Root in a Tuesday interview with President Donald Trump.
He was encouraging the president to use his powers to unilaterally enact the restrictions proposed in the SAVE America Act legislation ahead of the midterm elections in November. As war with Iran drags on and Americans deal with high gas prices and inflation, Democrats seemed poised to potentially inch out Republicans in Congress during the elections, and that would leave Trump without GOP majorities in the House and Senate for the remainder of his term.
“Let me just say that stranger things have happened,” Trump told Root. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Under the proposed SAVE America Act that has been passed in the House but has so far failed in the Senate, voters would need to provide a voter ID with a photo and proof of citizenship to cast ballots. While Trump has been pressuring GOP lawmakers to get the legislation passed, the Bipartisan Policy Center has noted that citizenship is already a requirement to vote and that instances of noncitizen voting are rare. Furthermore, it said that many eligible citizens don’t have access to documentary proof of citizenship.
Last Friday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Trump and Senate conservatives reached a deal to defer action on much of the SAVE America Act until after the August recess, The Hill reported. The upper chamber returns from its summer break on Sept. 14, it added.
The day after Trump’s interview with Root was posted on YouTube, left-leaning Center for American Progress published a report that claimed the Trump administration is “waging an unconstitutional effort to subvert voters’ will in the November 2026 midterm elections.” It also said that the administration has already “seized unprecedented control over the federal government.”
Democracy Docket, another left-leaning outlet, described Trump’s comment on Root’s show as “the latest in a string of alarming remarks Trump has made about U.S. elections.” It mentioned that Trump “has previously said he wanted to “nationalize” voting and regretted not ordering the military to seize ballots and election machines after his loss in the 2020 presidential election,” and called Root’s national security emergency suggestion “nonsensical and unconstitutional.”
“No president has ever declared a national emergency or used wartime powers to run, alter, or cancel elections,” said the Democracy Docket. It also said that Trump’s previous attempts to unilaterally change elections have been blocked by courts.
Audacy has reported on Trump’s suggestion that the GOP should “take over elections” in more than a dozen states and of his frequent election fraud claims. So far this term, Trump and his administration have made controversial moves regarding mail in ballots and the Election Assistance Commission.
Regarding the president’s comment during the Root interview, The Hill has reached out to the White House, the outlet said.
