Editorials & Other Articles

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(133,830 posts) Tue Feb 3, 2026, 07:49 PM Yesterday

Inside Trump's Plan to Nationalize Elections

On Monday, Trump told podcaster Dan Bongino that Republicans should nationalize the elections. And now we know that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is the point person for this assault on democracy.

Her new gig includes a pop-up appearance at an FBI search warrant in Georgia, hanging with agents at the Bureau’s Atlanta field office, and hitting up President Trump on her cell phone so he could thank what must have been a bewildered squad of agents for doing his bidding. Now, with Trump’s declaration to Bongino, it’s clearer than ever that this is all part of a corrupt plan by an authoritarian president to take over our elections.

Gabbard’s been serving as President Trump’s DNI, leading the entire U.S. intelligence community by coordinating foreign intel collection, analysis and counterintelligence across 18 different agencies. As DNI, she’s supposed to ensure the White House receives the most accurate and useful analysis of global developments so policy makers, especially the president, can make smart decisions in the national interest. Yet Gabbard was apparently, in government parlance, under assigned. Now the conspiracy queen with a penchant for dictators seems awfully busy trying to enable a wannabe dictator.

Last week, we learned that the DNI, who has no criminal investigative authority, spent the last several months looking for election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. We’re told that is why she showed up at a Fulton County, Georgia, election facility with the FBI as they executed a court-authorized search to seize all voting ballots and records related to the 2020 presidential election. Understandably, Gabbard’s new gig, and the discovery that Trump ordered her to Atlanta, drew instant concerns and ominous warnings about what this means for the future of free and fair elections America.

https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/inside-trumps-plan-to-nationalize

9 replies

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Highlight:

Inside Trump's Plan to Nationalize Elections (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Yesterday OP

Another butt-kisser that he'll throw under the bus eventually. Dave Bowman Yesterday #1

MaddowBlog-'Republicans ought to nationalize the voting': Trump eyes radical power-grab LetMyPeopleVote Yesterday #2

He will fail. Nt Fiendish Thingy Yesterday #3

If we Federalize elections then we get to use popular vote! Tim S Yesterday #4

That's not how that works. Nt Fiendish Thingy Yesterday #5

If states aren't allowed to run their own elections.... Tim S Yesterday #6

You don't understand how things work Fiendish Thingy 23 hrs ago #9

Inside Trump's Plan to Steal Elections Skittles Yesterday #7

Our best boy has another bright idea. creon 23 hrs ago #8

Dave Bowman

(6,907 posts)

1. Another butt-kisser that he'll throw under the bus eventually.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Feb 3, 2026, 07:54 PM

Yesterday

LetMyPeopleVote

(176,497 posts)

2. MaddowBlog-'Republicans ought to nationalize the voting': Trump eyes radical power-grab

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Feb 3, 2026, 07:55 PM

Yesterday

Those concerned about democracy don’t have the luxury of simply shrugging with indifference to the president’s latest conspiratorial nonsense.

Four weeks ago: Trump floated the idea of canceling future elections
Three weeks ago: â€œWhen you think of it, we shouldnâ€™t even have an electionâ€
Yesterday: â€œThe Republicans ought to nationalize the votingâ€

But itâ€™s not just rhetoric: all of this has come against a backdrop of concrete action.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-03T14:05:32.050Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-ought-to-nationalize-the-voting-trump-eyes-radical-power-grab

Partway through the interview, Bongino briefly referred to crime rates, to which Trump responded with a meandering rant across a variety of unrelated subjects, including his bizarre beliefs about election administration.

Trump: "These people were brought to our country to vote, & they vote illegally. The Republicans should say, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that I won that show I didn't win. You're gonna see something in Georgia"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-02T18:03:24.971Z

In the course of an unsettling tirade about his “landslide” victory in 2024 (which clearly wasn’t a landslide) and his belief that undocumented immigrants were brought into the U.S. specifically to vote against Republicans (undocumented immigrants cannot and do not vote), Trump elaborated on his vision for the nation’s electoral system.

“You know, it’s amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it,” the president told Bongino. “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over.’ We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”.....

Trump has long made clear that he rejects the idea that Americans settle their differences at the ballot box, and in recent weeks he’s offered fresh evidence of his antipathy toward democracy. On the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks, for example, Trump briefly floated the idea of canceling future U.S. elections. A few weeks ago, he told Reuters that he’s so impressed with himself and his record that “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”

While Trump doesn’t have a credible plan to take over the nation’s system of elections, his increasingly frequent and radical declarations have been unsubtle. They’ve also begun to result in concrete action: It was just last week when FBI agents raided an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing ballots and voting records as part of the president’s conspiracy theory, which included Trump personally thanking the agents for their efforts.

This coincided with Trump’s Justice Department pursuing an aggressive campaign to acquire voter rolls from states where Democrats won in 2024.

Those concerned about democracy, voting rights and the integrity of election results don’t have the luxury of simply shrugging with indifference at the president’s latest nonsense. It’s part of a broader pattern of behavior that extends well beyond ridiculous whining.

Fiendish Thingy

(22,436 posts)

3. He will fail. Nt

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Feb 3, 2026, 08:00 PM

Yesterday

Tim S

(78 posts)

4. If we Federalize elections then we get to use popular vote!

Reply to Fiendish Thingy (Reply #3)

Tue Feb 3, 2026, 08:17 PM

Yesterday

If presidential elections are “Federalized” so that states no longer run elections then there would be no need for State Electors nor the Electoral College.

Simply stated: Popular vote wins!

Someone needs to tell Trump this.

Fiendish Thingy

(22,436 posts)

5. That's not how that works. Nt

Reply to Tim S (Reply #4)

Tue Feb 3, 2026, 08:20 PM

Yesterday

Tim S

(78 posts)

6. If states aren't allowed to run their own elections....

Reply to Fiendish Thingy (Reply #5)

Tue Feb 3, 2026, 08:46 PM

Yesterday

then they have no State Electors. If states do not get to run their own elections & have no electors, then the Electoral College becomes obsolete. Instead of tallying votes per state, tallying is done across the nation, resulting in a popular vote.

You can’t “Nationalize/Federalize” voting in only some select states — it’s an all or nothing proposition.