When President Donald Trump looks like he’s gearing up to meddle in an election, still-raw history suggests he should be believed.
He showed yet again Monday he’s obsessing about the midterm elections — two days after a Democratic upset in a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas offered another ominous sign for the GOP in November.
“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 said. “We have states that are so crooked, and they’re counting votes. We have states that I won, that show I didn’t win.”
The president’s latest threat to the integrity of America’s elections came in an interview with Dan Bongino, until recently the deputy director of the FBI, who has now reclaimed his mantle as the “podfather” on his MAGA-boosting show.
In substance, Trump’s comment was nonsensical, since the Constitution requires states to run elections. That principle has been upheld multiple times in court, including in cases brought by the president falsely alleging fraud.
Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution could hardly be more plain. “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.”
There is no mention of the president. That’s deliberate.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said Trump demonstrates an “incredible lack of understanding about the constitutional protections that our founders created so wisely when they established our nation.” He added: “The founders, when they drafted the Constitution, were very concerned about an unscrupul
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