Trump Weighs 2026 Election Emergency as Approval Sits in the Low-30s
Updated
Updated · New York Magazine · Aug 18
Trump Weighs 2026 Election Emergency as Approval Sits in the Low-30s
3 articles · Updated · New York Magazine · Aug 18
Summary
Trump is reportedly considering a national security emergency declaration to assert control over the 2026 midterms, a move framed around expected Republican losses that could trigger gridlock and investigations.
No federal law gives a president emergency authority over elections: the Constitution leaves election administration to states and Congress, and the National Emergencies Act creates procedures—not new powers.
Wayne Allyn Root urged Trump on air to declare such an emergency, and Trump replied that “stranger things have happened,” while already amplifying unsupported fraud claims about 2026 contests.
Courts would likely be the immediate check if Trump tried it; judges have recently blocked several of his emergency-power moves and rejected both his 2020 election challenges and early 2026 voting interventions.