President Donald Trump is once again pushing a dangerous fantasy about American elections — this time openly urging Republicans to “take over the voting in at least 15 places” and calling for the GOP to “nationalize the voting.” The remarks, delivered Monday, double down on Trump’s long-running, evidence-free claim that undocumented immigrants are voting en masse for Democrats.
Trump made the comments during an appearance on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s newly relaunched podcast, where he lashed out at Republicans for not being “tougher” and claimed, without evidence, that migrants were “brought to our country to vote.”
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places,’” Trump said, according to Politico. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
What exactly Trump meant by “nationalize” remains unclear. But it fits a familiar pattern: he has repeatedly suggested that the federal government should seize control of election administration — a power the Constitution clearly assigns to the states.
Trump also recycled his false insistence that he actually won the 2020 presidential election, claiming, “we have states that are so crooked … we have states that I won that show I didn’t win.” He again alleged, without proof, that illegal voting tipped the results against him — claims that have already been rejected in dozens of court cases.
He went even further, asserting that he won Minnesota “three times,” despite losing the state in every presidential election he ran in. Trump called Minnesota a “really rigged state,” blaming “the Somalians and the theft,” a reference to a welfare fraud investigation involving some members of the Somali community — an allegation unrelated to voting.
Trump also teased supposed revelations coming out of Georgia, saying, “you’re going to see some interesting things coming out,” while referencing last week’s FBI raid at a Fulton County elections office. The raid resulted in the seizure of 2020 ballots and records. Fulton County officials have since announced plans to sue the Justice Department, calling the seizure unlawful and demanding the ballots’ return.
Trump’s campaign forced multiple recounts in Georgia in 2020, all of which confirmed Joe Biden’s victory by roughly 12,000 votes. Trump then lost a string of legal challenges attempting to overturn the results.
Fueling further questions, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was spotted at the Fulton County raid, despite her role being focused on national security. Trump later claimed Gabbard is “working very hard on trying to keep the election safe.”
Since returning to the White House, Trump has aggressively reopened the 2020 fight. His administration has demanded voter rolls from nearly every state, sued jurisdictions that resisted, and pardoned allies convicted of efforts to overturn Biden’s win.
So far, no such order has survived legal scrutiny. Judges have already blocked key parts of Trump’s previous election-related executive actions. But Trump’s message on Monday was unmistakable: he’s not done trying.
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