Trump Can’t Use War or Other Excuses to Take over American Elections

The Contrarians won't let you — Publisher's Roundup 56

Donald Trump’s determination to make voting more difficult for those who do not support him is no laughing matter. That was highlighted by his push in the Senate this week for the SAVE America Act, which would erect many new and needless voting hurdles for no good reason. And it was followed by shocking talk of a possible new executive order declaring a state of emergency to take over election administration. Now he is claiming Iranian election interference as part of the pretext for his illegal war with that nation, commingling his two most toxic policies of the week.

Those are serious matters. Still, I could not help some bemusement at coverage of such threats to “nationalize” elections as if they were something new. Trump has been actively trying to tamper with our elections for the past year. The good news is that he has met ferocious opposition at every turn and has so far failed — and that record suggests that his latest stratagems and whatever else he tries will fail as well.

(White House photo)

Contrarians stopped the last elections executive order

One of the most consequential of Trump’s election takeover efforts of 2025 was the March 25 executive order on voting. Framed as an “election integrity” measure, the order sought to unlawfully impose new voter registration requirements, direct an independent bipartisan agency to alter election procedures, and introduce barriers that risked disenfranchising millions of eligible voters.

The order blatantly exceeded the president’s constitutional authority. Our system is clear: Congress legislates. States administer. And presidents cannot unilaterally rewrite election rules.

My litigation colleagues and I met this threat in the courts, and we won an injunction. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down key portions of the order.

That success was thanks in no small part to you Contrarians. My pro-democracy litigation is supported by your paid subscriptions. Because we are owned by no one, all profits go to help with cases like this one.

That experience offers an important perspective for the present moment. It signals that if our elections are attacked again, the democracy movement — including those who go to court and the courts themselves — stand ready to defend our democracy.

That’s why I’m so confident that Trump will fail if he tries another executive order, this one to declare a state of emergency to take over elections. The press reported that this possibility has been discussed in the White House and that Trump’s allies have been circulating a draft EO. As I explained when I testified at a shadow hearing in the U.S. Senate this week, there is absolutely no constitutional or other legal basis for such an order, and the courts will sweep it aside as they did with the last one.

War is no excuse to tamper with Elections

In the context of a possible emergency EO, Trump’s Truth Social reference to Iran interfering in the 2020 and 2024 elections was ominous. It came early Saturday morning as he launched a war on that country without congressional authorization. One cannot help but wonder if he could use this or similar pretexts to declare a nonexistent emergency and take control of elections.

On Friday, Trump denied that he is considering an election takeover order. But it came in a terse exchange with a reporter who did not have time to probe the issue. Besides, we can hardly take his word as gospel. If Trump does try it, my democracy litigation colleagues and I stand ready to go to court in the blink of an eye and defeat his illegal use of presidential power, as we did with his last elections executive order.

Trump’s legislative gambits will keep failing, too

Of course, executive action is not the only trick Trump has up his sleeve. He and his cronies are also attempting to push legislation to give him control of elections. The main vehicle is the so-called SAVE America Act, which passed the House and may or may not get a vote in the Senate. It doesn’t protect elections. Instead it disqualifies voters over trivial paperwork and overly burdensome requirements. Voters who have faced generations of barriers to obtaining birth certificates or passports — along with students, married women, seniors, and disaster-displaced families — could be denied the right to vote.

The central rationale for this campaign — that existing safeguards are inadequate and non-citizens are voting in significant numbers — is a myth. As we wrote in our report with LULAC on The Big Lie of 2024–La Gran Mentira, there are so few incidents of this kind that they approach zero statistically. Even the Heritage Foundation’s own data revealed this reality.

The good news is that at least so far the Senate doesn’t seem to be falling for it. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) poured cold water on right-wing fever dreams that this voter suppression bill could get around the filibuster.

We will need to keep a sharp eye on the SAVE America Act in the Senate until it is good and dead. But the experience of 2025 suggests that Trump’s legislative end-arounds are doomed to fail.

For example, Trump thought he could deal with the likely coming blue landslide flipping the House by legislative redistricting. That is, creating more red House seats through friendly state legislatures redrawing maps in places like Texas. There, he connived with state GOP leaders to take away five Democratic congressional seats and give them to Republicans.

With your support, we helped stop him — first by representing brave Texas legislators who fled the state to help sound the alarm. And then by going to court to defend California’s Prop 50, which added five Democratic seats to cancel out the five stolen ones in Texas.

That’s why I’m confident that Trump’s legislative games, like the SAVE America Act, will also fail. And if he tries other crazy measures like sending immigration agents to polling places, we are ready to fight those as well and win in the courts of law and public opinion. Your paid subscriptions support both.

We are so grateful to you for making possible both our pro-democracy litigation and our pro-democracy Contrarian coverage. See for yourself in this week’s round up of our top content, put together as always by my wonderful Contrarian colleagues:

Tariffs + unaffordability

Millions of Americans Are Paying for Health Insurance But Can’t Afford to Get Sick

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure wrote on the GOP’s decision to let tax credits expire. The tax credit made real insurance affordable — and already many Americans are going without. “A healthcare system that forces people into plans that don’t protect them is not working.”

Americans and the Supreme Court Agree: Trump Overstepped on Tariffs

April Ryan reported on what should have been the end of Trump’s tariff fight — the Supreme Court decision that his capricious, retaliatory global taxes are unconstitutional — but which, of course, was not, given that “Trump never learns any lessons.”

Okay, What’s Actually Happening with the Tariffs?

Justin Wolfers joined Jen Rubin to unpack Trump’s lack of economic strategy, why the U.S. stock market is lagging behind the rest of the world, and where the growth in the job market is actually coming from.

Black history — present and future!

Trump’s Plot to Make the Lost Cause Great Again

Jenice R. Robinson and Tianna Mays wrote on W.E.B. Du Bois’ essential warning about democratic backsliding — and how Trump and co. are determined to bring back this shame in a new iteration of the Lost Cause.

Exploring the Fraught and Fruitful Alliance Between Black and Jewish Americans

Meredith Blake wrote on a new documentary series that looks at the complicated history of Black-Jewish relations in the United States. Says host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., early on: “Under the floorboards of Western culture run two streams. One is anti-semitism, the other is anti-Black racism.”

From Award Shows to Basketball Games, Caucasians Keep Shouting the N-Word

Carron J. Phillips took on the despicable obsession, in all-too-public cultural precincts, with uttering “the one word that should never be said” — and why people are saying it: “Donald Trump is proof of how far you can go by hating Black people.”

Faith for (and in) democracy

End Religious Nationalism in Politics

Sarah Trone Garriott joined Jen to discuss what it will take to end the weaponization of faith in politics. “Religious communities need to be very wary of how the state might try to use them to get what they want.”

Reclaiming Faith for Democracy

On the podcast this week, the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, spoke on how religious communities can and should be a critical part of a broad pro-democracy coalition. “People are willing to put their lives on the line to show up for one another.”

Rebutting & Resisting

The Rip-roaring Response to Trump’s Lies

After Trump’s deplorable State of the Union, Jen wrote on why Democrats are in better shape than one might think. “Think of Tuesday as a preview of the November election, when Democrats will run on the arguments they made Tuesday night and MAGA Republicans will have to defend that mess of a regime.”

A State of the Union for the People

In their own words — as spoken to on-the-ground reporter Ciera Stone — see why members of Congress skipped Trump’s speech. “Trump can spare us the speech.… He owes us a lot of money.”

The Contrarian Covers the Democracy Movement

This week, we saw State of the Union protests nationwide, as well as more protests in Tennessee, California, New Hampshire, Texas, and a word from God. Get help organizing from Indivisible, find protests in your area at mobilize.us, and send us your protest photos at submit@contrariannews.org.

Cartoons, Culture & Fun Stuff

This week, our cartoonists covered sore losers (Come and Take It, Nick Anderson); poor winners (Biggest Hockey Win Ever, Michael de Adder); whatever Kash Patel was up to (Kash Patel Presents: FBI, RJ Matson; Air Traffic Control, Nick Anderson), and where the investigation spotlight should be shining (Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling).

The Success of ‘Heated Rivalry’ Is a Lesson for the Men’s Hockey Team

Meredith Blake gave us the only take you need on Team USA’s disappointing, misogynistic bowing to the Trump administration. “The gay romance became a cultural phenomenon by celebrating a non-toxic form of masculinity. Team USA should take some notes.”

“We Will Abolish ICE”: The New Protest Songbook

Tim Dickinson wrote on how federal brutality in Minneapolis unleashed a new wave of protest music — from Springsteen to the streets—and rounded up entries in the new songbook.

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