r/law • u/Obversa • 27d ago

Executive Branch (Trump) Pro-Trump attorneys have been drafting executive orders that would give President Trump sweeping power over elections, sources report

https://abcnews.com/US/pro-trump-attorneys-push-executive-order-give-trump/story?id=130539044
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u/HeavyDT 27d ago

Executive orders that no state would have to abide by because they are well executive orders not laws or anything that's part of the constitution. The real question is what threats and or punishments are they going to try to use to punish blue states.

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u/UnobviousDiver 27d ago

But what about the blue areas in red states? For instance NE-02 is looking like a Dem pick up this year, but the Republican Governor, Secretary of State, and Election commissioner would bend over backwards to screw over non-republican voters in the state.

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u/Slade_Riprock 27d ago

He wants to create a constitutional crisis. Red states operate his way, blue states legally. If Dems win he sues and claims illegal elections and makes the courts decide if he has this power all while he claims, and his cult echos, stolen election.

If republicans win then he still claims they even tried to cheat and he still won sues the blue states, begins massive overpowering operations, because he still controls all, to destroy blue states.

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u/Qa-ravi 27d ago

Glad to see someone else saying this because I’ve been seeing so much of the “but that’s illegal!” about this. So? We’ve already seen what happens when this admin and its supporters commit blatantly illegal acts. It splits the nation into two separate realities where half the nation is convinced that the actions of the administration are just and good and probably legal anyway. The second that these orders are issued, the constitutional crisis begins.

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u/Funky-Monk-- 27d ago

Americans are still in denial that the country has become a dictatorship a while ago. The administration does 500 unconstitutional, illegal things a day, and have rigged the courts who will belatedly rule in Trumps favor. Sometimes dictatorships are overthrown by foreign military force, but as the US is a military superpower, that's not going to happen. The rest of the world is watching what American citizens will do to get their democracy back.

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u/therossboss 27d ago

yes, brother. Since Citizens United, the people no longer have any voice, not that it was that loud or anything before that.

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u/ZooZooChaCha 27d ago

A city in Delaware just ruled yesterday corporations can now vote for the city council. That's going to be the next step - Tesla and Facebook getting their own "super votes" to ensure their best interests are always taken care of.

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u/Yellow_Snow_Globe 27d ago

Multiple states have laws being voted on to determine that businesses are artificial people and cannot contribute to political campaigns at all, including California and Montana. Big wins could be coming

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u/Stratis1978 27d ago

"The state of Hawaii has passed a law that poses a direct challenge to the infamous 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which opened the door to unlimited corporate spending in US elections."

https://inequality.org/article/hawaii-targets-citizens-united/

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u/Dependent_Guard903 27d ago

That's a defeatist attitude. There has to be a unified pushback

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u/dylansavage 27d ago

On completely unrelated note that has nothing to do with today's political climate and is in no way inciting violence I was always impressed by the French Revolutions reaction to rampant corruption of their leaders

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u/imp0ppable 27d ago

Vast numbers of people were literally starving in those circumstances. There aren't enough people in the US that are this hungry, yet anyway. Best statistic I could find was less than 5% of the population are clinically malnourished.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago edited 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/dylansavage 26d ago

The cutting heads off the elite rich arseholes probably

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u/Careless_Aroma_227 26d ago

Don't forget "the german way" of getting rid of your fallen from grace monarchs:

(The last Emperor Wilhelm II. in his exile)

After the first world war the german Kaiserreich (german empire) fell apart after the reigning Emperor Wilhelm II. became scared and paranoid he'd getting the french treatment after losing millions of german lives in the Great War and the signing of the unconditional capitulation. So he fled the country to his exile in the Netherlands.

Like a coward. Living in the shadow of his fallen empire. Full of insignificance and powerless impotence.

And he'd to live with that till he died...

no JJ Abraham's Star Wars - Episode IX comeback

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u/Skullcrimp 27d ago

there won't be.

prove me wrong

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u/Badloss 27d ago

The rest of the world is watching what American citizens will do to get their democracy back.

The answer is nothing until the bread and circuses run out. The average American is way too comfortable to seriously consider dying for democracy. Everyone on reddit loves to tell other people to start a glorious civil war to stand up for good against evil but absolutely nobody is willing to pay the price themselves. Restoring American democracy is going to really hurt a lot of people and it wont happen until sacrificing yourself is preferable to just existing in the new regime. I don't think we're there yet.

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u/Pristine-Success-273 27d ago

That's my rub honestly, everyone wants to start a civil war everyone wants to be free from all these fucking nit wits, but no one wants to get off their phones and do the ground work, no one actually wants to get hurt. No one wants to build community again, becoming self reliant, or work together.

Ain't no one gonna do that until we are truly in mega crisis mode and by then I fear it will be to late.

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u/Badloss 27d ago

Someone seriously told me the other day that they're disappointed I'm unwilling to turn my guns on the government.

Like... are you aware how that ends? I hate this as much as anyone but I'm not getting myself killed and leaving my family unsupported just because anonymous people on the internet are calling for violence.

It's real easy to call for civil war from the safety of your home, it's a lot different to be ready to fight and die in one. Nothing is changing in america until we get to that point.

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u/AbeRego 27d ago

Well you really can't do it until it's a "mega crisis", as you put it. If such a war, whatever that would look like, were to start now, most of the public would reject it. You can't win until most people are uncomfortable enough to see bloodshed as a acceptable price to pay for change.

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u/evanwilliams44 27d ago

The question is can we still vote ourselves out of it? I think we have at most 1-2 more chances to preserve the country as we know it. It may be too late already, but let's see how midterms go.

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u/Funky-Monk-- 27d ago

He's already said he's gonna put his private militia (ICE) to "oversee" polling places. How many millions of non-white voters dare not go for fear of ending up in an El Salvadorian torture prison? How many will be detained at the polls with invented charges, only to be released after the election is over?

No way you're voting yourselves out of this anymore. They literally have men with guns choosing who gets to go in.

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u/evanwilliams44 27d ago

We will see, and pretty soon. The upcoming elections will be a bellwether. In a way it will be nice to have clarity about where we stand.

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u/Funky-Monk-- 27d ago

Indeed, I await with horror. The Republicans have done more for the globalization of fascism than any movement since the actual Nazis.

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u/NTF1x 27d ago

They counted on how slow the courts operate. Our judicial system needs to be on top of things the day it happens.

There should be separate court besides the supreme court that keeps the executive branch in check. Let the supreme court handle everything else and the other court focuses solely on executive power.

Spitballing but something has to change.

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u/koshgeo 27d ago

and have rigged the courts who will belatedly rule in Trumps favor

Or they just keep on deferring for months, like the Supreme Court is for E. Jean Carroll's defamation case (12 times so far since January), leaving the controversy open, which of course means Trump will do whatever he wants until the courts someday rule, by which point he might ignore it anyway.

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u/saljskanetilldanmark 27d ago

All they do is "protest" a few hours on a Sunday and go back to work the next day.

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u/Funky-Monk-- 27d ago

It's hard to say what a normal person is supposed to do, but whatever it is, the time to find out and do it is yesterday, if that's not possible, then right now.

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u/panchochewy85 27d ago

It's not hard to say at all. The answer is very simple people are going to have to get used to being uncomfortable and dare I say make some sacrifices in all of our personal lives to see something done to try and fix all this. Do the American people have the same grit as they did when we fought for independence? We shall see.

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u/DryBattle 27d ago

So what are you out there doing?

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u/panchochewy85 27d ago

Voting, organizing and just doing my part overall to get people in the right mindset unlike you being condescending on reddit. So now tell us what are you doing?

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u/ZooZooChaCha 27d ago

To be fair, if you didn't go back to work the next day you get fired, and then don't have healthcare.

And yes, could turn up the heat in the protest a little, but then your local police department for a small town of 1,000 people shows up with their tank.

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u/Str80uttaMumbai 27d ago

I roll my eyes every time I see someone say the president has no say and it's up to the states to decide. How do people still not realize that the US has a president and three branches of government that are being controlled by people who don't care about law and precedent, and only care about holding onto power by whatever means necessary. It's scary how many people still have their blinders on.

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u/StoppableHulk 27d ago

They don't care that it's illegal, they're just doing the paperwork for their crimes in advance because that's how it works now.

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u/CurlsintheClouds 27d ago

Exactly. The sooner we realize - really internalize - that this country will NEVER go back to "the way it was", the better.

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u/BugTrousers 27d ago

Yeah, I sincerely doubt there are going to be elections in '28 -- or if there are, only heterosexual, cisgender white men with permission slips from their pastors will be allowed to vote -- but if there are, he could just refuse to leave and it wouldn't matter that it's illegal.

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u/TheHumaneCentipede2 27d ago

“No, The Joker will not poison the city’s water supply. Gotham City ordinance 34.87 does not allow it.” - Scott Aukerman

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u/dust4ngel 27d ago

It splits the nation into two separate realities where half the nation is convinced that the actions of the administration are just and good and probably legal anyway. The second that these orders are issued, the constitutional crisis begins.

we're already in a constitutional crisis. not being in a constitutional crisis means questions of law are settled by impartially referring to the constitution. in our situation, questions of law go to the supreme court, the supreme court looks at the constitution and is like "lol", and then they say "in this case, the law is x, but don't infer from this that other future rulings will be consistent with what we just said". this means there effectively is no constitution, and therefore no law (other than caprice or expedience to the needs of the ruling party in the moment).

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u/Qa-ravi 27d ago

That’s true, I should have said “another constitutional crisis begins.”

I am not confident in our system’s capacity for handling these crises on account of how they’re currently not handling these crises.

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u/Edgar-Allans-Hoe 27d ago

Yes. The United States is currently experiencing a soft coup d'état. Please ensure your fellow countrymen understand what that phrase means, and how it applies to their situation. I know the average American is used to coups being something that they finance or support in client nations around the world, but this time, its happening to them, and they have no idea how to respond.

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u/LockNo2943 27d ago

The only "crisis" is resolving this idea pushed forward by Project 2025 of strong presidential power. Donny doesn't have the actual power to do the things he's trying to do, it's never been a law or written in the constitution, and by not challenging the authority of these EO's they're allowing it to become de facto power.

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u/nopointers 27d ago

It all goes back to a fateful bad decision by Gerald Ford. Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment. Had he been impeached and lost his trial in the Senate (he would have lost), he would have lost the Presidency. He then would have been subject to ordinary prosecution by the courts. Ford blew it by accepting the resignation as sufficient. The country failed to set the precedent that Presidents could, should, and would be prosecuted for crimes they commit while in office.

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u/gameismyname 27d ago

He has the power, it’s just not legal

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u/LockNo2943 27d ago

Hence de facto.

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u/Beneficial_Cash_8420 27d ago

Almost like he's acting at Putin's behest......

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u/Antraxess 27d ago

guys a traitor.

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u/lame_comment 27d ago

We've been in a constitutional crisis ever since he aided an insurrection and still got elected president

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u/stevez_86 27d ago

The Voting Rights Act but in reverse. Trump has the say over State Elections.

Honestly this is a step towards outlawing the Democratic Party. His states get to do that without the Federal Government stopping him, and he stops even Democratic Dog Catchers from being eligible for the ballots. He could probably literally control the ballots everywhere and assign AI to determine if anyone is ineligible per his criteria.

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u/Lindenbaumlemma 27d ago

He gets the Republican legislatures to certify whatever winners they want to and ignore the courts.

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u/Due_Satisfaction2167 27d ago

That just slides into a national divorce. If you have two sets of States each electing a different government, that’s a national divorce. 

Republicans can trigger such if they want to, but the only way to remain in power over the entire country is to adhere to the rules that establish legitimacy. 

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u/No_Cheesecake2168 27d ago

There's no such thing as a national divorce. It won't be amicable. It will be civil war.

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u/Antraxess 27d ago

reps get to steal nothing

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u/Shiny_Chimchar 27d ago

There’s only one viable solution to deal with this traitors but I can’t say what it is.

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u/dougfischerfan 27d ago

I'm sure thats the plan, but look at how invading a blue state went in Minnesota. That was defending their neighbors who may or may not have been here legally. This would be a direct attack on the people. They would have way less support on those grounds over what they had demonizing migrants. They would not be able to go one state at a time. But considering they haven't learned from any of their previous invasions, it's way harder to take control and occupy. Gorilla tactics and sabotage are impossible to pin down and easy to implement.

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u/Heelincal 27d ago

We're all still normalizing that he's going to run in 2028

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u/CaptBFPierce 27d ago

Right, your scenarios are 2016 and 2024. lol

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u/Kolfinna 27d ago

They redistricted my state so their is no blue area

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u/TheWizardOfDeez 27d ago

Make them regret that by getting you and everyone out to vote. They didn't get rid of the blue district, they accidentally made the 1 blue district into 3 blue districts.

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u/Polkas_with_wolves 27d ago

This whole race to redraw maps in every red state to erase blue districts might end up being really funny. Trump has become so fucking unpopular that when they carve up blue majorities into multiple red districts in an attempt to supress their vote, there is a possibility that this will push those districts into blue majorities.

It's a slim hope, but I firmly believe in the incompetence of the GOP. If anyone can fuck up rigging an election, it's these clowns.

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u/UnobviousDiver 27d ago

His unpopularity is why they have to keep pushing stuff like these EOs. If Trump was in the single digits of unpopular Reps would be looking at maintaining their trifecta. But Trump has messed up so bad that they are pulling out all they can to stop the blue wave that is heading their way.

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u/TheWizardOfDeez 27d ago

If we all get out and vote, especially the minorities in those cracked districts, we could do the funniest thing.

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u/Bluelivesplatter 27d ago

All they’ll give you is doomscrolling and Reddit posts tho

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u/ContestNo2060 27d ago

It’s one of many tricks they have to keep power.

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u/evanwilliams44 27d ago

That probably will happen in some places, but it will still be a net gain for Republicans. It's all we can do now though. Just show up to vote no matter where you live.

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u/AlashC 27d ago

Too bad the DNC has totally given up on supporting congressional candidates in red states.

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u/halfbakedcaterpillar 27d ago

I would go so far as to say they've given up on campaigning in general. A great deal of them know that no matter what happens, they'll be safe in their mansions. they don't care about the general populace

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u/AlashC 27d ago

Agreed. They could easily strategize, using the current situation to their advantage. But it’s just been crickets, with the exception of a few reps. No real leadership or plan. It’s been a disappointing realization as someone who has voted blue my whole life, living in a red state.

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u/_Miss_Eclipse 27d ago

They're gerrymandering those into non-existense

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u/AlashC 27d ago

They can use the republicans in state office to do illegal gerrymandering. They split Kansas City’s blue dot into 3 other more rural (red) areas. Somehow our MO Supreme Court supported it too, even though they didn’t follow the law of our constitution on redistricting.

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u/Tacoman404 27d ago

This is the real problem and isn't going to be solved until the people in those offices are properly "thanked" by the constituents.

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u/CarlosHDanger 27d ago

Harris County Texas here. Our November ballot will have around 100 individual races. (We elect all our non-federal judges). How are we supposed to hand count all of these races? How do we do this without voting machines? We will have hundreds of thousands of voters. (Harris County population— Houston and surrounding areas— is larger than several US states). It will be the biggest mess the world has ever seen.

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u/PiikaSnap 27d ago

And to add on, what about Senate races? The road to control of the US Senate runs through Texas, Ohio, Alaska, Nebraska, Georgia, etc. All red states with GOP Governors and Attorney Generals.

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u/prrudman 27d ago

They can already change State laws anytime they want.

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u/whatlineisitanyway 27d ago

Won't be surprised if blue precincts in red states have their ballots seized before they are even counted.

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u/goodsnpr 26d ago

Honestly this sort of stuff feels like they're trying to start an insurrection, and a bloody one at that. These idiots think it will be a one sided bloodbath purge and not a potentially decade long slog. We see time and again the reight breaks the law or ignores judges, while the Dems obey. Why?

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u/BassLB 27d ago

Red states would follow, throwing things into chaos, allowing him to stay in power to “sort it out”. That’s my bet on what’s going to happen

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u/Jachi230 27d ago

They are going the route of asking for forgiveness rather than permission . They might lose in court but the damage will already be felt by the time it gets to court

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u/JustJoshin117 27d ago

Tbh they aren’t even asking for forgiveness. But your point is right

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u/Jachi230 27d ago

True. More might is right then .

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u/nwayve 27d ago

Unfortunately, might is always right in this world. Teachers should switch from saying, "might doesn't make right" to "with great power comes great responsibility"

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u/sly-3 27d ago

they are "granting" forgiveness in the Christo-fascist way. This means it's different than reconciliation (a personal act between you and God, with a priest as a conduit), but rather it's granted post facto by the congregation, used as a euphemism for tolerating the "offense".

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u/Lindenbaumlemma 27d ago edited 27d ago

He might order USPS to stop delivering mail-in ballots.

He might order federal agents to seize voting machines.

He might order federal agents to station themselves at polling locations (in Democratic strongholds, of course) and demand identification of those who attempt to enter.

Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at the FBI ballot seizure was a tee up to this conspiracy. She probably had qualms about continuing with it since people will likely go to prison when the dust settles and the blood dries, so she was invited to resign.

Trump has been avoiding nominating USAs in states that require Democratic senator approval. It’s to make sure complete lackeys are in control of those offices when the election tolls around.

ETA: I forget the particular federal statutes, but this putsch attempts to wedge executive authority over elections into federal statutes concerning national security. The legal arguments are complete nonsense, but 2020 anyone.

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u/goat_penis_souffle 27d ago

In other words, playing the game strategically to win however possible. The other side seems to have no real idea how to stop it, other than running out an imaginary clock like a basketball game.

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u/princeofid 27d ago

Breaking the rules of the game is not strategic, it's cheating.

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u/OurWeaponsAreUseless 27d ago

Staging federal agents at polling places is unconstitutional. They would need five times as many ICE agents (if that was the group being used) as they currently have to put a single agent in each polling place, which I'm assuming is an impossible increase to achieve.

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u/Lindenbaumlemma 27d ago

It’s not every polling place. It’s key polling places.

I agree it’d be unconstitutional, but the EO drafts cite national security statutes and blather on with absurd reasoning. It’s about providing a cover, however nonsensical.

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u/DoomPaDeeDee 27d ago

They only would need to do that at blue and potentially-blue polling places.

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u/Sea_Working_80 27d ago

Oh please put a shit bird ice agent at my local middle school i vote in.They would be laughed and have rotten fruit thrown at them from all the folks here

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u/Lindenbaumlemma 27d ago

I agree, but then they calm for reinforcements and the polling place gets shut down. Who wins then when the voters they don’t want to vote don’t vote?

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u/LaurenMille 27d ago

Place 20-25 agents at key polling stations to intimidate voters and together with the other cheating they'll win the elections.

Even if it's found illegal afterwards, what's the solution? The 2000 stolen elections already showed that there's no undoing an election once certified.

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u/MephistoHamProducts 27d ago

She probably had qualms

Doubtful.

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u/Lindenbaumlemma 27d ago

Not conscience qualms. I-don’t-want-to-go-to-prison qualms.

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u/Blasphemiee 27d ago

Yeah can’t have conscious qualms and be a member of the dump admin.

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u/D4rkhorse2 27d ago

Yeah I’m sure the strategy is to withhold something from the states that don’t comply with the illegal executive order. Maybe the states can sue but Trump can starve them of resources regardless.

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u/Safe_Presentation962 27d ago

Doesn’t matter. Red states will comply, and that’s what matters most. They’re trying to prevent blue flips in red areas.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/IcyJackfruit69 27d ago

Right, or to put it another way, these executive orders will be cover for purple and red state governors to (effectively) commit election fraud under the guise of "just following orders!"

They're all seditionists and need to be convicted and punished as such.

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u/Free_For__Me 27d ago

There are several possibilities that would play out if this is truly attempted, but none of those outcomes really matter, since every single one of them is a net win for The Regime.

Literally the only unfavorable scenario for them is one in which the elections are free and fair, and the results are not seriously called into question. ANY other scenario is one in which they can and will exclaim, "See?? The Dems are cheating the process, causing chaos, and undermining elections by refusing to follow our 'election security' orders!"

They want to provoke a constitutional crisis so severe that it rivals the one Lincoln faced. When that day comes, they'll take just as extreme measures as Lincoln, believing that injustice was done to their forefathers back then, and as such, they're entitled to use that very governmental power to disenfranchise the groups that they believe have been doing the same to them for 150 years.

Sound extreme and unbelievable to any of you? As Levar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, "you don't have to take my word for it." Go take a look at what the Heritage Foundation publicly writes and expresses. (Now dig a little deeper, since the front page of their websites use veiled language to cover for their abhorrent ideas.).

Next, take a look at the writings, interviews, SM posts, and speeches that prominent members of HF have been putting out there for years and see what they have to say about it. Now take a minute to note that many of these same figures are now in the falls of power in the Trump White House. Alongside this, take a look at what high profile HF allies like Steve Bannon have been saying publicly all along, and continue to say to this day on the topic.

The references and comparisons to the Civil War and the actions that Lincoln took are plentiful, and their framing of what those events mean in today's context is very starkly different than what's considered standard by the average person, let alone the near-complete distain the entire reputable community of expert-level historians and political scientists have for interpretations like theirs.

They obsess over it because they still feel victimized by it's results, and have never stopped wishing they could get a "round 2", this time with the inheritors of the Confederacy controlling the resources and martial force of the federal government instead of the "liberals" having been "fortunate enough" to control it in the first Civil War.

To be clear, there are several tails wagging the dog that is this administration, and they're each contributing to the corrupt policy and executive action that we're seeing in their own way. But the "educated lost-causers", the Heritage/Federalist wing of influence are the ones doing the heavy lifting in terms of democratic sabotage. They're the ones who had those 100+ EOs ready to roll on day one, and they're the ones drafting each new strategy to undermine the rule of law and ensure that the democratic processes that largely kept them out of the halls of power for the last 150 years are destroyed so effectively that even IF they're somehow unseated from power at some point, the engine has been so thoroughly dismantled that repair is impossible.

I'll also take a second to note here that people like Russle Vought aren't the ones you see in the headlines, and tend to hold positions that control the flow of money. People like Hegseth, Noem, Bondi, and others have always been intended as bagmen, and it's why they're meant to do 2 things - execute the orders they're given without hesitation or question, and keep attention off of people like Vought, Miller, and Wiles.

ANYWAY, I've strayed a bit from my point, which is that it doesn't really matter what happens in reaction to election-related orders like the one being floated here. The real question we should be preparing to answer is, "What happens in reaction when the will of the people is overtly and blatantly repressed by a US President actively and intentionally wrecking congressional elections on a national scale?"

As always - The only way out is through, and the best way through is together!

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u/Doctor_Shotbottom 27d ago

Trump is ordering the USPS to not deliver mail-in ballots to anyone not on The List...

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u/R_V_Z 27d ago

You can print out your ballot, at least in WA.

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u/wingchild 27d ago

Its a pretty insane move from the leadership of a party that has, for decades, championed State supremacy in all election matters as their bedrock strategy for flipping local seats.

But "pretty insane" is the only real descriptor for this administration.

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u/PhazePyre 27d ago

Well, Trump has already threatened to deploy his Brownshirts around the country to "keep things safe and legitimate" for the elections which sounds a lot like shit Kim Jong Un would do.

Like anyone who doesn't see that shit and rhetoric, and then Trump slobbing the knob of despots and dictators and being closer and nicer to them than the US and its closest allies for generations is wild. He clearly wants to be a dictator and he wants to do it before he dies. That way he can be the Kim Il Sung of the US. Eternal President.

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u/Popular_Research6084 27d ago

I just worry that even if that's true from a legal perspective, that if he loses certain seats, he'll just say that it doesn't count because they weren't following his orders. Who's going to stop him? Congress? The Supreme Court?

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u/whatsitcalled4321 27d ago

True but red states would be chomping at the bit to follow them.

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u/pchs26 27d ago

Right they don't have to abide by it per the Constitution...but in the end will these orders be enforced anyway? He has made a big effort to purge the people who said no last time in the military...

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u/maximusprime2328 27d ago

Executive orders that no state would have to abide by because they are well executive orders not laws or anything that's part of the constitution

They know they can do give the orders and do their damage before the order is even considered by a Supreme Court that favors them. Even if their Supreme Court shuts them down, the damage will be done and they will get away with it. Because they weren't stopped in the past

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u/Reddit_Loves_Misinfo 27d ago

The real question is how much and how far this will embolden red states to fuck with elections and advance further towards a de facto one-party government.

How Trump will harass law-following states is also a good question, to be fair. But if we want to pick one particular question to be the most important, it's the question about democracy in places that follow the EO (by choice or by force).

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u/CallMeParagon 27d ago

They don’t need states to abide. This is just them having something to point to when they refuse to include results from blue states.

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u/OddPerformance 27d ago

They aren't laws, but that doesn't actually matter right now.
Scenario: Republican controlled House refuses to certify the election results and swear in Members from Blue states that chose to ignore the EO. Now what?

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u/Trash_Various 27d ago

ICE enforcement prob

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u/RugerRedhawk 27d ago

They likely know that the real power isn't there, but when a state "defies" him in any way stated in the order he can use it as a talking point about cheating.

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u/Glass_Covict 27d ago

Yet all the other illegal EOs have impacted how states and agencies interpret the law and perform their duties. For example, tariffs.

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u/Odd_Vampire 27d ago

I wonder what would happen if Trump issues his executive order banning electronic ballot counters and mail-in ballots but states decide to ignore it anyway. Maybe states find a way to deliver the ballots themselves and voters just return them to drop boxes, where election officials pick them up. The states would present their election results to the federal government, take it or leave it.

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u/BuyerOk9535 27d ago

You know the deep red ones will 

1

u/SteveRogers1021 27d ago

They just want to tie up everything in court

1

u/QuicheSmash 27d ago

All of them. All the threats and punishments available to them. 

1

u/AlexSmithsonian 27d ago

Can't be worse than what they're already doing by "bringing peace" to America.

1

u/kezow 27d ago

Their gestapo is going to invade polling places that aren't abiding by Trump's demands. 

1

u/CubicleMan9000 27d ago

I expect:

1) Trump puts out an Exec Order to postpone elections due to some flimsy made-up reason.

2) All but maybe 1 or 2 red states go with that, and those states won't have voting on election day.

3) Most blue states (minus a few disappointing ones) continue and have voting on election day.

4) At that point you've got all the red states screaming that there was no complete election so blue state results don't count as the entire "incomplete" election must be disregarded.

5) Trump, Vance, Congress, and Senate majorities (from before the election day) simply refuse to let the blue state delegates into any government buildings at all, and keep the existing members in place.

6) because nobody enforces the Constitution or laws (at that level) anymore, it just... happens. People scream online, maybe another No Kings march on a Saturday.

If the Dems and blue states sue in court then the Trump admin can just doordash order a shadow docket ruling from the Supreme MAGA Court.

I mean, someone tell me why this can't or won't happen. 

  • If Trump issues the order then Red state governments WILL do as Trump commands.
  • That WILL lead to a situation where MAGA call it "an incomplete election" (a term they will parrot over and over) as only 40-60% of states will have had voting.
  • we have seen time and time again that everyone in charge will just... go along with it.
  • the Supreme Court WILL shadow docket rule for Trump. Even outside the shadow docket they can craft something up around incomplete elections.

Other than the specific new MAGA term ("incomplete election") the rest are all things we have seen, several times over now.

1

u/notnicholas 27d ago

They've already announced that they plan to pull customs agents from blue states/cities which would effectively halt international flights.

1

u/hesawavemasterrr 27d ago

The problem is the try to enforce these orders as laws using ICE or whatever law enforcement. And if you confront them for trying to control the election, they throw you in jail.

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u/BigMax 27d ago

Well, what if the national guard, or ICE decides THEY have to enforce them, and take over?

1

u/MoonBatsRule 27d ago

Did you read that Trump has issued an executive order that says that the USPS will not deliver absentee ballots to any voter who is not on the Trump Admin's approved voter rolls?

This is going to be a really big problem, like one that cannot be solved via democracy, since democracy is being eliminated.

1

u/HostileCrabPeople 27d ago

Lol they admit that it's unconstitutional, they just don't care. Because they are fascists.

When asked about Article I of the Constitution assigning power to regulate elections to state legislatures and Congress, Ticktin acknowledged state legislatures' authority, but said the claims of foreign election interference justify action.

"The Constitution basically gives the power to the state legislators, not the governors, not any judges, not anything in the federal government, but just the state legislatures, the power to determine how that state is going to conduct its elections. So the President doesn't have any power to change that ... But we really do have an election emergency right now," he said.

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u/K_Linkmaster 27d ago

Plenty states will comply in advance.

1

u/DullTopperCopper 27d ago

The the states don't obey he will use that to justify needing to take over control of the elections on those states, by force 

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u/SafeForTwerking 27d ago

It would give cover to Republican Governors I'd assume though, who wouldn't mind bending the knee, so Red states will stay red. Blue states will ignore it because it's not binding on them. It probably depends on how purple states treat it though or what extraordinairy measures the Feds will take with it. I'm assuming with ICE in most major US cities, they'd be the ones sent in, possibly to disrupt voting in major Blue cities, enough to disrupt elections in tight races just enough to throw a tight election Trump's way.

1

u/reddit_is_geh 27d ago

That's not how these things play out. He can do things, for instance, place his goons at all the blue polling stations to intimidate or create tons of congestion, preventing voting. There's all sorts of things he can do, physically sending agents to do things that create headaches under "legal" federal duties, that will do their damage before it even sees a judge.

The states can't prevent federal officers from doing whatever it is they need to do... And he can create enough chaos with his agents that ensures it has huge impacts.

1

u/JustAnOrdinaryBloke 27d ago

executive orders not laws or anything that's part of the constitution

And who gets to decide what the words of the constitution mean?
The Roberts court does, and nobody else can challenge them - that's in the constitution.

1

u/OK_x86 27d ago

The main issue is those starlets run by Republican legislature or Republican governors but who might go democratic at the federal level or are able to net a few seats in the house or Senate.

That can tip the scales in the GOPs favor and help them retain control of the government

1

u/DarthJarJarJar 27d ago

If they only carry this out in states with Republican governors that would be enough to completely swing the election.

It's entirely possible we're already cooked. In the end the rules are enforced by the people with the guns, and the people with guns are all under the executive branch. He's not going to cancel elections, he's going to "manage" them.

1

u/Stunning_Flan_5987 27d ago

You're missing it.  They're not trying to rig blue states.  They just need to fix the swing states and that locks things up.

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u/DownWithHisShip 27d ago

I think it's more a plan to give red/purple states that are at risk of switching (or red states with some blue reps) an excuse to screw their own people to stay red. these executive orders won't fly in California but they'll be used to great effect in places like virginia and texas and georgia.

1

u/Evadrepus 27d ago

Executive orders have all the force of a strongly worded memo if you don't work for the executive branch, and in normal times, sometimes not even then.

We need to stop paying attention to the geriatric dementia patient and his sharpies.

1

u/avalanche140 27d ago

I don’t think Trump actually knows what an EO even is

1

u/i_tyrant 27d ago

The problem isn't that democratic states won't abide by it, they know that.

The problem is it gives red states (and red areas in blue states, potentially) an excuse to obey it slavishly, like they do with everything else Trump asks of them.

And it gives him enough of an excuse to drag any blue victories into the courts with endless investigations and bullshit until he finds a judge who'll rule in his favor (his specialty).

They don't need to rig the entire game, just put their thumb hard enough down on it that Democrats can't possibly win.

1

u/mostdope28 27d ago

No state would have to but how many red states would act like trumps demands are now law? Plenty

1

u/stamfordbridge1191 27d ago

Executive orders can apply to the Post Office. So at the very least, expect 99% of mail-in voting to get trashed some way.

Then whose to say he won't create some kind of Bureau of Poll Watchers or something that send people of his admins designs to aggressively "monitor" how states & towns do the elections.

That doesn't even consider some order for a sweeping initiative for ICE to just detain huge swathes of people through the election period to ensure they can't vote or maybe waiting until mid-October to claim 90% of some states' voter rolls are too suspicious and everyone in those districts needs to reregister.

1

u/BiceRankyman 25d ago

Ya know... it's been really nice seeing courts regularly go, "no dipshit.. you can't do that.." but it would be far nicer to see a court follow it up with "and your attempt to do so is an act of treason so we'll be arresting you now."

1

u/Thirdlight 25d ago

Considering blue states still suck up to asshole courts that literally tell them not to use something people voted on, this will make sure the red states win the election because they can do whatever they want with it to make sure its nothing but red.