{"id":49684,"date":"2026-08-13T12:46:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49684"},"modified":"2026-08-13T12:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:47:31","slug":"expert-explains-the-real-danger-behind-trumps-midterm-national-emergency-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/expert-explains-the-real-danger-behind-trumps-midterm-national-emergency-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Explains the Real Danger Behind Trump\u2019s Midterm \u2018National Emergency\u2019 Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Expert<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Voters cast their ballots at South Oldham Middle School on May 19, 2026 in Crestwood, Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Jon Cherry\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is \u201ctrying to scare people into thinking he has more power than he has,\u201d said UCLA law professor Rick Hasen.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aug 12, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> raised<\/a> eyebrows on Tuesday when he didn\u2019t rule out declaring a \u201cnational security emergency for elections\u201d ahead of the 2026 midterms that would let him restrict the use of mail-in ballots and require voters to provide proof of citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rick Hasen, a law professor at UCLA and an expert in election law, told<\/a> The New Republic in an interview published Wednesday that simply declaring a national emergency related to election security wouldn\u2019t override states\u2019 voting laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"President<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump Doesn\u2019t Rule Out \u2018National Security Emergency for Elections\u2019 Floated by Far-Right Host<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"President<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Trump Is Trying to End Our Democracy\u2019: Alarm as President Attacks Elections Ahead of Midterms<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe United States<\/a> Constitution does not give the president power over elections,\u201d Hasen explained. \u201cWe have a decentralized election system. Most of our election rules come from states, from state legislatures passing statutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though Trump cannot legally seize control of the country\u2019s elections systems, Hasen said, his \u201cnational emergency\u201d declaration could be used as a tool to discredit Democratic victories in the midterms and also to more generally intimidate Democratic voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s trying to scare people into thinking he has more power than he has,\u201d Hasen said. \u201cThat itself makes him powerful, because people are deterred by him. And maybe it deters people from showing up to vote in elections… We should not be complacent at all, even if Trump doesn\u2019t have the power to actually do some of the stuff he\u2019s threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hasen also speculated that Trump\u2019s executive order instructing the United States Postal Service to not deliver mail-in ballots to states that have not shared their voter data with the White House<\/a> was also part of an intimidation operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo everybody\u2019s confidence in the elections goes down,\u201d Hasen said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s like, \u2018Why mail back my ballot if the post office isn\u2019t going to deliver it? Why show up at the polling place if there\u2019s going to be armed security there?\u2019 All of these things are, I think, scare tactics. And we shouldn\u2019t give Trump the power\u2014we shouldn\u2019t give Trump room in our heads to panic over whether or not we\u2019re going to have free and fair elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an analysis<\/a> published Wednesday, progressive commentator Thom Hartmann<\/a> described Trump as a \u201ccornered rat\u201d who will attempt any trick to maintain Republican majorities in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be up to us and the individual states to make sure our voices are heard and our votes are properly counted,\u201d Hartmann wrote. \u201cWe should be thinking of this as an election continuity exercise that may not be necessary but, like wearing a seatbelt, could be essential if Trump tries to repeat 2020 in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hartmann also listed a number of recommendations for Democrats to combat Trump\u2019s election subversion attempts, including educating voters on the constitutional limits of the president\u2019s powers, being prepared to arrest any federal immigration<\/a> enforcement officers who appear at polling locations, and encouraging early voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor over a decade now, close races immediately produce Republican claims of fraud,\u201d Hartmann added. \u201cLawyers, election officials, and communications systems must be fully prepared to deal with lies and propaganda long before November.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Voters cast their ballots at South Oldham Middle School on May 19, 2026 in Crestwood, Kentucky. \u00a0(Photo by Jon Cherry\/Getty Images) Trump is \u201ctrying to scare people into thinking he has more power than he has,\u201d said UCLA law professor Rick Hasen. Brad Reed Aug 12, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) President Donald Trump raised eyebrows… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2088,1],"tags":[2369],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49685,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49684\/revisions\/49685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}