Trump’s latest 'power grab' is blatantly unconstitutional: analysis

During an early February appearance on the podcast hosted by former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, President Donald Trump doubled down on his repeatedly debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud. And he seemingly called for a federal takeover of voting administration in at least 15 states.

Trump told Bongino, "The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over.' We should take over the voting in at least many — 15 places — the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked, and they're counting votes. We have states that I won that show I didn't win."

Trump's comments followed an FBI search of ballots in an election center in Georgia, one of the states that Trump won in 2016 and 2024 but lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

In a February 3 column, MS NOW's Steve Benen stresses that Trump's "nationalize the voting" proposal is blatantly unconstitutional and warns that his latest "power grab" must be taken seriously.

"The president has long struggled with the basics of constitutional law, his oath of office notwithstanding," Benen argues. "But Republicans can't legally 'nationalize the voting.' The U.S. Constitution, which Trump swore to uphold, delegates power to the states to conduct elections. His bonkers conspiracy theories have been thoroughly discredited, but even if they were rooted in fact, GOP officials couldn't simply launch an electoral power grab at will."

Benen continues, "It might be tempting to discard Trump's latest nonsense as inconsequential. Sure, he might want to 'nationalize the voting,' but since that's not a legal option, his unconstitutional wishes are irrelevant. But it's not quite that simple."

Trump's "nationalize the voting" comment, Benen warns, is "fresh evidence of his antipathy toward democracy."

"While Trump doesn't have a credible plan to take over the nation's system of elections," Benen explains, "his increasingly frequent and radical declarations have been unsubtle. They've also begun to result in concrete action: It was just last week when FBI agents raided an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing ballots and voting records as part of the president's conspiracy theory, which included Trump personally thanking the agents for their efforts."

Benen adds, "This coincided with Trump's Justice Department pursuing an aggressive campaign to acquire voter rolls from states where Democrats won in 2024. Those concerned about democracy, voting rights and the integrity of election results don't have the luxury of simply shrugging with indifference at the president's latest nonsense. It's part of a broader pattern of behavior that extends well beyond ridiculous whining."