Trump orders Homeland Security to tell states who can vote

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about election security during an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 16, 2026. SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS

In a speech that President Donald Trump advertised since the beginning of the week, and which was described as a "trap" to trick journalists that even many White House insiders reportedly opposed, the Republican leader ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pressure states to give him voter information.

"I've also ordered DHS to notify every state about non-citizens on their voter rolls and direct them to revoke all ineligible voters' registrations immediately," Trump said. From there, he pivoted to connecting his Homeland Security order to his signature voter suppression bill.

"But most importantly, election security demands that Congress pass the SAVE Act." Trump said. "How easy is that to do — unless you want to cheat? The only reason you wouldn't do it is you want to cheat, because your policies are so bad and your candidates are so pathetic. that you can't get elected any other way. This landmark bill requires that all voters must show photo voter ID."

In response to Trump's rhetoric about using DHS to intimidate state officials to provide voter rolls, the anti-Trump Republican group known as the The Lincoln Project wrote that "Donald Trump is declaring war on America's election officials."

Meanwhile conservative commentator Sam Stein wrote, regarding Trump's accusation that China tried to turn the election against him, that "one of the documents that Trump has disclosed tonight has a section noting that China targeted the BIDEN campaign and does "not currently intend to covertly interfere to try and sway the outcome of the election."

Dan Vicuña, the Senior Policy Director for Voting and Fair Representation at Common Cause, told AlterNet last month that Trump is trying to delegitimize the 2026 midterm elections after anticipating they will turn against him.

“What they all add up to is a desire to avoid any accountability to the voters in the midterm elections — to ensure, to preordain the outcome of a midterm that he thinks is going to go badly for him,” Vicuña told AlterNet.

Trump's 2020 election conspiracy theories emerged immediately after the November 2020 presidential election, when Donald Trump refused to accept his loss to Joe Biden. Rather than conceding defeat, Trump embarked on an unprecedented campaign to delegitimize the election results, falsely claiming the election was "stolen" through widespread fraud—claims that were rejected by election officials, courts, and his own administration.

Trump's central claim was that mail-in voting, which surged due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions, enabled massive fraud. He alleged that ballots were fabricated, voting machines were rigged, and election officials in Democratic-led cities had conspired to inflate Biden's vote totals. These allegations had no factual basis. Election security officials called the 2020 election "the most secure in American history," and Trump's own Attorney General William Barr found no evidence of widespread fraud.

Despite dozens of lawsuits challenging election results being dismissed by courts—including by judges Trump himself appointed—Trump continued pushing the narrative. He pressured state officials to "find" votes, most notably in a recorded call asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the results. Trump also encouraged supporters to march on Washington on January 6, 2021, which culminated in a violent riot at the Capitol as Congress attempted to certify the election results.

Throughout 2021 and beyond, Trump maintained the "Big Lie," using it to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters and establishing himself as the leader of a movement centered on the false claim that the election was stolen. The conspiracy theories inspired continued protests, lawsuits, and legislative efforts to restrict voting access, leaving a lasting impact on American politics and public trust in elections.

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