Our most recent book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration has been full of ominous developments
President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that his military strike against Iran may have been driven in part by claims that the country interfered in the last two U.S. presidential elections.
In response, democracy advocates warned that a dangerous and unconstitutional plan is coming into view, in which Trump uses an Iranian war to claim a national emergency that allows him to take control of the midterm elections.
On Truth Social, Trump linked to an article by a far-right news site, and also posted the text of the article’s headline:
“Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with United States.”
The article claims that “Iranian intelligence sought to undermine Trump’s reelection bid in 2020 through a variety of election influence efforts.”
A draft executive order to declare a national emergency to allow President Donald Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who have said they are in coordination with the White House.
A version of the order, dated April 12, 2025, has been circulating among anti-voting groups, and some progressive groups, since last year.
Peter Ticktin, a Trump ally and a leader of the effort, provided the April 12 version to Democracy Docket. It’s titled: “Establishing Security, Integrity, and Transparency for United States Elections with Protections Against Foreign Interference.”
A social media account affiliated with the Maryland chapter of the Election Integrity Network — the anti-voting coalition led by conservative lawyer and Trump ally Cleta Mitchell — originally posted the April 12 version last spring.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that it had obtained an early version of the order, but it did not publish it.
The Post additionally referred to what may be a more recent version of the order, which it said “claims China interfered in the 2020 election.” The version provided by Ticktin to Democracy Docket does not mention China or 2020.
Lawyers and legal experts have explicitly said that an order giving the president the power to take control of elections would be blatantly unconstitutional.
Trump said Friday he has “never heard about it.”
READ THE DRAFT ORDER
