▲ U.S. President Donald Trump
Concerns and expectations are intersecting across U.S. society as U.S. President Donald Trump has made remarks leaving the door open to declaring a state of emergency ahead of the November midterm elections, the British daily The Guardian reported on the 23rd, local time.
The Guardian reported that voting rights experts are increasingly concerned as the Trump administration has been trying to stoke doubts about the fairness of U.S. elections, including through recent document releases.
It noted that expectations are growing among "election deniers" and some right-wing podcasters that the Trump administration could declare a national emergency, and that President Trump did not rule out the possibility when asked.
In a prime-time speech at the White House on the evening of July 16, President Trump reiterated claims that U.S. elections are vulnerable to foreign interference and repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election, in which he lost to Joe Biden, was "stolen."
Following that speech, on July 29, right-wing commentator Steve Bannon, who hosts the video podcast "War Room," predicted that President Trump would declare a national emergency under national security grounds under the pretext of "protecting" the elections.
He said, "Something major is coming, so get ready. It's coming. It's coming. Clear your schedule for the last week of August. It's coming."
Bannon served as White House chief strategist from January to August 2017, during the early days of the first Trump administration.
Subsequently, in an interview with right-wing outlet "Real America's Voice" released on the 11th of this month, President Trump was asked by host Wayne Allyn Root whether he was willing to declare a national security emergency citing the elections.
President Trump did not rule out the possibility, saying, "I'll just say this: Stranger things have happened in this world. I'll leave it at that."
Aria Branch, a partner attorney at the Elias Law Group who previously handled lawsuits blocking Trump's election administration executive orders, argued that the Trump administration is attempting to create grounds to declare some form of emergency in order to transfer election management authority to the federal government.
She said, "I think the president is looking for any opportunity to do so."
Santiago Mayer, executive director of the Gen Z-led voter advocacy group Voters of Tomorrow, said, "To be frank, I think it is fairly obvious that he is losing touch with reality. Therefore, we must prepare for every scenario."
He said, "We have been preparing and thinking about every possibility and every situation he might attempt for a long time," adding, "Ultimately, our focus is on ensuring that enough voters turn out so that whatever he tries to pull off, he cannot succeed."
The Guardian reported that when asked about the possibility of an executive order declaring a national emergency regarding the elections, the White House stated it would not answer hypothetical questions, but did not rule out the possibility either.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said, "Radical progressive Democrats are preventing Americans from having full confidence in elections by refusing to vote for the SAVE Act."
She added, "The American people overwhelmingly support this commonsense legislation that ensures Americans, and only Americans, determine our elections.
President Trump is entirely right. If we don't fix this issue now, we lose our country."
The "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act," which President Trump and the governing Republican Party are pushing to legislate, includes provisions to strengthen procedures for verifying citizenship during voter registration and to mandate presenting a photo ID when voting.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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