“Five alarm fire!” Trump issues STUNNING election announcement

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, this is. the worst I told you so that we've ever. had because just a few weeks ago we were. talking about all the crazy ways that. Donald Trump could point to foreign. countries, thanks to Tulsi Gabbard, interfering in the 2020 election as a. pretext to be able to suppress votes in. this election. And lo and behold, that. is exactly what happened today with a. bombshell memo dropping. that claims China interfered in the 2020. election and that's being used by the. Trump team as a basis to declare a. national emergency that would unlock.

extraordinary presidential power over. voting. So, first question at the top, is this going to work for Trump? >> It is not going to work for Trump, but. it goes to show just how far he and his. administration and his supporters are. willing to go to subvert elections to. try to rig the outcome and to try to. destroy democracy. This is an absolute. wake-up call for everyone who has sat on. the sidelines and has told me and you. and others who have been sounding this. alarm that it that that we are going too. far and that we're we're we're scaring.

people. Well, if people are not scared. after reading what's going on in this. memo and and the efforts by the Trump. administration to potentially turn this. into an executive order, then I don't. know what's wrong with them. This is a. five-alarm fire. Everyone needs to wake. up, be paying attention to this, subscribe to this channel because it's. where Brian and I are talking about this. and giving you the news before the. legacy media wakes up to it. >> Well, I'm going to put the link to this. channel, by the way, right here on the. screen for those who are looking to. subscribe. Mark, talk to me for a moment.

about what's actually in this memo. because that's going to be a main. character as we move closer and closer. to the election. >> Yeah, so the memo is bonkers. I mean, this is like lay it out at the beginning. that that nothing I'm about to describe. makes any sense. So, if as I go along. you're like, "Well, that doesn't make. any sense." Right, it doesn't make any. sense. This is this is a bonkers memo, but look, it was only a few weeks ago. that Donald Trump posted on social media. and we'll put it up right here. I have. searched the depths of legal arguments.

not yet articulated or vetted on this. subject and will be presenting an. irrefutable one in the very near future. Okay, this was like cryptic. Like, first. of all, why is legal capital L and. arguments capital A? >> That's That's That's That's a 10-year. battle that we've been waging, but but. go. >> What does it mean that they are not yet. articulated or vetted? Like, what what. does this all mean? Well, look, this may. be very well what Donald Trump had read, this crazy memo that says under these.

unrelated federal statutes, he has the. power to declare an emergency and that. somehow that emergency power would then. give him the power to disrupt voting, to. not let certain voting equipment be. used, to ban mail-in ballots. You know, the irony of all of this, Brian, is that. the memo sites two statutes. One is the. National Emergencies Act, which is not. relevant. And the other is the International.

Emergency Economic Powers Act. Now, if. that sounds familiar, Brian, that is. because that is actually the statute. that Donald Trump relied on to impose. the tariffs that the US Supreme Court. said he doesn't have the authority to. use for tariffs. So, what on earth leads. him to believe he has this power to. somehow take over elections under a. statute that they've actually said he. can't even use for tariffs that is. actually supposed to govern emergency. economic powers? I mean, it's bonkers,

but Brian, it's also terribly worrisome. and it is a big threat to democracy as. we move forward. And what I'm worried. about here, Brian, is not that this is. going to stand up. I mean, I I've. already said it and I'll say it again. now. If Donald Trump signs an executive. order trying to take over any aspect of. voting, and I mean any aspect, even 1 cm. of of voting, he's going to get sued by. me and my law firm and we're going to. beat him like a drum. The last time he. he he tried to do it in an executive. order, that's what we did, we sued and. we won. And this one, we will sue again.

and we will win again. But Brian, what. worries me what worries me is that the. legacy media. is treating this with respect and with. plausibility and elevating it as if it. is something other than a crackpot. theory. I mean, the Washington Post, which kudos, was the first news outlet. to to cover this. It it says in the. sub-headline, activists who say they are. in coordination with the White House are. circulating a draft executive order that.

would unlock extraordinary presidential. power over voting. I'm sorry, unlock? No, no, no, it's not unlocking power. It is making up out of thin air. It is. an authoritarian takeover. It is a. wannabe dictator, you know, promulgating. something that violates the. Constitution. Like, how the hell does. the legacy media refer to this as. unlocking extraordinary presidential. power over voting? There is no. extraordinary power over presidential. power over voting to be unlocked. And.

so, I'm, you know, I keep saying that. people have to subscribe to this. channel, Brian because A, I think you do. a great job, but also because of the. goddamn legacy media failing us. And now. we've got Barry Weiss who's going to run. CNN. >> Yeah. Yeah. And And by the way, that. underscores more than anything the need. for people who are looking to elevate uh. your voice, Mark, your voice in this. ecosystem, they can do so by subscribing. to Democracy Docket, which is the news. outlet you founded to focus on. everything voting and election. Not just. because you are not going to do a both.

sides framing on issues like this one, but to your point, we now found out that. David Ellison is also going to own CNN. as this merger is going to go through, which means that Republicans are going. to own CBS, CNN, TikTok, Twitter. I. mean, the the majority of media in this. country will be owned by Trump allies. and Trump acolytes. And so it's never. been more important to highlight, elevate, and support the voices that. that are going to be willing to tell the. truth in this environment, and yours is. is top among them. So I'm going to put.

the link to democracy docket right here. on the screen and also in the post. description of this video. >> Can I Can I ask one further question on. this, Brian? And I know we're going to. get back to this this memo because it's. really important, but you know, one of. the things that I think has been. overlooked in this Ellis and thing um. that I want you to speak to because you. live out in Southern California is it's. not just he's going to have. extraordinary power over the the media. But you know, Steve Bannon famously said. uh that um politics is downstream from.

culture. And he will have extraordinary. powers over culture, right? Donald. Trump's like, you know, preferred, you know, owner of big companies is. going to have extraordinary power over. culture, right? Because of the studios. >> Correct. And we've already seen the way. in which that kind of manifest itself in. real life. We have seen the attacks that. right-wingers have made on comedians who. are committing the the apparent crime of. doing satire against Republicans. Jimmy. Kimmel is a testament to exactly that.

The fact that Stephen Colbert's The Late. Show was canceled is a testament to. that. Things are not going to get better. now that ownership of these media. companies that own all of these. properties has consolidated among just. these the small sliver of right-wingers. whose sole goal is to elevate Donald. Trump, elevate the Republican Party, it's only going to get worse. And it's. going to pervade culture in a big way. And frankly, you know, there are people. who exist in this ecosystem who are who. are highly engaged voters, highly. engaged audience members, but there's a.

lot of people who aren't. And they're. not going to know that they are going to. turn into the victims of right-wing. ownership of these companies whose sole. goal is to help themselves spread the. gospel, spread the MAGA gospel so that. they can keep Republicans in power, so. that they can get tax cuts for. themselves. And and that really is the. sad part of all of this, which again, is. why it's so important to elevate uh. voices like yours and news outlets like. yours. >> Yeah, so look, this is connected in a.

really critical way. At the same time. that we have the you know, the Donald. Trump in the White House and the FCC. playing clear favorites in who will. control the large institutions of. information, we have the president of. the United States relying on a crackpot. theory to take over elections. And these. two are directly connected because you. will not know that this is in fact a. crackpot theory. You will not know that. what Donald Trump is doing is not. issuing an executive order, but rather a. dictatorial decree, an authoritarian.

order to take over free and fair. elections, to deprive you the right to. vote, to deprive you of the results of a. of a level playing field democratic. process. You won't know that because the. people who are charged with telling you. that. are are his people, are his sycophants. And so so that's why I connect these. two. And look, as I said, I'm not worried that this. memo is going to turn into something. that is going to be durable. Because the. fact is, if Donald Trump signs this.

executive order, as I said, we will sue. and we will win. What I am worried about. is that when we do sue, there will be. this sense, well, on the one hand, the. Trump administration says they've. unlocked extraordinary executive power. And on the other hand, Marc Elias and. lawyers say that this is too far. And. even though the courts will rule in our. favor, what happens when we get to. September, October, November of next. year, and now Donald Trump is saying, well, I need to send the FBI to seize. ballots. I need to put ICE around. polling places. I need to do these other.

things because of this rationale that I. was not able to effectuate in executive. order. And I just don't have confidence. that the elite institutions of this. country will stand up and call that out. for the it is. So, that's. that's the reason why I draw this. connection, and it's why for the third. time I'm going to beg people to. subscribe to this channel. >> All right. Mark, it's worth asking here. Is there anything in advance of this. executive order being handed down that. we can do to stop it so that we don't. have to allow this thing to be dropped.

possibly 5 minutes before the election. when it's too late for the courts to. actually effectively step in? >> Right. And then, right, you have like. they're going to argue Purcell, and. we'll say Purcell doesn't apply because. it's not a state law, it's a. presidential executive order. We're. right on that, by the way. But, yeah, that's the concern, right? The concern. is that Donald Trump may not issue this. executive order in February of 2026 or. even March of 2026. He or he may issue. this one in February and March of 2026, but then issue a new one, as you say, you know, right as mail-in ballots are.

supposed to go out. And what happens if. he issues an executive order banning. mail-in ballots like literally the days. before mail-in ballots are going out. Look, I wish I could tell you that we. could sue in advance against crackpot. ideas. Like, I wish we could like go to. court and be like, "Look, Your Honor, there are going to be a lot of really. crazy things that Donald Trump is going. to want to do, and I'd like you to just. put a kibosh on all of them.". Unfortunately, as you know and the. audience knows, that isn't how standing. works, it isn't how the courts work. So, what it's going to mean is that we have. to be really diligent. And, you know, my.

law firm and I, we are in 80 cases now. I'm sorry, actually 85 cases in 40. states. And my list that number's going. to grow because the Department of. Justice also just sued five more states. for their voter files. But, um. we just have to be vigilant and just. keep paying attention to everything. that's happened and be prepared to act. immediately. You know, back in 2021 when. Georgia passed its big voter suppression. law, we sued within an hour of Kemp. signing it. By the time we got to. Florida and DeSantis signing their big. voter suppression law, we sued 6 minutes. after he signed it. These are the kinds.

of things that we are going to need. lawyers, whether it's me and my law firm. or others other legal organizations. We. need to be built not just to be right, but to be right and fast. And that I. think is going to be something that I. know you're going to be on top of and. we'll be talking about in this series. It's something we cover and I write. about in Democracy Docket, the news. outlet I founded. because that speed element is going to. be the difference between it being too. late for 2026 or being in time. >> Perfectly put. We'll leave it there.

>> There. Again, for those who are. watching, to support Mark's work, to. elevate his voice in this ecosystem, which is desperately needed, the best. way to do that is to subscribe to. Democracy Docket. That link is right. here on the screen. And of course, if. you want to see more videos of Democracy. Watch, you can subscribe to this channel. as well. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. >> [music].