Trump drops BOMBSHELL THREAT in shock announcement

These people were brought to our country. to vote and they vote illegally and the. you know amazing that the Republicans. aren't tougher on it. The Republicans. should say we want to take over we. should take over the voting the voting. in at least. many 15 places. The Republicans ought to. nationalize the voting and we have. states that are so crooked and they're. counting votes. We have states that I. won that show I didn't win. Now you're. going to see something in Georgia where. they were able to get with a court order.

the ballots. You're going to see some. interesting things come out. >> This is Democracy Watch. Mark, that was. Donald Trump appearing on Dan Bonino's. show. His former deputy FBI director, now turned podcaster again. And he says. something really significant here. Donald Trump says that we should take. over voting in at least 15 places. The. Republicans ought to nationalize the. voting. So before we get into anything. else, does the federal government have. the ability to nationalize voting in. this country? >> Uh no. Uh they don't. So our elections.

are run by states. They're not run by. the federal government. Uh and only. Congress can enact laws uh to supplant. what the states want. And obviously. Congress has not passed any laws take. over voting. Congress is not going to. pass laws take over voting. But but. let's be honest, Brian, that isn't what. Donald Trump is saying. What Donald. Trump is identifying is Republicans need. to take over the voting. He doesn't say. Congress does. He doesn't even say the. federal government does. He says uh.

Republicans should say we should take. over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the. voting. And so what Donald Trump has in. mind is that he Donald Trump should take. over the voting. Right? Right? When he. says Republicans, he just means him and. his supplicants should give him the. power. And that's consistent with what. he has said before. And I'll show you an. example of something that he posted not. that long ago on his on his social.

media. And you can see what he is saying. is that the states act as the agents of. the federal government and that he the. president uh decides what what goes in. terms of vote uh tabulating and vote. counting. So, when you take all of this. together along with his prior statements. about there shouldn't be midterms and he. should have seized the ballot boxes and. that you add the fact that he recently. had his Department of Justice execute a. search warrant in Georgia. What we're. heading towards here is Donald Trump. trying to take over voting. What we're. heading towards here is that those 15.

places he's talking about, those are. going to be blue states and blue cities. And so, the rest of us need to get. ourselves prepared. We need to steal our. spine. We need to put together a. coalition of the willing and stop. worrying about the big law firms that. won't go along, the legacy media outlets. that won't cover it fairly. And we need. to be prepared with lawyers in court and. all of us in the court of public opinion. to stand up against what we're about to. see. >> And to that end, I mean, there are no. lawyers more focused and more uh willing.

to go after this stuff than than the. team that you have. Uh, so a small step. that we can all take to help support. Mark and his work and the team behind. him is to sign up for Democracy Docket. That is the news outlet he founded to. focus on everything voting in elections. Again, a very small step that we can all. take to support the team that's. protecting democracy, not just in cases. like this, but also voter data cases. There's there's uh lawsuits in 24. different jurisdictions where the only. thing standing between your private. information like social security number. going to the federal government and. staying in the states is Mark's team. So.

again, small step we can all take. Go. ahead and sign up. That link is right. here on the screen and also in the post. description. Mark, what does this look. like in practice? If you're in one of. these 15 states and you are a governor. or a legislator and you are preparing. for the onslaught that may be coming at. the hands of Trump and his. administration and his DOJ, what does. this look like? >> Yeah. So, I'm glad you mentioned the. voter data cases because it starts with. the Department of Justice getting. granular information. In other words, information at the voter level about.

each and every one of you, who uh where. you registered to vote, when you. registered to vote, what your social. security number is, date of birth, full. name, whether you register as a Democrat. or Republican, right? Getting all of. that data. And then once they have that. data, Brian, then they are in a position. to say, look, we have the data necessary. to administer the election, right? we. can take over the voting because it is. that voter file that the states have. that put them uniquely able to run. elections, right? That's what lets them.

print ballots and and know where to send. them to what precincts. It's what allows. them to to print or send electronic uh. uh voter roles so that when people check. in to vote, they get checked off a list, right? It is the it is the foundational. um uh uh data necessary to run. elections. That's why they need these. because they can't take over voting. without having the voter file. So, the. first thing that every governor and. state uh and secretary of state and. state election official needs to do is.

to protect that data. And that's, as you. point out, my law firm and I, we are in. 24 states trying to prevent that data. from being turned over. But the. governors and the secretaries of state. and the and the and the uh attorneys. general, they need to be doing that as. well. And thankfully, in those 24. states, they are. Okay. But that's only. the first piece. And there are states. that have turned over that data. The. other thing they need to do is they need. to read the 10th amendment. Okay, 10th. amendment uh you know is gives states. power and they need to read the part of. the constitution that gives states the. ability to set the time, place and. manner. They need to bone up on.

separation of powers. You know, you and. I did a video about a big victory in. court that my law firm had in which the. the court struck down the uh executive. order by Donald Trump to try to take. over uh uh uh parts of of of the voting. process from states. And what the. federal judge in DC said was that the. president play has no role in elections. And the judge found that because of. separation of powers, okay? That we in. our system, the states have control over.

federal elections, not the federal. government. The federal government has. no role in uh uh federal elections uh. unless Congress passes a specific law. It is the state's rights, not the. federal government's rights to control. their elections. But basically what we. need is governors to guard their data. and to guard their constitutional. prerogatives prerogatives by being ready. to go to court and be willing to tell. the Trump administration no Brian. One. of the things I'm worried about is that. as we continue to see the what the Trump.

administration is doing in Georgia in. Fulton County and that won't be the last. place I'm sure we see it. They are. hoping that Democratic governors and. state legislators and Democratic. secretaries of state and AGS and local. election officials are too afraid that. they don't want to get the eyeire of the. federal government. We need them to. stand up just like we saw Tim Wall stand. up in Minnesota when the federal. government wanted his voter roles. Mark, you know, people are going to hear you. say that and and I agree with everything. you've just said, and I think in fact um.

you're doing an essential service by by. um highlighting all of this stuff, but. people are going to see the fact that. there have been so many elections thus. far, including, you know, just in Texas. a couple of days ago, and those have. gone off without a hitch. And so, how do. you reconcile needing to be cognizant of. the fact that this could happen with the. reality that thus far elections have. been going okay? um you know from the. special elections that we've seen and. the off-year elections that we saw this. past November.

>> Yeah. Well, look, Donald Trump used the. off-year elections, the elections in. 2025, remember to send observers from. the Department of Justice to some of. those elections. So, so yes, they went. off without a hitch, but you know, the. Department of Justice used that as a. learning experience to that for. something that I am sure we're going to. see them scale in this uh general. election. Those were mostly governor's. races. Some other state uh elections, they were not federal elections. So, it. doesn't it's not a surprise that Donald. Trump was not going to unveil the mass.

voter suppression or the the election. subversion tactics that, for example, we. saw him do in after the 2020 election or. that we even saw states try in the 2022. election in 2024. Right? So, no surprise. we didn't see it in 2025, but don't. think that they didn't use that time to. their advantage in sending those. observers. In terms of these special. elections, they are, as you say, they. are local special elections. Now, that. doesn't mean that they're not important. I mean, but you know, that Texas. election for state senate, uh, I think.

if I were a Republican in Texas, I. wouldn't be so glad that they did all. that redistricting because, you know, that was a Trump, I think, plus 17. district that swung 14 points in favor. of the Democrat. But again, it was a. local special election. It was a special. election for state office. So again, there wouldn't be an opportunity for the. federal government to to to Bigfoot. They're going to keep their powder dry. for this year's general election. They're going to we're going to see them. doing a lot of posturing, a lot of. suing, you know, raiding ballots in in.

Georgia, uh, and other things, you know, uh, politically voted pro prosecutions. We're going to see them do all of that. infrastructure building towards a voter. suppression war machine as we get. towards this fall. And then, you know, we've seen it before with Donald Trump. If he can't get what he wants from voter. suppression and he can't get it what he. wants from the courts, we have seen him. move up the scale to ultimately what we. saw in January 6, 2021. >> The reality is that a lot of this stuff.

we kind of wait for Trump to commit some. crime or engage in some corrupt behavior. and then we see lawsuits. But that's a. very reactive approach. Is there. anything proactive that we can do to. kind of stop him short in his tracks. before he unleashes whatever corrupt. activity he's going to unleash and then. just wait for us to hopefully get it in. time? Yeah. So, three things. Number. one, there's something lawyers can do. and my law firm and I are doing it. We're in 80 cases right now in 40. states. And sure, you know, let's call.

it half of them are defensive cases, but. the other half are proactive cases. There are cases we have filed directly. on behalf of voters or others to try to. get ahead of the the voter suppression. and the election subversion challenging. policies and laws that put in place the. ability of of of uh Republicans to be up. to no good or states to be up to no good. or or for that matter in blue states to. to make sure that their laws are are. strongly pro- voter. So there's a. litigation component to this that can't. as you say only be reactive and it's. something I talk in my in my law firm.

all about. We can't just be playing. defense. we have to find uh places where. we can affirmatively improve the system. and make it stronger. The second is that. there is a role in the education um uh. ecosystem and that's why I love coming. and doing these videos with you. It's. why I want everyone to make sure that. they are subscribed to this channel and. that they hit the bell to make sure they. are alerted whenever there's new content. because there is a way in which by. educating people what is happening and. what will happen. We can be stronger in.

preventing it to take place, right? We. can we can get ahead of it as you say. We can make sure people are aware in. their communities what is going on and. take proactive steps to combat it. And. then the final thing is that we need. people to be more responsible voters. than they've had to be in the past. Now. look, I never blame the voters, right? It is not the voters's fault. So I'm not. saying to put the burden on you and on. your neighbors and your friends, but we. also are facing an existential threat.

So you and your neighbors and your. friends need to make sure you're. registered to vote. That you double. check to make sure nothing has happened. to your voter registration, that you. know where your polling place is, you. know if the rules of voting have changed. in your state, you know how you're going. to vote, and you make a plan so that it. is harder for your vote to be. discounted. It is harder for your vote. to be suppressed and it is harder for it. to be subverted. So those are kind of my. three things. The lawyers have to do. their part. You and I and the rest of. the independent media ecosystem need to. do its part. And then voters have to.

take on a little bit more responsibility. than they've had to in the past even. though they shouldn't have to. >> And finally, last question here. You. spoke about the voters and the lawyers. and the independent media space along. with our our our viewers. What about the. elected officials in these states? Are. are they doing enough to prevent uh what. could be, you know, these mass voter. suppression efforts by the Trump. administration, whether it's secretaries. of state, attorneys general, governors, or state legislators. >> No. And I'm glad you mentioned it. I. wrote a piece going back for democracy. going back months now uh shortly after.

the election saying there are seven. things that every blue state could do to. improve their voting laws and also to. make them harder for Republicans and for. the Trump administration to undermine. Those are seven things. They're on the. Democracy website. We can put a link in. the description of this episode to that. article as well. And those are, you. know, seven easy things that if you are. in control of a legislature, you could. do. So there's no blue state that can't. make their laws better. And I don't care.

whether you live in California or New. York or Oregon or Washington or Colorado. or Virginia. Every state can do. something. And so I encourage you to. take a look at those and share those. with your legislator. >> Perfectly put. We'll leave it there. Again, for those who are watching, a. small step to Mark's point that we can. all take to support his work, elevate. his voice, and and support his team is. to sign up for Democracy Docket. So I'm. going to put that link right here on the. screen and also in the post description. of this video. I use Democracy Docket. every single day. You will be very glad. that you signed up. Trust me on that. one. And of course, if you haven't yet.

subscribed to this channel and you want. to see more episodes of Democracy Watch, that link is on the screen as well. I'm. Brian Taylor Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.