Donald Trump did not rule out a national emergency for elections this week when Wayne Allyn Root asked whether he could use one to change voting rules. Trump replied, “Let me just say, stranger things have happened, OK? I’ll leave it at that.”
Root told Trump, “You have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections,” and said that if Trump acted “in the next month,” the result would be photo ID, proof of citizenship and a limit to mail-in ballots. The exchange came with 12 weeks remaining before Election Day 2026.
Wayne Allyn Root interview
Trump appeared on Root’s Real America’s Voice program this week and did not reject the proposal. Root said a national security emergency declaration could be used if the SAVE America Act did not get done in the Senate.
He also said, “If you declare a national security emergency, as president of the United States, they can’t challenge it. In can only be overturned by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress.” That claim described a path around congressional approval, which is why the exchange drew attention.
Trump response on elections
Trump answered Root’s pitch with, “Let me just say, stranger things have happened, OK? I’ll leave it at that.” He left the question open rather than saying he would not use a national security emergency for elections.
Steve Benen wrote that the fact Trump left the door open to a constitutional crisis ahead of the midterms was profoundly unsettling. The practical issue is straightforward: Root laid out a route to election changes without a Senate vote, and Trump did not shut it down.
Election Day 2026
That leaves voters with a narrow but concrete question heading into Election Day 2026: whether Donald Trump or the White House has any plan to try to use a national security emergency for elections at all. For now, the only hard record is that Trump did not say no.
