Can a president nationalize elections?

The Washington Roundtable discusses Donald Trump’s threats to “nationalize” elections in fifteen states, the recent F.B.I. raid to seize 2020 voting records at an election facility in Fulton County, Georgia, and the ways in which the Administration might meddle with a free and fair vote in 2026. Their guest, Richard Hasen, is the director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at U.C.L.A.’s School of Law. “I actually think that now is the time to be preparing for this,” Hasen says. “I think states and localities should think about getting injunctions from federal courts against Donald Trump to prevent him from interfering with the tabulation of ballots.”

This week’s reading:

• “Donald Trump Already Knows the 2026 Election Is ‘Rigged,’ ” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Dan Bongino’s Podcast Homecoming,” by Jon Allsop
• “Why the D.H.S. Disaster in Minneapolis Was Predictable,” by Jonathan Blitzer
• “Is ICE Leading Us Into a Constitutional Crisis?,” by Isaac Chotiner
• “How Jeff Bezos Brought Down the Washington Post,” by Ruth Marcus
• “ ‘Melania’ Is a Forty-Million-Dollar Journey Into the Void,” by Lauren Collins
• “How Trump Is Debasing the Dollar and Eroding U.S. Economic Dominance,” by John Cassidy
• “Russia Is Swarming Europe with Young Agents,” by Ian Crouch

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

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