National security is normally thought of as our nation’s ability to protect its people, territory, economy and institutions from threats – both foreign and domestic.
Until President Trump signed an Executive Order (March 25, 2025) one never thought of including “political security” along with military threats, terrorism, cyberattacks, espionage, economic instability and national disasters.
That Executive Order set off the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to ramp up an effort to get voter data and other election information from the states. Election officials fear the administration could try to build a national file that includes personal information about voters or impose rules that would boot eligible voters from the rolls and make it hard to cast ballots. A few states have turned over the information while others are fighting the DOJ.
The U.S. Constitution establishes that state governments conduct elections. This means state laws and regulations largely govern aspects like voter registration, voting procedures and ballot counting.
Even before his approval numbers began to tank…Trump asked several states to begin redistricting of congressional seats in hopes of gaining a few new House Republicans. That is unusual since redistricting only occurs every ten years after a new census.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin gave political advice to Trump during their Alaska visit. Putin told him, “Your elections are rigged because you have mailing-in-voting.” Though never a supporter of mail-in-voting Trump is turning up the heat on states to end that form of voting.
Steve Bannon who guided Trump to his 2016 election victory even offered the idea of having ICE agents at voting precincts this year. Knowing how Trump uses fear (political security) who knows what this will do to diminish turnout in November.
Trump’s team is pushing the passage of what is called the “SAVE Act”. This federal bill would change how people register and vote in U. S. federal elections. Its central provision would require documentary proof of U. S. citizenship for voter registration instead of the current system of signed attestation under penalty of law.
While addressing National security…Axios reported this morning the Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. They say a U. S. military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weekslong campaign that would look more like a full-fledged war than last month’s pinpoint operation in Venezuela.
Could President Trump be planning on turning himself into a “war time President” that Americans would rally around the Commander-in-Chief? Thus, influencing the 2026 election!