President Trump said Monday he wants Republicans to “nationalize” elections and “take over” how votes are cast and counted across the country.

In a softball interview with former administration lackey Dan Bongino, his former FBI deputy director, Trump called for federal seizure of state election systems, lying again that immigrants were “brought to our country to vote illegally.”

“The Republicans should say, we want to take over,” Trump said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

WHAT’S GOING ON: This power grab proposal dropped less than a week after the FBI raided an elections office outside Atlanta, seizing ballots and voting records from the 2020 election in Georgia. Attorney General Pam Bondi also demanded Minnesota hand over its voter rolls in exchange for federal assistance during ICE tensions—targeting another state Trump falsely claims he won “all three times” he ran.

Trump teased more coming: “You’re going to see something in Georgia. You’re going to see some interesting things come out.”

BUT BUT BUT: Here’s the thing—this scheme slams directly into the Constitution. State governments have primary authority over elections. The Elections Clause allows Congress to regulate “times, places, and manner” of federal elections, but that’s historically meant national standards, not a federal takeover of day-to-day election administration.

“Does Donald Trump want a copy of the Constitution?” asked Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. “What he’s saying is outlandishly illegal. Once again, the president is talking no differently than a dictator who wants elections in America to be as legitimate as elections in countries like Venezuela.”

OF COURSE: This isn’t Trump’s first swing at rigging the game. As his approval ratings sink, he’s floated canceling the 2026 midterms entirely rather than risk Republicans losing Congress. “You’ve got to win the midterms because, if we don’t win the midterms… they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump told Republican lawmakers last month. “I’ll get impeached.”

The 79-year-old—who was criminally indicted for trying to subvert the 2020 election—has also mused about third and fourth terms. “SHOULD I TRY FOR A FOURTH TERM?” he wrote on social media, despite the Constitution explicitly banning it.

WHY IT MATTERS: Dozens of court challenges to the 2020 election yielded zero credible evidence of widespread voter fraud. Yet Trump continues pushing the “stolen election” lie to justify what amounts to authoritarian control over democracy itself. Local officials and voting rights advocates are outraged, but outrage alone won’t stop a president who’s already weaponizing the FBI and DOJ against election offices in states he lost.

The man who tried to overturn one election is now openly plotting to control all future ones. That’s not a campaign promise—it’s a threat.