President Donald Trump on Friday stated he’ll difficulty an govt order “shortly” laying out the “authorized causes” for nationwide voter-identification necessities.
Trump, in posts late Friday to Fact Social, stated he desires voter-ID legal guidelines carried out for the 2026 midterm elections, although laws mandating them seems poised to stall in Congress.
“The Democrats refuse to vote for Voter I.D., or Citizenship. The reason being quite simple — They wish to proceed to cheat in Elections,” Trump posted to Fact Social.
“This was not what our Founders desired. I’ve searched the depths of Authorized Arguments not but articulated or vetted on this topic, and shall be presenting an irrefutable one within the very close to future. There shall be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether or not authorised by Congress or not!” he continued.
In a second publish, printed minutes after the primary, Trump stated, “If we will not get it by Congress, there are Authorized explanation why this SCAM shouldn’t be permitted. I shall be presenting them shortly, within the type of an Government Order.”
Underneath strain from Trump, his allies within the Home and Senate and conservative on-line influencers, the problem of voter ID has dominated social media and reverberated by the halls of Congress in current days. Trump’s feedback have additionally raised fears amongst Democrats and voting-rights teams that the president may attempt to intervene on this 12 months’s pivotal midterm elections, as Republicans attempt to maintain on to slim majorities in each chambers.
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Garden of the White Home earlier than boarding Marine One in Washington, Feb. 13, 2026.
Samuel Corum | Sipa | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
The Home on Wednesday superior, 218-213, a Trump-backed elections invoice, dubbed the SAVE America Act, that might require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photograph ID to solid a poll. All however one Democrat voted in opposition to the proposal, which critics argue may disenfranchise thousands and thousands and make it tougher for folks together with ladies whose beginning certificates wouldn’t present a married title to register.
It now strikes to the Senate, the place it wants 60 votes to beat a filibuster. Republicans maintain simply 53 seats within the chamber — and one, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has come out in opposition to the proposal. Greater than a handful of Democrats must help the laws for it to succeed. Just one Senate Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has supported nationwide voter-ID necessities, although he instructed the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette this week that he would not help different voting restrictions corresponding to limiting mail-in ballots.
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed that Democrats will block the invoice, calling it “lifeless on arrival.”
“The SAVE Act shouldn’t be a mainstream invoice in any way. It is a fringe piece of laws that has now taken over the Republican Celebration, masquerading as election safety when it is actually about laying the groundwork to meddle within the midterm elections and make it a lot tougher for folks to vote,” Schumer stated from the Senate ground this week.
Trump has just lately stated he desires to nationalize federal elections and revived election conspiracies, launching an FBI investigation into the election outcomes in Fulton County, Georgia, a state the president has repeatedly and with out proof stated he received in 2020.
States are granted management of most features of U.S. elections below the Structure.
In his second publish on Friday, Trump solid the midterms in existential phrases.
“(T)hese Corrupt and Deranged Democrats, in the event that they ever achieve energy, won’t solely be including two States to our roster of fifty, with the entire baggage thereto, however may even PACK THE COURT with a complete of 21 Supreme Court docket Justices, THEIR DREAM, which they’ll submit simply and quickly after they instantly transfer to terminate the Filibuster, most likely of their first week, or sooner,” Trump wrote.
“Our Nation won’t ever be the identical if they permit these demented and evil folks to knowingly, and fortunately, destroy it. Thanks in your consideration to this matter — SAVE AMERICA!,” he continued.
