Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Of Martial Law And 🦆🦆🦆

That’s not how this works! That’s not how any of this works! 😈
Ticktin, who went to military school with Trump as a teenager, told The Atlantic that one scenario this fall ends with Trump declaring martial law on or around Nov. 3. "Either martial law, or step aside," Ticktin said.

Asked about the prospect of riots if Trump tried to overturn the results, Ticktin said he wasn't worried. "Believe me, our armed forces are a lot bigger than they are," he said.
Ooh, tough guy!
Root, a LindellTV host and Gateway Pundit columnist, has pushed Trump to declare a "national-security emergency" to impose voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements, and the right-wing pundit told The Atlantic he sends his columns directly to Trump by email and text, and Trump regularly reposts them on Truth Social.

"I hope he takes orders from Wayne Allyn Root," Root said.
🤡
Trump apparently hasn't ruled it out. While interviewing the president last month on his radio program, Root floated the idea of declaring a national emergency to seize control of the election, and Trump sounded intrigued by the idea. "Let me just say that stranger things have happened, okay?" Trump said. "I'll leave it at that."

Experts say such a declaration wouldn't give Trump the power he'd need because emergency powers are limited to specific authorities granted by Congress, and none of them covers elections.
Too many kids who never grew up, learning about “law” from TV and movies.

“Martial law” is not a legal concept in Anglo-Saxon law. It is present in some European countries because of the Roman law of the Empire. Rome allowed for a diktator who could take full control in a time of crisis. Julius Caesar took control that way, and simply never gave it back.

Which is one cautionary tale about the office. The other is that the idea was to defend the empire in a crisis; and when the crisis had passed, the office dissolved. But, effectively, the diktator usurps the power of the sovereign. Even in Britain today the king has authority that cannot be usurped; well, not without a civil war. (England is sometimes more Catholic than the Pope in its historical and cultural allegiance to the long defunct empire. But not in this respect.) In America, we, the people are sovereign. To allow martial law would be to usurp our sovereignty.

The legal concept of a “national emergency” under our Constitution is a statutory one. There’s no provision in Article II that gives the president the powers of a diktator. And here’s the rub; elections in America are creatures of law. Creatures of statute, particularly. The constitution gives the states authority over national elections, with Congress able to exert limited control. 

The President has no authority over elections whatsoever. The President only has the authority to declare national emergencies based on the authority Congress has granted by statute. He has no authority to declare “martial law” because it’s not a legal concept under our Constitution or laws.

Since elections are creatures of law, they can only be challenged in courts of law. And the courts (well, excluding Thomas and Alito) are not going to recognize any declaration of “martial law” as valid. Nor is there any statute giving the President authority over elections. If there was, Trump would have simply decreed the 2020 presidential election invalid, and actually refused to leave the White House (another paranoid conspiracy, but from Trump’s opponents). He didn’t declare martial law, either; although he still insists evidence of fraud in 2020 is still being found.

So the real risk in November is for Trump. Nothing Congress does before January can’t be undone after January. Nothing Trump does can’t be overruled by Congress, including refusing to end the standoff (which is all it is) with Iran. Maybe Mike Johnson will try not to seat the next House. But when they are seated, will they expel him? Maybe John Thune will try to challenge the Democrats elected to the Senate. But when they are seated, how will they react to Thune?

Actions always have consequences. Extreme actions prompt extreme consequences. And fucking with representation in Congress, on purely partisan grounds, is not exactly party outreach material.

Republicans are already turning away from Trump in a panic as reality breaks down the walls of their assumptions. Are they really going to engage in a futile effort to protect Trump in January? Or are they going to leave him to the consequences of his actions?

People tend to act from self-interest, after all. And Trump is already a lame duck. 🦆 
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