Trump Ally Pushes Authoritarian Emergency Takeover of Democratic Elections
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Peter Ticktin, a longtime Trump associate, is urging the president to seize control of the midterm elections under the guise of a national emergency, a move experts warn would trample constitutional democracy.
Lawyer Peter Ticktin, who calls himself a childhood friend of Donald Trump, is now advocating for a dangerous executive order that would declare a national emergency based on unsubstantiated claims of foreign interference with electronic voting machines. This would hand the federal government—and by extension, Trump—direct control over the 2024 midterm elections. Ticktin is peddling conspiracy theories, alleging that countries like Venezuela, China, and Iran are involved, and claims the 2020 election machines were part of a 'surreptitious overtaking of a country.'
Election officials and legal scholars have sounded the alarm, warning that such an order would trigger a constitutional crisis by violating the clear separation of powers, as the Constitution assigns election oversight to the states and Congress, not the president. A 2021 U.S. intelligence report confirmed that while foreign actors tried to influence voters, there was no evidence of tampering with the voting process itself.
Ticktin, an 80-year-old Florida attorney with a history of representing right-wing figures like Tina Peters and Patrick Byrne, boasts of his access to Trump and the Justice Department. Yet, a White House official told CNN that Ticktin’s influence is marginal and does not dictate administration policy.
Previously, Ticktin helped secure a commutation for Peters and pushed for a $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund, a proposal so extreme that even the Trump administration abandoned it amid bipartisan backlash. He also claims to have drafted an executive order to restrict mail-in voting and ban voting machines—measures that federal judges have already blocked as unconstitutional.
Ticktin’s wild claims of foreign hacking have been repeatedly debunked by the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the intelligence community. His record includes not only spreading misinformation but also aggressive courtroom antics, such as a physical altercation during a Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit.
This latest push for an emergency declaration is part of Trump’s ongoing assault on voting rights, as he continues to demand stricter voter-ID laws and other restrictions, despite a total lack of credible evidence for his fraud allegations. The move represents yet another attempt to undermine democracy and suppress the will of the people.
