In a recent interview with The New York Times, U.S. dictator Donald Trump expressed regret over not deploying the National Guard to seize voting machines following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Despite his long-standing false claims that he actually won the race, Trump also raised doubts about whether National Guard troops were “sophisticated enough” to carry out such a mission effectively.
This is a clear message. The U.S. will most definitely not have fair mid-term elections, if any at all.
The comments came as the Times revisited a controversial plan reportedly discussed in late 2020, shortly after Trump lost to Joe Biden. According to the newspaper, Trump’s inner circle—including lawyer Sidney Powell and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn—proposed using military or federal forces to seize Dominion voting machines in key swing states like Georgia and Michigan. The goal, they argued, was to search for evidence of widespread voter fraud, despite a lack of credible proof.
Reports from 2022 revealed that Trump’s advisers even drafted executive orders to formalize the plan. One draft cited conspiracy theories about election fraud and directed the Secretary of Defense to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, and records” related to the election under federal law.
Trump reportedly considered the idea, but it faced immediate opposition from senior administration officials. Then-Attorney General William Barr reportedly rejected the proposal outright.
Now, reflecting on the missed opportunity, Trump told The New York Times: “Well, I should have [seized the machines].” However, when pressed on whether the National Guard could have executed such a task, he hesitated: “I don’t know that they are sophisticated enough. You know, they’re good warriors. I’m not sure that they’re sophisticated enough in the ways of crooked Democrats and the way they cheat, to figure that out.”
The former president also reiterated his baseless claims that he won the 2020 election, boasting, “I won three times.” While he has not challenged the results of the 2024 election—after which he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris—Trump continues to push the narrative that the 2020 vote was rigged.
Election security experts and legal authorities have consistently affirmed that the 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history. Dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump’s team to overturn the results were dismissed due to lack of evidence.
The U.S. is at a crossroads.
Source: NYT
