Trump injects 'real fear' into midterms with 'crazy' scheme: Morning Joe

MS NOW's Joe Scarborough sounded the alarm over President Donald Trump's latest "crazy" scheme to avoid accountability.

The 79-year-old president told former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino’s on his podcast that Republicans should nationalize elections and take them over in at least 15 states where he falsely claimed there had been fraud. The "Morning Joe" host slammed his plot as "blatantly unconstitutional" Tuesday.

"It's reallyis hard to keep count of allthe crazy things that arecoming out of the White Houseright now, just the bizarrethings that have been comingout of the White House over thepast three, four, five, sixmonths," Scarborough said.

"Whether you're talkingabout tearing down the [East] Wing or taking over the Kennedy Center and then having Ric Grenell and him run into theground so much that they haveto shut it down for two yearsbecause they've so destroyedthe financial base of thatinstitution. In just a fewshort months, we could talkabout everything – Greenland, wecould talk about seizing oil in Venezuela. We could talk abouttrying to destroy the NATOalliances. We could talk aboutall the billions and billionsof dollars his family's rakingin right now. We could talkabout all of that, but it seemsto me, well, all of that iscritical.

"This right here is what I think people whoactually love democracy andlove America like I love America, this is oneof those moments where thepresident's trying to dosomething clearly, clearlyunconstitutional.

"Of course, wecan't count on the Supreme Court to do anything, but Ithink they maybe they playpickleball, maybe they built anindoor pickleball court, andmaybe that's why John Robertswants everybody to sign NDAs inthe Supreme Court, which isreally bizarre. But I don'tknow what they're doing in the Supreme Court. But while thepresident is talking this wayabout doing unconstitutionalthings, it seems to me this isa really great place foreverybody who loves America andloves American democracy andloves free elections to focus,because this actually is one ofthose five-alarm fires."

Co-host Jonathan Lemire agreed the dizzying pace of the Trump administration's assault on democracy had accelerated in recent months, but he said the president's intention to take over elections should register as more than a blip on the radar.

"There sure seemsto be a sense that he's layingthe groundwork to interferewith 2026 and 2028," Lemire said. "We justheard him in that interview.I'm going to, it's worth readingthe quote again. He says, quote, 'The Republicans should say, wewant to take over, we shouldtake over the voting in atleast 15 places, the Republicans ought tonationalize the voting' in 15places, likely swing states,important districts that coulddetermine the House or the Senate, or in the 2028, thepresidential [election]."

Trump sent his director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to take part in an FBI raid on an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, where he has falsely claimed there was fraud in 2020, and Lemire said the situation was "extremely dangerous."

"Thisis the storyline is what'sgoing to happen with themidterms, because Donald Trumpknows if Democrats win even one house [of Congress], they're going to havethe power of the subpoena," Lemire said. "They're going to be able to runinvestigations into him and hisfamily and his administration.They could theoreticallyimpeach him again for a thirdtime, which is something thatreally bothers him. You know,he would be held accountable, and right now there's real fear,real fear that he and hisadministration are going tofind a way, many ways, perhapsto put their thumb on the scale.There will be elections. Thequestion is whether they befree and fair."

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