Trump signs sweeping executive action to overhaul elections

[Lori Dee]

Trump signs sweeping executive action to overhaul elections
Link to Full Article
The Associated Press and ALI SWENSON and CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Published: Mar. 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM MDT

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul elections in the U.S., including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day.

The order says the U.S. has failed "to enforce basic and necessary election protections" and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don't comply.

The order's documentary proof of citizenship requirement signals that the president is not waiting for congressional Republicans to pass their long-anticipated Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which has aimed to do the same thing.

Voting in federal elections by noncitizens is already illegal and can result in felony charges and deportation.

Trump's order is likely to face legal challenges, given that the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states. While Congress has the power to regulate voting — and has done so to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act — the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the "times, places and manner" for elections.

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[Sephirah]

Clearly only because he lost to Biden. And threw a hissy fit.

This dude is only using your most trusted institutions to further his own needs. It would be a Monty Python sketch if it weren't painfully real.

I have to wonder... how far this guy has to go before you get him out of there? Can you even do that? This guy red flags the 25th amendment with everything he does. He is not mentally fit to serve in the office of President.

Although his Chris Pratt, less charismatic knock off, Vance... he'd probably be even worse. He seems to hate literally everything and everyone. Makes enemies of the whole world because... reasons.

Y'all need a hard reset.

[KathyLauren]

This guy red flags the 25th amendment

Unfortunately, the authority for removing him that way lies with the vice-president and the cabinet.  I doubt if they are going to go against him.

The only way to get rid of him is through the 2nd amendment.

[Sephirah]

Unfortunately, the authority for removing him that way lies with the vice-president and the cabinet.  I doubt if they are going to go against him.

The only way to get rid of him is through the 2nd amendment.

Yeah this Vance chap seems even more unhinged and power hungry than Trump. He does not have a favourable outlook in the rest of the world. The stuff he comes out with makes his peach coloured patron positively saintly. Probably why Trump chose him. Get someone more gone in the head than you are, then they can't get you out.

[Lori Dee]

The only way to bypass Congress, legally and non-violently, is to convene a Convention of the States. There are strict rules about how it is done and usually involves changing the Constitution. So it would take a majority of the states for the Convention's decisions to become binding.

[Sephirah]

The only way to bypass Congress, legally and non-violently, is to convene a Convention of the States. There are strict rules about how it is done and usually involves changing the Constitution. So it would take a majority of the states for the Convention's decisions to become binding.

I guess I've seen season 2 of 24 too many times lol. And even in that the VP was arguably worse so... yeah. Trump just seems to go more and more into his own little sphere of reality with each passing week. Surely even the people who voted for him are starting to think "WTF did we do?"

Kind of sucks that you can't get a "try before you buy" deal with politicians.

[KathyLauren]

Kind of sucks that you can't get a "try before you buy" deal with politicians.

The truly scary thing is that they did.  2016-2020.  They tried him and said, "Heck yeah, let's do that again!"

[Sephirah]

The truly scary thing is that they did.  2016-2020.  They tried him and said, "Heck yeah, let's do that again!"

That is scary, Kathy. It was a countrywide Amnesia. That's what no one outside the US could quite fathom. It was like "Wait... have you forgotten what carnage he brought about the first time?" Apparently so. It was like "uhhh, what' 'chu talkin', 'bout Willis?" The first time round they tried to put him in jail for being Trump, and he tried to stage a revolution on Capital Hill. But like... "yeah none of that happened... Trump for God-King! I'm sure he'll be awesome! Who needs long term memory?"

Bonkers.

[Mrs. Oliphant]

Wow! When the 2nd Amendment applied to muzzle loaders and sabers, Derringers and revolvers, school children where so much safer. I think it was Hume who said civil war is the greatest evil. I hope we get through this without resorting to the greatest evil.   

[MaryT]

I also think that widespread violence in the USA must be avoided.  There must be another way. 

I can't believe that all of the people who voted for Donald Trump realised what was going to happen.  His first months in power have been far more destructive than his entire previous term, except for the Covid, for which he has not been blamed.  Surely there are American soldiers who would not do evil things even if the President ordered them to. 

The USA was always great.  Everyone in the free world regarded it as great.  Now, however, I say with reluctance and regret that thanks, ironically, to the MAGA campaign, the USA has quickly become the most feared and distrusted country in the world.  At least Russia, China and even North Korea were predictable.

Now Putin has said that if the USA annexes Greenland, it will not be Russia's business.  He is s->-bleeped-<-ing to himself.  President Trump has done what the Soviet Union and later Putin's Russia could never do, i.e. destroy the Western alliance.

[Lori Dee]

All of the people that I have talked to who voted for Trump are clueless. They bought into the MAGA mantra and did not bother to peek behind the scenes. They get their news from Trump's social media and other far-right news sources. Many have even stopped watching Fox News.

When confronted with Trump's statements on his own website, they said they were empty campaign promises and he would never do that. When confronted with his Executive Orders, they said that those could be interpreted differently. They always have an excuse to avoid blaming their Orange Messiah. Not one of them was willing to admit they made a mistake.

[Sephirah]

From talking to people who voted for Trump... they didn't actually vote for Trump. They voted against the Democrats. You could have had a trained chimpanzee as the Republican candidate. I mean you kind of already did. But people just wanted a change. They probably didn't count on this big a change, though, lol.

[Lori Dee]

The polls showed that people wanted to fix the economy, (lower egg and gasoline prices), fix the immigration system, and lower taxes. Trump promised to deliver on that, he just didn't say HOW he would do it. < cue Elon Musk with a chainsaw >.

[Sephirah]

Fix the economy by throwing trade tariffs around against the rest of the world like confetti at a wedding.

Big brain move, right there.

As for Musk... I would not be surprised if he distances himself from this before too long because the only way you hurt these people is in their bank balance. And Tesla is going through the ringer for what he's doing.

[MaryT]

According to a remarkably candid White House fact sheet, President Trump isn't PARTICULARLY interested in correcting the international trade balance by using tariffs, as the USA, being more self-sufficient than most countries, suffers, percentage-wise, relatively little because of it.  It is about using the dependence of many other countries on trade with the USA as a weapon against them, as leverage to get them to do what Prsident Trump wants (I won't go into the merits of what he wants).

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/

"USING OUR LEVERAGE TO ENSURE AMERICANS' SAFETY: Previous Administrations failed to fully leverage America's economic position as a tool to secure our borders against illegal migration and combat the scourge of fentanyl, preferring to let problems fester.

    Access to the American market is a privilege. The United States has one of the most open economies in the world, and the lowest average tariff rates in the world.
    While trade accounts for 67% of Canada's GDP, 73% of Mexico's GDP, and 37% of China's GDP, it accounts for only 24% of U.S. GDP. However, in 2023 the U.S. trade deficit in goods was the world's largest at over $1 trillion.
    Tariffs are a powerful, proven source of leverage for protecting the national interest.  President Trump is using the tools at hand and taking decisive action that puts Americans' safety and our national security first.
    Though previous Administrations have failed to leverage America's combination of exceptional strength and its unique role in world trade to advance the security interests of the American people, President Trump has not."

[Sephirah]

A country is only self sufficient... until it isn't. If everyone decided to take umbrage to what Trump is doing, the US would realise how self sufficient it actually isn't. Which people have threatened. But it's like.. in spite of what the Orange Beelzebub is trying to do to destroy the US relations with the rest of the world... those less... lobotomised still hold on to decades of beneficial and mutual respect. Because it's the US. And I think most people around the world can't believe the people are behind this unhinged lunatic and his ventriloquist's dummy.

[persphone]

From talking to people who voted for Trump... they didn't actually vote for Trump. They voted against the Democrats. You could have had a trained chimpanzee as the Republican candidate. I mean you kind of already did. But people just wanted a change. They probably didn't count on this big a change, though, lol.

To me through the first term, it became more apparent some of his cult did not care if his policies affected them because he gave them a license to openly hate. I've noticed this even in the small town I live in. People seem much more willing to be cruel in talk and action.
There is a saying making the rounds that unfortunately I think is pretty true.
"There is no hate like christian love"