Donald Trump mulled using ‘martial law’ to keep the presidency
Senior aides reportedly shot down talk of rerunning the election under military control at a ‘chaotic’ White House meeting

Donald Trump asked aides whether he could impose martial law and order a full rerun of last month’s election, according to several anonymous White House sources.
“The possibility of using the military to enforce a second term is said to have been emphatically rebuffed by many of his closest advisers,” says The Times, “but the fact that it was raised in a chaotic Oval Office meeting on Friday marks a new, severe turn in his attempts to defy his defeat”.
The US president also sought to appoint his campaign lawyer Sydney Powell, who “unleashed conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States”, to oversee an investigation into voter fraud, The New York Times reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Ms Powell’s ideas were shot down by every other Trump adviser present, all of whom repeatedly pointed out that she had yet to back up her claims with proof,” the paper adds.
Undaunted, Trump reportedly went on to discuss the possibility of introducing military rule, an idea first proposed by his former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The president “could take military capabilities and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states”, Flynn told the right-wing channel Newmax.
Both Flynn and Powell reportedly attended the meeting at the White House on Friday.
Although Trump has denied the claims and described them as “fake news”, reporters have stood by their detailed accounts, which they say came from White House insiders. Friday’s events “alarmed some White House staffers - people who are used to Trump's inflammatory and anti-democratic rhetoric… and had some Trump officials sounding the alarm to the press”, CNN reports.
Last week the US electoral college confirmed Joe Biden’s victory in the election by a margin of 306 to 232. “But Mr Trump, egged on by supporters like Ms Powell, has never conceded and, holed up inside the White House, he continues to assert that he actually won,” says The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.
-
What is Linda Yaccarino's legacy? And what's next for X?
Today's Big Question An 'uncertain future' in the age of TikTok
-
The Pam Bondi and Dan Bongino schism threatens Trump's DOJ
In the Spotlight Two MAGA partisans find themselves on either end of a growing scandal over Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to White House officials
-
8 ways Trump's bill will change your taxes
The Explainer The 'big beautiful bill' was recently signed into law. Here's what it might mean for your wallet.
-
The Pam Bondi and Dan Bongino schism threatens Trump's DOJ
In the Spotlight Two MAGA partisans find themselves on either end of a growing scandal over Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to White House officials
-
Secret Service 'failures' on Trump shooting
Speed Read Two new reports detail security breakdowns that led to attempts on the president's life
-
Trump uses tariffs to upend Brazil's domestic politics
IN THE SPOTLIGHT By slapping a 50% tariff on Brazil for its criminal investigation into Bolsonaro, the Trump administration is brazenly putting its fingers on the scales of a key foreign election
-
'Trump's authoritarian manipulation of language'
Instant Opinion Vienna has become a 'convenient target for populists' | Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Could Trump really 'take over' American cities?
Today's Big Question Trump has proposed a federal takeover of New York City and Washington, D.C.
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
Is the Trump-Putin bromance over... again?
Today's Big Question The US president has admitted he's 'p*ssed off' with his opposite number