Mike Johnson Unconcerned by Trump’s Threat to “Take Over” Voting
On Monday, President Trump suggested that Republicans should “take over” and “nationalize” voting. But House Speaker Mike Johnson isn’t too concerned.“The Republicans should say, ‘We wanna take over, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places’; the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” Trump said on former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino’s podcast Monday. “We have states that I won, that show I didn’t win … like the 2020 election, I won the election by so much. Everybody knows it.”Trump: "These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally. The Republicans should say, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that I won that show I didn't win. You're gonna see… pic.twitter.com/H5hT3OvtLE— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 2, 2026CNN’s Manu Raju made sure to ask Johnson about the president’s statements the next day.“Mr. Speaker, the president had called yesterday for a takeover of federal elections; [he] said to nationalize in some states, is that something that you think he should do?” Raju asked.Johnson proceeded to claim that Trump just didn’t really mean that.“The president is expressing his frustration about the problems that we have in some of these blue states, where election integrity is not always guaranteed,” Johnson said, making a baseless claim about election security in blue states in order to defend a man who still lies about winning the 2020 election. “So we have to figure out solutions to that problem, and that’s what I think—”“Take over?!” Raju interrupted, not allowing the speaker to ramble on without acknowledging the actual question.“No, no,” Johnson said.Just asked Speaker Johnson about Trump’s call to “take over” voting in some states.Defended Trump and said he was “expressing his frustration” at some blue states. He pointed to voter ID bill they’re trying to pass.I asked him again about a “take over,” and he said: “no, no” pic.twitter.com/UfuE3hJzTc— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 3, 2026The U.S. Constitution orders that elections be governed by states and locales, not the executive branch. Even still, it’s hard not to hear Trump’s comment about taking over elections without immediately thinking about January 6. This time we should take his threats seriously—especially given the recent FBI raid of an election office in Georgia’s Fulton County.