Asked Directly Whether He Would Rule Out Invoking the Insurrection Act — the Law Letting a President Deploy the Military Against Americans on U.S. Soil — or Declaring a National Emergency Around the November Midterms, Trump Said, "I Don't Rule Anything Out or In. I Could Use It. A Lot of People Think I Should Use It Sometimes" — as His Administration Surges Troops and Agents Into Democratic-Run Cities
In an interview with Time published October 1, 2026, with the midterm elections a month away, Trump was asked whether he would rule out invoking the Insurrection Act or declaring a national emergency around the vote. His answer was a refusal to foreclose it: "I don't rule anything out or in. I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes." Asked more broadly about the limits of his power, he said, "I'm not committing to anything," and, "We're going to see how it plays out in court." The Insurrection Act is the statute that allows a president to deploy the U.S. military to enforce the law domestically — against Americans, on American streets. For a president to decline to rule out using it, or an emergency declaration, specifically "around the midterms" is not a neutral statement of legal fact. It is a threat left deliberately on the table, and it lands in a context this archive has documented: an administration that has surged National Guard troops and federal agents into Democratic-run cities on crime and immigration pretexts, that has spent a year attacking mail voting and voter rolls, and whose critics — including some on the right — have warned of a design to shape or contest the election. Time also reported that White House advisers have already war-gamed how to respond if Democrats win the House or Senate. A president confident of a fair contest does not muse about soldiers around it. This one would not say he wouldn't.