Mick Foley is once again going after Donald Trump, and this time his issue is the possibility of an emergency declaration ahead of the midterm elections. The WWE Hall of Famer says there is no emergency to justify such a move and finds it troubling that some Americans appear comfortable with the idea.
Foley addressed the situation in a new Instagram Story, reacting to Trump’s public comments about potentially using emergency powers in connection with the elections. Foley didn’t hold back on where he stands.
“The fact that this guy is already considering declaring an emergency when there obviously isn’t one – and that a lot of people in this country are OK with it – is a sad statement on where we are as a country.”
The idea didn’t originally come from Trump himself. During an August interview, conservative commentator Wayne Allyn Root suggested that Trump declare a national security emergency to try to impose changes including photo ID, proof-of-citizenship requirements and limits on mail voting without waiting for Congress. Trump didn’t commit to doing it, responding, “Stranger things have happened” and saying he’d “leave it at that.”
Trump has since continued to leave the door open to some form of emergency declaration ahead of the midterms. In an October interview with Time, he again declined to rule out declaring a state of emergency before voters head to the polls.
There are major limits to what such a declaration could actually accomplish when it comes to elections. States and local governments handle much of the administration of elections, while federal authority is constrained by the Constitution and federal election laws; Trump’s August exchange did not itself create any new presidential authority over state election administration.
Foley’s latest post comes after he already took aim at Trump earlier this month over remarks involving Los Angeles and San Diego. At the time, Foley said he didn’t want his social media to become dominated by politics but felt strongly enough about Trump’s comments to speak out anyway.
Now he’s doing exactly that again, with the midterms just weeks away. Foley clearly isn’t backing away from political posts when he believes something coming out of the Trump administration deserves a response.
What do you think about Mick Foley calling out Donald Trump’s willingness to consider an emergency declaration ahead of the midterms? Let us know in the comments below.
