President Donald Trump has refused to rule out using the Insurrection Act to deploy the military against voters at the midterm elections.
With his approval numbers at record lows, Trump once again raised the prospect of an extraordinary use of presidential power as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress.
Asked in an interview with TIME if he would rule out declaring a state of emergency in the lead up to the midterms, the president replied: “I don’t rule anything out or in. We’ll see.”
“You mean the Insurrection Act?” Trump then asked, referring to the federal law that allows presidents to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops in order to quell what he deems an insurrection against the United States.
When TIME clarified yes, Trump replied: “No, I’ve never used it. I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes.”
The comments come as the president embarks on a 32-day campaign blitz, with much of it through Republican territory, starting with a trip to Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday followed by Alabama on Friday and Ohio on Saturday.
The Texas trip could end up being awkward for embattled Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who is scrambling to make amends with Trump after leaked audio revealed him trashing the president’s midterm convention in Dallas.
Trump also acknowledged this week that he had done a poor job selling his message to voters, raising the stakes of each campaign appearance.
“I’ve done a very bad job of explaining how good the country is doing,” Trump told a supportive crowd at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the White House.
“The country’s doing better than it has ever done.”
Told by TIME reporters in the interview that his polls “have never been lower,” Trump replied: “They’re fake numbers. I would beat anybody running today by 20 points. Your numbers that you have are fake. The pollsters are corrupt. They’re almost as corrupt as the writers.”
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll has Trump with an approval rating of 32 percent and a disapproval rate of 61 percent.
The fact that Republicans are losing ground amid the president’s war in Iran and affordability has also raised fears that he could end up taking drastic measures to cling to power.
The president’s comments to TIME also come roughly seven weeks after he was presented with an even more sweeping theory for using emergency powers to reshape the midterms.
In August, far-right broadcaster Wayne Allyn Root suggested to Trump that he declare a “national security emergency for elections” if Congress failed to pass the SAVE America Act.
Root claimed the move would allow Trump to impose photo-ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements and restrict mail voting without congressional approval.
“Let me just say, stranger things have happened, OK?” Trump responded. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Democrat Congressman James Walkinshaw said the president was trying to “sow fear and confusion” ahead of the midterms.
“We’re prepared to fight it out in the courts before election day and on election day,” he told MS NOW.
