Slotkin Warns Trump Could ‘Make Up a Threat’ Ahead of Midterms: ‘Playbook is Very Clear’

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) spoke at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Wednesday and warned that President Donald Trump could try to fake a national emergency ahead of the midterm elections.

Slotkin, a former CIA agent, told the crowd, “The authoritarian playbook is very clear. When you’re at risk of losing, you either (A) make up a threat that only you can protect the American people from, or (B) find a way for federal law enforcement or the military to seize ballots or voting machines.”

“In Hungary, Orbán used Plan A. One week before his election, he falsely claimed that there was a major threat to an oil pipeline in an attempt to be seen as the only true protector of the state. Luckily, Hungarians saw right through it. They knew it was a ruse,” added the Michigan Democrat, warning:

So there’s a lesson for us. In the run-up to Election Day, we need to be alert and ready. If you hear in the next 34 days that there is a new security threat you’ve never heard of, one that somehow requires federal law enforcement or the military and not local police, an alarm bell should go off in your brain. Do not let him get away with that.

Slotkin has long offered tough talk both about the Trump administration and her own party’s leadership.

“I mean, I think since when Biden was in, like we need new leadership in the White House, the House, and the Senate, and on both sides of the aisle. That includes Democrats. I think we have literally found ourselves in a situation where we just don’t have people who understand the moment, and understand what leadership means,” Slotkin said over the summer.

“That you chart a course and you explain to people how are we going to get from this dark moment to a better place, instead of just a circular firing squad, you know? Dem-on-Dem violence. No one is talking about what they wanna do, and that to me is a fundamental of leadership,” she added, suggesting both the House and Senate need new Democratic Party leaders next Congress.

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.

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