It's the safe and secure presidential elections, national elections, we have enjoyed in our country without interruption of the course of this century.

And then point Z, that is the nightmare scenario, a president who has already exhibited a willingness and interest and effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, encouraging violence if it's necessary,

within unfettered control over our election systems.

It is difficult to pinpoint precisely where we are today,

right now, this hour, on that sliding scale

between A and Z.

But this afternoon's developments make it abundantly clear.

We are straying further and further from point A

and lurching ever closer and closer to point Z.

The latest reporting from MS Now, quote, Donald Trump has directed his White House counsel's office to explore the feasibility of an executive order requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification

at polling locations nationwide. Even as his own lawyers have warned, the moves would likely run

into legal trouble, according to senior White House official who spoke anonymously.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vote and White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf are among those overseeing the effort to determine whether a legally viable path forward on this stuff exists. It is the latest sign that Donald Trump intends to reshape American elections and unilaterally and without congressional buy-in test the limits of his executive authority.

The only part of that that is more chilling, more chilling than the idea of a unilateral executive order that could disenfranchise a large number of American voters with the stroke of a pen,

was that phrased toward the end of the reporting, quote, the latest sign, because it is,

as we've been chronicling here, just a piece, albeit a very important one, of that drift

ever closer to point Z on the spectrum. Case in point, brand new reporting in the Washington

Post out late this afternoon, quote, pro-Trump activists who say they're in coordination

with the White House are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered

in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary

presidential power over voting. Donald Trump has repeatedly previewed a plan to mandate voter ID

and to ban mailing ballots in November's midterm elections. The activists expect their draft

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