The True Scope of Executive Order 13848
A central pillar of the speaker’s arguments rests on Executive Order 13848. The speaker suggests that this order gives the President the “legal ability” to declare a foreign threat, assume emergency powers, and physically seize voting machines in counties across the United States. This is a severe misrepresentation of the document’s text and legal purpose.
President Donald Trump did sign Executive Order 13848 on September 12, 2018. The official title of the document is “Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election”. The order was issued to declare a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to deal with the threat of foreign actors undermining public confidence in U.S. elections.
However, the mechanisms authorized by this order are entirely economic and diplomatic. The text specifically authorizes the blocking of property and financial interests, the prohibition of financial contributions, and the exclusion of alien corporate officers of foreign entities that are found to have interfered in American elections. The executive order does not contain any language authorizing the seizure of domestic voting machines, nor does it empower the military or federal law enforcement to intervene in the state-level administration of elections. The “45-day report” mentioned in these videosis a real provision, but it requires the intelligence community to assess foreign interference to trigger these financial penalties against foreign actors…it is not a legal mechanism to justify the physical seizure of local election infrastructure.
Mischaracterizing the Department of Homeland Security
The speakers further claim that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued a finding determining that “no machine currently in use anywhere in America can be used” because they contain foreign source parts, and that a billion dollars is sitting untouched for counties to purchase new American-made machines.
While Secretary Mullin has taken recent actions regarding election administration that have generated significant political debate, the assertion that he unilaterally banned all voting machines is FALSE. Recent reports confirm that Secretary Mullin has asked the Justice Department to investigate aspects of the country’s election infrastructure, including voting machines and the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). Additionally, his actions at DHS have prompted pushback from Congress, particularly regarding efforts to cross-reference state voter rolls with federal immigration databases using the SAVE program, which lawmakers warned was an attempt to federally overreach into state election administration.
However, requesting federal inquiries into voting machine supply chains or voter registration lists is entirely different from a federal mandate declaring all local voting machines legally unusable. U.S. elections are strictly decentralized, and federal executive agencies do not possess the sweeping authority to instantly decertify and replace thousands of state and county-level voting systems.
The Reality of Decentralized, Air-Gapped Election Infrastructure
To justify the need for sudden federal intervention, the speakers allege that voting machines are inherently compromised, capable of being hijacked, and run by a “Chinese run operation out of South Korea.” This narrative fundamentally ignores the strict, localized security protocols that physically govern American voting technology.
Voting and tabulation machines are deliberately engineered to be “air-gapped”. This means they are not connected to the public internet, which sharply reduces the possibility of remote tampering, hacking, or hijacking by foreign intelligence operations. Because they are isolated networks, a centralized, overseas operation cannot electronically access or alter the vote tallies inside the tabulators.
Furthermore, the American election system is not run from a single federal hub; it is overseen by over 10,000 state and local election officials in counties and municipalities across the country. Before any votes are cast, voting machines are subjected to strict logic and accuracy testing to ensure tabulators are counting correctly. When not in active use, this equipment is heavily controlled, physically secured with tamper-evident seals, and stored under strict chain-of-custody protocols that require the presence of bipartisan teams to access.
Perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of jurisdictions in the United States utilize voter-verifiable paper ballots. Even in jurisdictions that use digital ballot-marking devices, the equipment typically issues a printed paper receipt for the voter to review. This ensures that even if an electronic system were theoretically compromised, there is a reliable physical paper backup. This paper trail allows bipartisan auditing teams to conduct hand recounts to verify that the machines counted the votes accurately.
So, there you have it…
The speakers in these videos effectively weave a few real elements…such as the existence of E.O. 13848 and recent DHS inquiries…into a broader tapestry of unfounded conspiracy. The executive order in question strictly authorizes international financial sanctions, not domestic martial law or machine seizures. Furthermore, because U.S. voting machines are air-gapped, decentralized, and backed by auditable paper trails, the systemic, nationwide hijacking described by these speakers is impossible. When encountering such claims, relying on the actual text of primary source documents, such as the E.O. itself, and understanding the localized, bipartisan safeguards built into election administration is the most effective way to separate fact from political theater.
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