Last month, Democrat strategist Mike Nellis posted a clip from The Lead of CNN's Jake Tapper, reporting that Trump's "outside advisors" were telling him to declare martial law. "There is growing concern among experts about what Trump might do as he continues to push baseless election fraud claims," Tapper kicked off his report. Tapper's an easy foil for these kinds of reports, posting in August that "there is zero reason not to take Trump at his word that he and his team are planning something alarming to disrupt the midterms and beyond."

What, exactly, are "outside advisors"? We're guessing they're the same class of person whom Axios calls Trump's MAGA allies who are discussing martial law if the midterms are deemed to be rigged. Has Trump made any suggestion whatsoever? No, but his MAGA allies have. Brittany Gibson reports for Axios:

MAGA activists are pushing for President Trump to resort to extraordinary measures — including martial law — if they believe the midterm elections are "rigged."

Why it matters: Some of the proposals go far beyond Trump's legal authority — and there's no evidence that the elections will be rigged. But people in this orbit have close access to the president.

…

Zoom in: On a Sept. 30 video call for MAGA election activists streamed on Rumble, speakers warned of widespread election security breaches they believe will occur in November — and urgently pushed for remedies.

[Attorney Peter] Ticktin, Trump's childhood friend, said on the call "there would have to be martial law in the event... [of] another rigged election."

Stupid enough to buy it is California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

Yes, Trump is going to invoke martial law, just like how the Democrats said the military was going to have to physically remove him from the Oval Office if he lost in 2020. Democrats have to make up their minds: Are elections secure, as they were in 2020, or can they be rigged? Remember when CBS News' Major Garrett wrote a book claiming that the 2020 election "was the greatest success of American democracy in history"?

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