Perhaps you’ve heard. President Donald Trump’s declaration that he wants to “nationalize” voting in the United States comes at a difficult time for the relationship between the federal government and top election officials across the country.

“If a state can’t run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it,” Trump said as he held a bill signing in the Oval Office surrounded by Republican lawmakers. “Because, you know, if you think about it, the state is an agent for the federal government in elections. I don't know why the federal government doesn’t do ‘em anyway.” Trump added that, in some cases, "The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take it over.”

He repeated unfounded claims about the 2020 election, listing Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta after raising what he alleged to be “rigged, crooked elections.” The Constitution gives states the authority to run and administer federal elections, subject to laws passed by Congress. The White House earlier Tuesday had sought to soften Trump's similar comments from Monday—after Republican congressional leaders poured cold water on his idea.

The executive branch has some powers with elections, like sending Justice Department voting-rights monitors to polling places, which it did last year in California and New Jersey. But Trump’s comments Monday that Republicans “should take over the voting” and “nationalize the voting” would bring the federal government’s role to a level never seen before in this country, which experts said usurps powers the Constitution grants to the states.

The worry, many election officials say, is that Trump and his allies might try to interfere in or cast doubt on this year’s midterm elections. The president is urgently trying to defend the Republican majorities in Congress, and the political environment has appeared to grow less friendly to his party.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, later told reporters that the president “believes there has obviously been a lot of fraud and irregularities that have taken place in American elections, and again, voter ID is a highly popular and commonsense policy that the president wants to pursue and he wants to pass legislation to make that happen for all states across the country”.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, also weighed in on X, “Democrats will fight and block Trump’s calls to nationalize elections,” he wrote. “The very pillars of American society, democracy and the rule of law will prevail over cult of personality.”

Plans for U.S.-Iran nuclear talks on Friday are back on, after several Middle Eastern leaders urgently lobbied the Trump administration on Wednesday afternoon not to follow through on threats to walk away, two U.S. officials told Axios. The talks will be held in Oman, as Iran insisted, despite the U.S. initially rejecting changes to the original plan to meet in Istanbul.

But Trump sent a fresh warning to Iran’s leaders as American military forces amass in the region, even before the diplomatic talks begin. “I would say he should be very worried, yeah. He should be,” Trump told Bloomberg, when asked about Iran’s supreme leader. “As you know, they are negotiating with us.” The U.S. wants Tehran to stop enriching uranium, curb its ballistic missile program and end its support for regional proxies. Iran has said it is willing to discuss only its nuclear work.

The meeting on Friday would be the first time that Tehran and Washington held talks since the 12-day war in June with Israel that culminated in American fighter jets bombing and severely damaging Iran’s three main nuclear facilities, effectively halting its nuclear program. On Tuesday, White House envoy Steve Witkoff met in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a group of senior Israeli defense officials to coordinate positions ahead of the talks with Iran. The U.S. officials said that considering Iran's behavior in recent days, and the lack of a breakthrough in previous talks, they're still skeptical a deal is possible.

We all love old school styling of the Porsche 356, right? But most of us don't want to give up modern powertrains or cabin amenities like air conditioning and Apple CarPlay. Which is why the Stärke Gen 2 Speedster looks like a great solution. If you have the cash, of course.

The Porsche 356, the first-ever production vehicle from the legendary German automaker, is among the most beautiful cars ever designed, pairing an athletic stance with smooth, curvaceous bodywork decorated by tasteful chrome adornments. But, as Car and Driver points out, the 356 is also an extremely old car, with production lasting from 1948 to 1965. Missouri-based Stärke Motor Company is ready to fill that need with their hybrid style Gen 2 Speedster.

The concept is simple, the company takes a late-model Porsche 718 Boxster as the donor car and reworks it into a coachbuilt, retro-styled convertible that keeps the underlying chassis, powertrain, safety structure and much of the modern interior convenience intact. Pricing is described as $135,000 for the conversion if the buyer supplies a donor vehicle, or $189,000 if Stärke sources the donor for a more turnkey purchase.

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