Fact Check: Is Donald Trump planning to declare martial law on April 20 using Insurrection Act of 1807?

WASHINGTON, DC: Rumors were flying all over Facebook, Reddit, and every conspiracy nook of the internet that President Donald Trump is about to drop the hammer and declare martial law on or around April 20, 2025.

The rumors started making the rounds as social media lit up with ominous warnings. One concerned reader emailed Snopes directly. “I am seeing many posts on Facebook that on April 20, Trump will declare martial law,” they wrote. 

Another referenced an executive order Trump signed on January 20—his first day back in office.

“I have seen a variety of posts suggesting that an early executive order signed by the president has set the stage for the imposition of martial law and that this will be triggered by a report on the state of the border that will be released on April 20. Any truth here?” they asked. 

Fact Check: False

The aforementioned claim is totally false. That January 20 executive order did declare a national emergency at the southern border, sure. It also required the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to whip up a joint report within 90 days—which lands us right on April 20.

But the report might include guidance on “whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.” There is no direct mention of “martial law.” No ominous power grab. No military boots storming the streets, Snopes confirmed.

The rumor really caught fire, thanks to a now-widely shared blog post on Medium, published on March 21 by someone hiding behind the handle Aletheisthenes. This wasn’t just any blog post—it was part of a doom-filled series called “The Coup Playbook: How They Quietly Kill the Constitution and Democracy in the Coming Weeks and Months.”

“On April 20, 2025, the United States may initiate its final steps into authoritarian rule," Aletheisthenes claimed.

According to them, invoking the Insurrection Act would kick off a dystopian nightmare that involves expanded martial law, false flag operations, arrests of journalists and politicians, military takeovers, press censorship, closed borders, and postponed elections.

“If we don't act before April 20, then by April 23, it will already be too late," the article concluded.

Aletheisthenes followed up with more posts, pushing readers to go full Doomsday Prepper by stockpiling food, water, survival gear, and to “beat the rush,” “go fast,” and “go now.” There’s even a moment where they suggest using AI to “check my math.”

Snopes reached out, and it got interesting

Snopes went ahead and emailed the elusive author, asking them about the whole Donald Trump-martial-law prediction. They even dropped some receipts, including a legal opinion from Joseph Nunn, counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice.

Nunn made it crystal clear in a 2022 article, “The term ‘martial law’ has no established definition, but it is generally understood as a power that allows the military to take over the role of civilian government in an emergency."

"By contrast, the Insurrection Act generally permits the military to assist civilian authorities (whether state or federal), not take their place. Under current law, the president has no authority to declare martial law," he added.

That should’ve been the end of the story. But Aletheisthenes doubled down.

“Trump has a history of testing what he can and can't do," they insisted. “Trump is on record on wanting to declare martial law several times during his [first] administration,” and his “guardrails” from that term “are gone.”

Has Donald Trump ever talked about martial law?

A search for information about Donald Trump previously considering declaring martial law brought up just one December 19, 2020, article by The New York Times.

It reported that Trump floated the idea of declaring martial law in an Oval Office meeting on December 18, shortly after losing the election.

But he shut that rumor down fast on X (formerly Twitter). “Martial law = Fake News. Just more knowingly bad reporting!” he declared at the time.