saving the 2026 midterms

In an interview with Donald Trump, a prominent MAGA supporter, Wayne Allyn Root, suggested that the President take over the mid-term elections by declaring a national emergency. He argued that in this way, Trump would ensure a Republican victory and avoid the November trouncing that polling data predict. Root’s suggestion, of course, ignores the fact that any attempt by the President to control the electoral system fundamentally conflicts with the Constitution. It explicitly stipulates that only Congress and the states can establish the rules for elections.

True to form, Trump brushed aside the idea of any constitutional constraint. His somewhat cryptic response to Root was “Stranger things have happened; I’ll leave it at that,” thus leaving the door open to declaring an emergency.

What makes Trump’s casual remark a cause for serious alarm is his long history of undermining American elections. In both 2016 and 2020 he said he would not accept the results of the elections unless he were declared the victor. And to this day, he continues to make the false claim that the elections he lost were rigged.

Rick Hasen, an election law expert, points out that “Trump’s got a lot of levers” that can allow him to distort electoral outcomes. He could instruct sympathetic electoral officials to “find” the votes needed to secure Republican victories, as he did in 2020. Beyond that, he could close polls in Democratic strongholds under a pretext like that of preventing fraud or violence.

Most menacingly, Trump could send ICE agents to polling stations with the goal of intimidating voters. As Hasen puts it, “…people will just not want to run into masked, heavily armed thugs in the process of exercising their right to vote.” Armed agents would surely remind everyone when Trump unleashed his MAGA followers in a violent siege of the Capitol on September 6, 2021. It would not take much for Trump to repeat his instructions to his MAGA followers. But this time tell them to fight like hell” everywhere – not just in DC.

The threat of Trump’s interfering with the mid-term elections is all too real. But surprisingly, it has not prompted a robust public discussion of how best to defend the electoral system. To be sure, there are conversations about the need for attorneys to enlist the judiciary in opposing Trump’s efforts. Essential as that may be, however, court proceedings will simply not be sufficient. By the time they are adjudicated, the damage will have been done.

Hasen’s himself illustrates the problem. He does not doubt that the Attorney General, Todd Blanch, would do nothing to stop Trump from deploying ICE to the polls. Given that, Hasen argues that “if Trump actually tries to do something to interfere with elections, that’s the time that the public is going to need to be ready to go to the streets ….” But he adds, “I really don’t think that’s going to be necessary, because I think there’s going to be enough pushback before that.”

Hassen, of course, could be right. Trump might not implement his threats. There is a reason Trump has earned the nickname TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out. He frequently fails to follow through on his most dire threats. But this time might be different. Having to cope with his worst fear – defeat - it is well within the realm of possibility that Trump will attempt to obliterate a fair and free election in November.

The question that faces the country then is whether, if he implements his threats, the pushback will be sufficient to stop him. Doubts arise because without prior extensive organizing and strategizing, it will not be possible to implement a successful counterattack. The public will not, in Hassen’s words, be “ready to go to the streets.” Rallies and demonstrations on the scale needed to defeat Trump’s actions require careful personnel recruitment and fundraising. To my knowledge, little public and grassroots discussion of these essentials has occurred.

As of this writing we are only two months and a few days from the mid-terms. Now is the time to mobilize a grassroots defense of the electoral process. But that involves rejecting any optimistic complacency concerning Donald Trump. Instead of hoping that he will not resort to his worst instincts and risk being unprepared when he attacks, we must assume the worst, mobilize, and hope that we can save our electoral system.

About the Author   
Jay Mandle is the Emerita W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics, Emeritus,at Colgate University. His many books include Change Elections to Change America: Democracy Matters Students In Action, and Creating Political Equality: Elections As a Public Good,. Mandle’s regular monthly editorials, Money On My Mind, appear on the Democracy Matters website where they explore the role of private money in politics and other critical social issues.
The views expressed in Money On My Mind are those of the author, (not necessarily those of Democracy Matters, and are meant to stimulate discussion.