Far-right stokes fears of ‘nightmare’ Democratic midterm sweep to push for election takeover

The lies: A nefarious plot to remove President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance from office. Assassinating MAGA supporters. Reshaping the United States into a complete communist country. 

Over the past week, prominent far-right figures and influential election deniers have escalated their rhetoric about what will happen if Democrats emerge victorious in this fall’s midterms.

The alarming statements — buoyed by recent primary victories by progressive candidates in California, New York, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere — raise concerns that conservative figures with close ties to the president may be using their connections to push the Trump administration to take drastic measures to interfere in November’s elections. 

Former Trump senior advisor Steve Bannon, who now hosts a popular daily podcast, devoted Wednesday’s episode to fallout from this week’s primary elections, where progressive candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) in New York City all won. 

Bannon warned that, come November, voters will have to choose between Republican candidates or a Democratic party that he claimed will assassinate MAGA supporters. 

“The other path is going to be a combination of Mangione and Mamdani,” Bannon said, referring to Luigi Mangione, the 29-year-old data engineer accused of killing a healthcare CEO. “They’re going to line you up and shoot you, which they will.”

Bannon had other guests on his show Wednesday who voiced similarly wild, inflammatory fears about a Democratic midterm sweep.

“When I was at the DNC last year in Chicago, they were attacking themselves because they were’t communist and jihadist enough,” Ben Bergquam, a far-right YouTuber, said. “If you think it’s bad now, what they’re raising up — the bench of the Democratic party is worse than what they’re electing in New York right now. That’s what’s coming.” 

Peter Ticktin, a prominent conservative attorney and close ally of Trump, appeared Monday as a guest on the podcast of the conservative activist Steve Stern, where he warned of a “nightmare scenario” if Democrats flip congress. 

Ticktin said that a new Dem majority in the U.S. House of Representatives will choose Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) as Speaker of the House, then immediately move to impeach and remove both Trump and Vance from office. And then install Jeffries as president. 

“Once [Democrats] take over again, like they did for four years, we will never get the country back,” Ticktin warned. “And you, Steve, and I are going to be on the first trucks that they send out to round us up, along with anybody MAGA. So we gotta make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Ticktin continued to spread false claims about rigged elections, repeating a popular far-right conspiracy that Venezuela secretly controls America’s voting machines and is in cahoots with Democrats to flip votes. He suggested that Venezuela was the reason for any MAGA candidates who lost their primaries — and warned it will happen again in November. 

“The people who lost need to make sure they challenge that result,” Ticktin said. “If they don’t, there’s limited time to do that… this is where we are and this is what’s coming.”

Ticktin, who’s said to be coordinating with the White House to push Trump to take control of elections via executive order, added that he thinks Trump needs to declare martial law to ensure Democrats don’t flip congress in November.

“We need to be prepared in advance,” Ticktin said. “If that scenario were to come true, then there would be no choice, I believe — and this is nothing I know from the president, but it’s at least something the president would have to deal with, in a way that would protect the country. And I mean martial law.” 

Ticktin isn’t the only one pushing Trump to declare an emergency to rig the November vote. 

Jerome Corsi — a renown election denier best known for spreading Barack Obama birtherism conspiracies — also appeared on Stern’s podcast Monday, where he once again claimed Trump is planning to sign an emergency order to hijack control of elections from states. 

“I want to emphasize that Donald Trump has realized the importance of National Guard action, if he has to take it,” Corsi said. “In other words, if the states refuse to cooperate, and they’re going to let illegal immigrants vote and count all these extra days for counting votes, President Trump knows that’s a formula for disaster.” 

Corsi said he’s been working closely with Ticktin to push the White House to take control of elections. In February, a draft order leaked that calls for Trump to declare a national emergency and ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the basis that they are susceptible to foreign interference. 

But Corsi said Monday the recent Democratic primary victories have made it necessary for Trump to sign an emergency order that goes further than just banning voting machines and mail ballots. 

“The Democrats’ agenda is completely bankrupt,” Corsi added. “They are now running openly Marxist, socialist, America-hating candidates. The Democrats have decided it’s time for the Democratic Socialists of America to take over the country. And this is, essentially, a coup d’etat by election theft.”

Courts have largely blocked Trump’s two previous anti-voting orders that aimed to drastically alter aspects of elections — with proof of citizenship requirements and restrictions on mail ballots. But Corsi noted that he believes an extreme order allowing Trump to take over voting is still coming down the pipeline — even though voting experts have said that such a move would be blatantly unconstitutional.

“All the evidence I have and can see is that Donald Trump is setting the stage for an election emergency declaration,” Corsi said. “Maybe closer to the election, we still have months to go. But one in which he will be able to use the National Guard, if that’s required.”