Here is Trump’s blueprint to rig the 2026 midterms

This piece was originally written for Democracy Docket members. We’re sharing this one with everyone because the stakes for this election are too high not to. Become a member to get Marc’s exclusive analysis first.

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We are less than two months until Election Day for the most important midterms of our lifetime. Ballots have already started to be sent out. The threats to free and fair elections are real and growing more serious by the day. 

What once seemed like an abstract threat has now become concrete. The risk of a rigged election is no longer unthinkable. The need for action can no longer be delayed or denied.

I have often said that Donald Trump’s plan is to make it harder for you to vote and easier for him to cheat. Now we know what that will look like in 2026.

Donald Trump issued an executive order claiming powers over federal elections that he does not have. In response, the U.S. Postal Service is trying to ram through a rule that will make voting by mail more difficult while requiring states to turn over sensitive voter data.

The Postal Service has not been shy in making clear that it is taking these steps to allow federal law enforcement to conduct criminal investigations of alleged voter fraud.

That is not all the USPS has done to make voting more difficult. A series of smaller changes have resulted in slower mail service and delayed postmarks on envelopes. While these are not limited to returned ballots, the results have been devastating for those trying to vote by mail.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice continues to sue for access to states’ complete voter files, while the head of its Civil Rights Division is threatening to deploy 1,000 federal agents to “monitor” polling places in the midterm elections.

The Department of Homeland Security is readying so-called state citizenship lists to send to states, a thinly veiled threat to state officials to purge voters… or else. And things are escalating quickly. Now word has come that the DHS will launch a massive witch hunt to investigate evidence of nonexistent, widespread voter fraud.

The weaponization of government against Trump’s political enemies is in full swing and out in the open. Under Trump’s direction, the DOJ will now target state election officials under the guise that they have permitted illegal voting.

Republicans and their allies are litigating to make voting more difficult and election subversion easier. Recently, the Republican National Committee joined the Trump administration in asking the Supreme Court to gut a federal law that limits last-minute voter purges. 

Election offices, which in the past served to protect the integrity of elections from attacks by bad actors, are now being overrun and infiltrated by election deniers trying to sow doubt from the inside.

Individually, each of these developments is troubling. Collectively, they paint a damning picture of an authoritarian president trying to rig the vote before it happens. This government-sponsored voter suppression is on a scale we have not seen in our nation’s history.

While nearly all of what I describe above is undisputed fact, it has been normalized by a legacy media intent on not taking sides. That must end now.

In the past, some have called me an alarmist. Critics have accused me of being too aggressive in fighting back. They suggest I find more room for compromise and seek bipartisan solutions.

There is no virtue in turning a blind eye to voter suppression to meet Republicans halfway. There is no vice in remaining firm against election subversion, even if it requires standing alone.

It is not spreading conspiracy theories to draw the obvious connections between the individual efforts of this administration and their GOP allies to obstruct free and fair elections.

Donald Trump is the unquestioned originator and leader of the election denier movement. But he is not its only adherent.

The plan to subvert the midterm elections may have originated in the White House,  but it is being carried out by dozens of federal agencies, outside groups, and Republican officials.

Defeating it in the short time remaining will require a similarly focused effort by the pro-democracy community. That means recognizing the strengths that we all bring to this fight.

As Election Day nears, Democratic candidates and parties will necessarily step to the forefront in the courtrooms. As I often point out, it is no coincidence that the 2000 election was decided in a case captioned Bush v. Gore. Nor was it by chance that I represented Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in more than 60 cases in the 2020 post-election litigation.

The role of candidates in litigation has become more important. The Supreme Court recently granted them unique standing to challenge nearly all election rules and laws. According to the Chief Justice John Roberts, unlike other potential parties to litigation, “candidates suffer when the process departs from the law.”

That does not mean there is not an important role for other pro-democracy organizations to play in the courtroom and out. On the contrary, providing nonpartisan information to voters, organizing direct action and supporting election officials who do the right thing are vital to our system of elections.

The most important work, however, belongs to the citizens of this country. Each of us must make sure we understand the rules for registering to vote and casting a ballot. We must share that information with those in our circles of trust.

We must also call out the efforts to suppress the vote for what they are — an assault on democracy. We must insist that our election officials, regardless of party, stand up against those barriers. And, after the ballots are cast, we must remain engaged until the accurate results are certified and the rightful winners take their seats.

The next few months will be long and hard. But democracy is worth the fight.