Trump Failed in 2020 and He Will Fail Again in 2026
Trump has made it clear he is going to do whatever he can to ensure Republicans maintain control of Congress in November. As he has said, if Republicans lose control of the House “they’ll find a reason to impeach me.”
Unlike 2020, this time Trump will have a fully controlled Justice Department, FBI, ICE, and the rest of the executive branch to do his bidding.
But what Trump will not have, and what he’d need, is the American people. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance by 60 to 38 percent. A New York Times poll of polls has Trump’s disapproval at 56 to 41 percent.
The end of the ICE “surge” in Minneapolis and St. Paul shows what the American people can accomplish when they peacefully, courageously, and forcefully challenge authoritarian and illegal actions. With the help of many lawyers, nonprofit groups, and the courts, the American people will be called on to stop Trump from rigging the 2026 national election.
Meanwhile, what can Trump do? Plenty. His strategy is expected to rely on a combination of overt attacks on our voting infrastructure and the continued use of misinformation to sow doubt in the legitimacy of our elections.
Trump can send ICE officers to try to intimidate voters lining up to vote. He can try to seize ballot boxes in places that vote for Democrats. His election-denying local officials can refuse to certify votes. His DOJ can bring lawsuits alleging widespread fraud in selected congressional races. He can attempt to manipulate the Post Office to prevent ballots from being delivered for counting at polling places. He can have the Republican Party and Republican candidates bring multiple lawsuits to challenge election officials and election results. He can have his House followers attempt to refuse to seat Democratic winners by claiming they weren’t properly elected.
Trump is already at work. For example, his DOJ has sued 24 states who have refused to hand over their state voting rolls. If DOJ gets ahold of a state’s voting rolls, it can make false claims that there are large numbers of ineligible people registered to vote. (Courts in two states have already dismissed the DOJ lawsuits.)
Another example occurred in January: The FBI seized, without any apparent legitimate basis, the 2020 voting ballots from Fulton County, Georgia, a Democratic voting area. It could very well be a trial run for an effort to attempt to disqualify large numbers of ballots in the 2026 elections.
Nobody in their right mind should trust DOJ or the FBI or anything they do. They are run by Trump acolytes who have already followed his irresponsible commands and appear prepared to do whatever he wants.
Trump has been laying the groundwork to discredit the integrity of our elections for more than a decade. (Of course, he had no problems with the conduct of the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections that he won.)
Trump recently asserted that “The Republicans should say, we want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.” He has also claimed that “a state is an agent for the federal government in elections.”
These positions are plainly contrary to the Constitution, which says in Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 that the states and Congress have the authority and responsibility for overseeing our elections.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have made their contribution to Trump’s schemes by passing a voting suppression bill, the SAVE Act. This would require citizens to show documents such as a passport or birth certificate to register to vote.
According to the Brennan Center, “more than 21 million Americans lack ready access to those documents,” and the Act “would disenfranchise Americans of all ages and races, but younger voters and voters of color would suffer disproportionately.” And “millions of women whose married names aren’t on their birth certificates or passports would face extra steps just to make their voices heard.”
The Act will be blocked by a Democratic filibuster in the Senate unless the Republican majority changes the filibuster rules.
Trump is pressing these “voting changes” for a simple, yet un-American, reason: he apparently believes the changes will suppress voters who support Democrats and heavily tilt the elections to Republicans.
There is no question that a very tough battle lies ahead. It is up to the American people to protect their sacred right to vote and defeat these attacks on the heart and soul of our democracy.
We will prevail. Trump failed to steal the 2020 presidential election. He will fail again when he attempts to steal the 2026 congressional elections.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s newsletter, and other recent editions, here. And subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
