Manic GOP Effort Underway to Rig the Upcoming Election
President Donald Trump’s imperial takeover of Washington, DC this week has nothing to do with stopping crime, as he facetiously claims. DC’s biggest crime spree was the Trump-inspired mob that brutalized police and ransacked the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
The New York Times reported that on Jan. 6, pro-Trump insurrectionists “committed a month’s worth of crime in the span of about three hours”. Trump’s unforgivable response was to praise these hooligans: “We love you. You’re very special.”
One of his first acts upon reelection was pardoning approximately 1600 of these goons. This included freeing “more than 600 people charged with assaulting, resisting or interfering with the police”. Among the forgiven were 14 members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia who had their sentences commuted, despite being convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Donald Trump is now rewriting history and presenting himself as a great crimefighter.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump belched during a news conference at the White House, where he was surrounded by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The irony wasn’t lost on anyone that Trump had been convicted of 34 criminal felony counts, Hegseth paid a $50,000 settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, and Bondi is under fire for burying the sleazy Jeffrey Epstein files that repeatedly name Donald Trump. Putting this corrupt gang in charge of stopping crime in Washington, is the equivalent of having Chicago, in the 1920’s, hiring Al Capone to eliminate mob violence.
To rationalize his Mussolini-like move, Trump painted a fictional portrait of DC. He maligned our capital as overrun by “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals”. He misrepresented the District as “unsafe”, “dirty” and “disgusting”.
Justice Department data contradicted Trump. It found that violent crime in Washington was down 35% last year from 2023, the lowest in more than 30 years. The data showed a decline in homicides, robberies, armed carjackings and assaults with a dangerous weapon. This is hardly a city under siege in need of a military intervention from the National Guard, FBI and ATF.
Obviously, Trump is completely full of shit on his DC crime narrative. What’s really going on here is far more disturbing. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump is plotting to steal the 2026 midterm elections by any means necessary.
The President understands that brazenly rigging an election in broad daylight will cause mass protests and even violent resistance. So, he’s laying the groundwork now to use military force against Americans who demonstrate against his electoral heist.
Trump’s militarization efforts started in June when he federalized approximately 4,000 members of the Guard to invade Los Angeles under the pretense of squelching “violent” protests over immigration.
His LA foray was a test to see how the public would react if troops flooded a large, Democratic city. The president was probably surprised that his move encountered token resistance, with California politicians urging peaceful engagement to avoid giving Trump an excuse to unleash the troops. Having succeeded in California, Trump was emboldened to initiate a full-dress rehearsal for his tyranny in Washington.
Epic gaslighting is an essential part of Trump’s plan. If the president can successfully conjure and sell a fake crime spree in DC—that everyone knows it’s an unabashed lie–then it’s a very small step for Trump to falsely claim “anarchy” after the midterms to justify martial law.
By imposing his will on America’s most Democratic bastions, he is sending the message that he can trample rights and squash dissent anywhere. His plan is to intimidate opponents with overwhelming force to make them believe resistance is futile, so they must submit to his autocratic rule.
We must take a deep breath and soberly acknowledge that it looks like our worst fears may come to pass. Republicans are deeply engaged in a multi-pronged campaign to influence, or outright steal, the midterms.
By far the most alarming example is in Colorado, where radical Trump aide Stephen Miller is deploying lackeys to demand election officials “give a third-party access to their election equipment.”
“Not only is that a hard no, I mean, you’re not even going to breathe on my equipment,” said Carly Koppes, who oversees elections in Weld County.
While Colorado officials have so far resisted pressure, it may be only a matter of time before Miller finds loyal apparatchiks in other states willing to undermine democracy in exchange for a plum federal job.
CNN, which reported on the disturbing incident in Colorado, outlined myriad ways Republicans are trying to influence the midterm election outcome:
- In Texas, Democratic lawmakers have had to flee the state to stop a brazen gerrymander that would lead to 5 more additional Republican seats and help Republicans hold control of Congress. A map just released by GOP lawmakers would provide the GOP the edge in 30 of the state’s 38 congressional districts. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said last week that FBI Director Kash Patel granted his request for the FBI to locate Texas House Democrats who absconded from the state. This is one more outrageous example of Republicans weaponizing law enforcement to harass political opponents.
- Trump signed an executive order in March that sought to force states to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and take “enforcement action” against states that accept mail ballots after Election Day. Federal judges have blocked parts of the executive order, noting that the power to regulate elections rests with the states and Congress, not the president.
- The Republican National Committee sent records requests to 48 states and Washington, DC, seeking information on how they maintain voter registration lists.
- The Justice Department asked more than a dozen states in recent weeks to provide voter lists, explain their procedures for removing potential ineligible voters from their rolls or discuss entering into information-sharing agreements to help the agency root out election fraud. The demands range from seeking copies of voting rolls in political battlegrounds such as Michigan to a broad request in Colorado to provide election records as far back as 2020.
- The Republican-controlled House in April approved the SAVE Act, which mirrors parts of Trump’s executive order requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The proposed legislation also would make it a crime for election officials to mistakenly register someone to vote who has not provided proof of citizenship. Critics note that it’s already illegal for noncitizens to cast ballots in federal elections and say requiring proof of citizenship could disenfranchise eligible voters who lack the needed documents or changed their name through marriage.
Republicans also rely on their rabid, violent base to intimidate local election administrators. A Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s Law School discovered that “nearly 3 in 5 US local election officials are worried about political interference.” 46% said they were concerned about politically motivated investigations of their work or that of their fellow election officials.
The Trump administration is declaring war on America. It is acting in remarkably bad faith and inappropriately inserting itself into democratic elections where they have no business exerting pressure or influence. The invasion of DC is merely a smokescreen to obscure a far more insidious crime being plotted against democracy.
Those of us who choose to remain free must be vigilant, say “Hell, No” to Trump’s efforts, and do whatever is necessary to defeat an illiberal junta that seeks to end the America we know and love. While Trump and his subservient toadies are fools, they certainly aren’t’ fooling anyone with their transparent DC charade.
