Among Donald Trump’s arsenal of primitive psychological defenses, two seems to stand tall above the others: projection and denial. Lost an election? Just claim that you actually won and that the Democrats stole it from you. Although he’s not running in 2026 (or hopefully, for that matter, ever again), he’s been projecting his fears that the Democrats will try to steal THIS election as well. In reality, what he’s doing is trying to steal it for himself. Being president, he has many more tools in his kit bag to do this than the average politician. Here are some of his strategies:
- Use governmental agencies to screen (and block as ”ineligible”) potential Democratic votes. One third of all voters mail their ballots in through the United States Postal System. In late March, 2026, Trump signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting. The order calls on the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to determine the list of eligible voters in each state. It also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list. Trump has also called for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking. These federal mechanisms of control are designed to allow Trump and his minions to disallow on specious grounds votes coming from states, counties, and districts where Democrats are poised to win crucial elections. These moves clearly violate the Constitution (taking away power that belongs to the states exclusively) and court challenges at all levels are now underway to stop this blatant power grab from taking place. But the Supreme Court has so far allowed Trump to go ahead with his scheme, and with a 6-3 conservative majority, they seem likely to continue to support Trump’s efforts to tilt the scale in favor of Republican victories in November, especially in close elections.
- Deploy federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to polling sites across the country. According to US homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, “The only reason why we would be at polling places is if there is a threat to that polling place or we’re serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down,” Mullin said. However, if the past is any guide to future plans, ICE officials can be deployed at the drop of a hat, as they have been in to many municipalities across the nation. ICE agents are deployed across more than 40 U.S. states, major metropolitan areas, and select national airports. Just the threat of their deployment may serve to prevent eligible voters (especially those of Hispanic ethnicity) from going to the polls.
- Deploy National Guard troops to polling sites across the country on the day of the election (and in the days leading up to it). Federal law prohibits the deployment of U.S. troops at polling places or their use in overseeing elections, reflecting long-standing restrictions on military involvement in the electoral process, but Trump has shown by his past actions that he is not averse to deploying the National Guard even when the need has been nonexistent. In August 2025, Trump deployed thousands of troops to Washington, D.C. and thousands still remain. He has also deployed troops to Los Angeles, Portland, Memphis, and Chicago, and threatened to send troops to Baltimore, New York City, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Oakland, California, to help deal with supposedly surging crime and violence, even though studies have concluded that this $1.7 billion deployment has failed to reduce urban crime. Clearly, all it would take is for Trump to announce that he was concerned about ”national security threats” during the midterm elections, to send troops to swing states and cities with large Democratic majorities. Trump has already told military leaders to view troop deployments as “training grounds for our military” and described America as under “invasion” and waging “a war from within”.
The Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute, released a report this month, detailing ways in which Trump is seeking to interfere in the 2026 Midterm elections to entrench his imperial presidency. In addition to the 3 tactics described above, a fact sheet published by the Center for American Progress on August 19, 2026 lists the following 12 strategies:
- Casting doubt on election integrity via disinformation to justify nationalizing elections
- Weaponizing the federal government by installing election deniers in key government positions
- Gutting key agencies and essential election security programs
- Weaponizing federal databases and demanding personal voter information from states to track or purge voters
- Issuing unconstitutional executive orders to limit voting access
- Pressuring Congress to pass legislation that would suppress eligible voters
- Preventing states from using voting equipment
- Diluting voters’ power through a mid-decade gerrymandering crisis
- Using the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to intimidate election administrators
- Seizing election-related materials and voting equipment
- Declaring a national emergency to take over or postpone elections
- Interfering with issuance of state election certificates or pressuring the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives to block seating of duly elected members
Trump knows that if the 2026 midterms result in majorities in the House and Senate for the Democrats, his rule as the nation’s Tyrant-in-Chief is basically over. We’ll have checks and balances once again. Since Trump thrives on power, he will stop at nothing to lie, cheat, swindle, and betray the democratic ideals that have made our country great. Here are a number of things you can do to help stop Trump’s naked power grab.
- Contact your state election officials. Let them know you have their back and will do all you can to support them against attempts to impugn their integrity or interfere with election matters. The National Association for State Election Directors is a good place to start. Here is a list (with phone numbers, email, and websites) for the directors of all 50 states, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Serve as a non-partisan Election Protection Volunteer. Volunteers provide voter information, help run hotlines, document problems, and work with partners and volunteers on the ground to identify and remove barriers to voting. Sign up here.
- If you’re a lawyer, volunteer with the We the Action Democracy Legal Defense Network, where your options include staffing your local polling place, serving as a voting rights legal roving monitor, monitoring polling places, or being an election protection monitor. Specific states are looking for lawyers to engage in one or more of these roles.
- Serve as a poll worker. They are responsible for overseeing voting operations at polling stations and ensuring that voters can exercise their right to vote freely, fairly, and without intimidation. To learn more, click here.
- Volunteer to be a poll monitor with Common Cause. State-by-state, they place trained poll monitors at polling places, especially in communities with a history of voting problems, where hotly-contested races exacerbate the chance of long lines, confusion, and other complications. They’ll also be in states where there may be confusion about voter ID requirements. Poll monitors will provide information, troubleshoot problems, and report bad practices to our teams to resolve them with election officials. To get involved, click here.
- Contact your state’s Senate representatives and tell them not to pass the The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which has already narrowly passed the House and now is up for consideration by the U.S. Senate. The proposed law requires new voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, mandates a government-issued photo ID nationwide for federal elections, and directs states to submit voter registration lists to the Department of Homeland Security. Estimates are that this law if passed would disenfranchise up to 21 million eligible voters. To find your representatives, go to https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member and enter your address and you’ll receive contact information for your particulate location.
There’s only two months, to the day, until the 2026 Midterm elections. We need to act fast to make sure there are enough people on the ground who care about preserving American democracy. Send Trump a clear message that we the American people will not allow anyone to tamper with our Constitutional right to vote!
