The Trump/ MAGA plot to try to steal the midterm election is emerging.
The MAGA plot to subvert the 2026 midterm elections is coming into focus. Election denial bigwig Steve Bannon has outlined a scheme in which President Donald Trump — aided by right-wing journalist John Solomon at the White House and Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence — would declassify and release documents purporting to show significant foreign interference in past U.S. elections. The president would then use that theory as the “predicate” to declare a “national emergency” and try to seize control of the elections apparatus to curtail voting rights in November.
The foundational lie of this scheme — and of election denial writ large — is that Trump is such a popular figure that only massive election fraud could explain the defeat of his movement at the polls. And the right’s propaganda apparatus is essential in buttressing that lie by ignoring or explaining away all evidence to the contrary. Outlets like Fox News don’t just celebrate the president as an heroic, visionary figure — they tell viewers that the polls are wrong and “The MAGA Momentum Is Unstoppable.” [Matt Gertz of Media Matters]
CONSERVATIVE MEDIA IS HIDING THE TRUTH FROM ITS VIEWERS
Trump wants everyone to think he is still wildly popular, but he is not. He is very unpopular with the American people these days after raising their expectations about fixing the economy, avoiding new wars and releasing the Epstein Files and then letting them down on all of these issues. He has made a lot of wealthy people happy about how much money they are making, it’s true. But the working Americans who believed in him have been disappointed.
You would not know that Trump is unpopular if you listen only to Fox and other rightwing media sources. They are hiding the truth from their viewers.
Even Fox News’ own polls expose Trump as deeply unpopular.
The most recent results from pro-Trump Fox News are in line with those averages, showing 39% of respondents approve of the job Trump is doing while 60% disapprove, with his performance underwater by large margins on issues from the economy to immigration.
Other polls show Trump deeply underwater with voters on every issue including immigration, crime and the economy, all of the areas where he used to be popular. This broad pattern is repeated in poll after poll.
Across six major polls taken in late June and early July, Trump’s approval ranges from 35 percent to 43 percent, while disapproval stretches from roughly 53 percent to 61 percent—offering a consistent snapshot of a presidency facing stubborn headwinds.
WHY TRUMP KEEPS TALKING ABOUT THE SAVE ACT
Trump and the MAGAs tell us immigrants are voting in large numbers and that’s why we need the Save Act. But we know that this is not true. The fear of immigrants voting is a fever dream that the rightwing uses to fuel voter suppression. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote and there are extraordinarily few instances of that happening in the entire history of voting in our country. The Brennan Center reports that the incidence of illegal voters voting in election is 0.0001%. Read this article to learn more: Fact checking false claims about noncitizen voting : NPR
What is the Save Act about if it is not about illegal citizens voting? It’s Trump’s cheap trick attempt to limit voting by women. If the name appearing on your birth certificate does not match your passport name you would be out of luck if you try to vote in a jurisdiction where the Save Act is operative.
The Brennan Center has … warned that people who have changed their name, such as married women, may be blocked from registering to vote because of discrepancies between their ID and birth certificate.
“Trump has a serious problem when it comes to women’s votes,” says [Celinda Lake of The Hill]. Citing a recent New York Times-Siena poll, she notes that nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of women disapprove of Trump’s performance. Another poll showed Democrats with a 21-point lead among women over Republicans. And 60 percent of young women disapprove of Trump as well.
Of course, many of Trump’s own MAGA voters are women who live in rural areas. They might not have the money or means to get an updated passport with a name that matches their birth certificate. Unless these women took the extra steps to change their passports, which would be a real pain to do and probably take a long time since the Trump administration has cut down on government workers in all departments, they would likely not bother to vote for Trump’s chosen House candidates if the Save Act were to become law in their states. Maybe that would not matter in deep red states, however. Nationally, the Republicans in Congress won’t let the Save Act become the law of the land because they aren’t totally living in Trumpestan where Trump’s version of reality wins out over the real world. They know better.
Unfortunately, there are mini–Save Acts being introduced in state houses across the country. And there are also challenges being mounted against these mini-Save Acts. We will have to see how this plays out.
TRUMP KEEPS TALKING ABOUT COMMUNISM TOO. Why?
With his approvals in the dumpster, Trump has become obsessed not only with the so-called Save Act but…wait for it…Communists! What? Why? I think I know what’s cooking in that obsessive, micromanaging brain of his.
One of the plots he is cooking up is shaping up to be a claim that China interfered in our elections in the past (yeah, they probably have tried to do that along with other countries like Russia Russia Russia and Iran – not Japan). Bill Pulte, acting DNI, who has no intelligence training or experience (or intelligence?), has been hunting for information to reveal to the nation that he thinks will expose some kind of nefarious plot that will implicate China. This is likely what Trump will be ginning up on Thursday night when he is planning to speak to the nation.
Trump will probably claim that Communist China interfered in our 2020 election to fraudulently get him out of power and will do so again. By making public only a portion of the full intelligence report Pulte digs up- the part that implicates China- and not the information from our intelligence community about how they exposed and prevented the damage, Trump and Pulte will try to claim, once again, that Trump actually won the 2020 election. I am thinking they may also say that Democratic socialists running in deep blue districts are part of a Commie plot to undermine our 2026 elections. Or Antifa. Trump always has Antifa on his mind despite the fact that there is no such organized Antifa group. It’s another fiction or urban legend that has dwelled in Trump’s warped mind and is now be foisted on all of us with an expectation that we believe it or else.
But here is the most important thing: Trump seems to forget that in 202o IT WAS HIS ADMINISTRATION that was in charge of the election he lost fair and square. He forgets that in 2016 when Obama was in charge of the country, he won that election or was allowed to win somehow! The same was true in 2024 when Biden was president. He won that election too! In other words, somehow the only election that was fraudulent, was the 2020 election, which means it was fraudulent under HIS watch with HIS handpicked people running the show. I think the American people are going to see right through this sad attempt to rewrite history and understand this for what it is: Trump is a really really poor loser. Full stop.
Currently the Dems are up in the polls and if the election were held today, they would win back the House. This is terrifying for Trump who is moving heaven and earth to try to get all of us to buy into his Alternate Universe of election denialism for 2020. But I think Americans know better.
TRUMP’S PLOT SHOULD BE EXPOSED RIGHT NOW SO PEOPLE CAN KNOW WHAT THEY ARE PLOTTING TO DO AND REJECT IT
The Apprentice built Trump up as a businessman who knew how to run things. When he said, “You’re fired!” that reality TV show made him seem like he knew what he was doing. He didn’t.
If anything, Trump is the ultimate wrecking ball who is systematically ruining our country. As the Iran war is showing us, he does not even know how to make a deal of any kind. What he does know how to do is threaten and then pull back over, threaten again and pull back rinse repeat over and over again. Which creates chaos. That does not win wars or get peace deals. He wanted a peace prize, but Trump is not about peace. He is about chaos. Corruption. And cruelty.
Another man was shot and killed by ICE agents today, this time in Maine. But ICE agents are driving vehicles that are unmarked and anyone being pursued by a bunch of guys in a car like that could think bad guys are coming after him. Come to think of it, bad guys ARE coming after them.
Read this article to see the list of things that were just fine before Trump got involved and messed them up: 47 Ways Trump Has Made Your Life Worse in 1 Year – Common Cause. By-the-way that list was written before he wrecked the White House east wing, the Lincoln Monument reflecting pool and went to war with Iran.
Trump is clearly planning to meddle with the next election and do his best to rig it so the MAGAs “win” whether or not they do.
It’s past time the American people fire Trump and the MAGA election deniers who feed off of him. Too bad we have to wait 2 more years for a presidential election. Our system of government is just too slow.
The way it looks right now, Americans seem ready to rise up and vote in large enough numbers against the MAGA Republicans to give the Dems a shot at restraining this administration. If that happens, our country can get to 2028 with democracy in tatters but surviving Trump’s authoritarian assault. Our country will limp to the finish line and in 2028 Trump will not be on the ballot.
LAST CLEAR CHANCE TO WIN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF AMERICAN VOTERS
If Americans do rise up to vote in blue wave numbers against the MAGA Republicans, the Democrats will win back Congress and have a shot at restraining this administration and imposing accountability. If the Dems do win control of Congress, they will then have a small window of opportunity to prove to Americans that they are bold enough to make big changes to help working Americans, younger Americans, and the elderly and turn the tables on the rich who are already rich enough and don’t need another yacht.
Democrats will need to move fast and act boldly:
- Expand the Supreme Court, set up term limits and ethics rules. There should be 4 more justices to match the number of circuits we have today.
- Hold hearings to expose Trump’s massive corruption and fraud and hold Trump loyalists accountable and Trump too if they can.
- Keep pushing for the full release of the Epstein Files.
- Vote to stop the war in Iran and force Trump to concede.
- Shore up voting rights by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act because our voting rights have been decimated by Trump and this Supreme Court.
- Make sure Mifepristone is readily accessible and available to women across the country.
- Cancel Trump’s tariffs.
- Stand in the way of any efforts of Trump to create his own secret police made up of those pardoned J6 goons who attacked the Capitol.
- Pass laws that codify the rules Trump has trampled all over, including the Emoluments Clause that forbids presidents from the kind of self-dealing Trump is engaged in on steroids.
- Refuse to fund Trump’s so-called beautification projects that are wrecking Washington, DC.
- Vote to make Washington, DC and Puerto Rico states each with two more Senators.
And that’s just for starters.
