'They will take what they want': 7 ways Trump is already planning to disrupt the midterms
President Donald Trump talks on the phone aboard Air Force One during a flight to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address a joint gathering of House and Senate Republicans, Thursday, January 26, 2017. This was the President’s first Trip aboard Air Force One. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
The incumbent president's party typically suffers setbacks in the subsequent midterm elections, and President Donald Trump may already be taking steps to make sure the Republican Party stays in power after 2026.
That's according to a Monday article by Mother Jones' Ari Berman, who went into detail about the numerous ways Trump may interfere in next year's pivotal congressional elections. Namely, they are: "Nationalizing voter suppression," "Silencing his enemies," "Dismantling efforts to prevent election interference," "Targeting Democratic officials," "Weaponizing the Justice Department," "Re-gerrymandering the states" and "Blocking election certification." And some pro-democracy advocates are warning that Trump and the MAGA movement won't wait for their efforts to be sanctioned by authorities before they get to work.
“The thing I learned on January 6 was that election deniers don’t have to change the laws or the policies,” All Voting Is Local executive director Hannah Fried told Berman. “They will take what they want by any means.”
READ MORE: 'Now this is bromance': Social media erupts over Trump's 'explicit love letter' to Epstein
In the "Nationalizing voter suppression" section, Berman pointed to an executive order Trump signed that was described as a "MAGA fever dream" of policies making it harder for Americans to register to vote and cast ballots. This includes requiring proof of citizenship (like providing a passport or birth certificate) to vote in federal elections – which the Brennan Center for Justice observed would be particularly challenging for millions of Americans like elderly voters or college students who may not have access to those documents. While the federal judiciary has put a temporary hold on that order from going into effect, many Republican-led states have already adopted many of these policies.
As part of his claim that Trump is "re-gerrymandering the states," Berman pointed to deep-red states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Ohio and others already making efforts to draw new congressional maps ahead of 2026 as a means of eliminating Democratic U.S. House districts. He noted that this has already proven successful in North Carolina. where the Tar Heel State's Republican legislature carved up its congressional districts to give Republicans a three-seat advantage in the 2024 elections.
The Mother Jones journalist also warned readers of Trump's attempts to prevent the certification of elections that Republicans lose across the country. He imagined a scenario in which control of the House came down to a handful of swing districts, prompting Trump to claim without evidence that Democrats were engaging in fraudulent behavior. He could then call on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to refuse to seat any Democratic members of Congress who won close elections, "plunging the body into chaos." He observed this took place in the wake of the Civil War, when Rep. John Willis Menard (D-La.) – the first Black man to be elected to Congress — was never seated after the white man he defeated contested his election.
"If it’s a closer election, where one member is dispositive, I would certainly be concerned about it,” Texas-based voting rights attorney Joaquin Gonzalez told Mother Jones.
READ MORE: 'Unrepentantly blackened soul': Cabinet official ripped for saying Trump 'anointed' by God
Click here to read Berman's full report in Mother Jones.
