Illustration by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
We try to keep an eye on the news at our house, particularly the political news. We watch CNN, network news, some of the other more partisan cable shows, and listen to various podcasts and reading independent sources like Heather Cox Richardson. Lately—in the last two months or so—the news has been turning towards the upcoming midterm elections. Polling results, prognostications, election maps, and voter interviews—as well as political ads—are turning up everywhere on the big and small screen—and on our phones and handhelds.
In pure political terms, it looks to be an exciting midterm election cycle. Control of the Senate and the House is up for grabs, and four or five very close races in Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas (of all places) will determine which party will be in the majority to establish national policy. More than a few gubernatorial races and statehouses are also in play.
There is an elephant in the room, however. What the political pundits are not addressing—at least now very often—is whether any of this will be relevant anymore, because if Donald Trump and the Republican Party have their way, there will never be another fair election, ever. Trump has made it obvious he wants to be the King of America. He’s doing everything in his power to usurp our elections and to ensure that the levers of power will remain in his grasp forever.
He’s tried to disenfranchise voters, to coerce senators, to break the law, and to bully secretaries of state. He’s had Russian allies manipulate elections, and he’s had minions like Elon Musk bribe voters. He’s recently tried bribing voters himself. Most notably, he has tried to forcefully overthrow the United States government.
He—and his cronies in the Republican Party—have stacked the Supreme Court with conservative justices who have in effect gutted the 1964 Voting Rights Act and have time and time again sided in favor of the president and his imperial ambitions.
Although we may seem to be going ahead like business as usual with these midterms, it’s anything but that. We are walking into another January 6th and we cannot afford to be surprised again. That is the elephant in the room.
This elephant has been with us ever since Donald Trump descended down that golden escalator and started running for office. It’s amazing we can’t seem to see it happening—again, or remember his constant refrain. Who can forget the orange rooster crowing, “The election was rigged! The election was stolen! Crooked Hillary!” whenever his victory was in doubt?
Because we were used to his baldly audacious and illegal tactics to change the election results, we should have been expecting the January 6th riot, but the sheer audacity and barbarity of that sneak attack on our democracy took us by surprise. Were it not for the tough moral fiber of one man, this palace coup might have succeeded. In hindsight, the attack seemed inevitable because now we know this man will stop at nothing, that he will lie, cheat, steal, buy (then welch), and bully his way into whatever he wants—and what he wants is the Oval Office to be his forever.
He and Speaker Mike Johnson have tried unsuccessfully for months to pass the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voters—and which would make voting much more difficult for everyone. Trump has issued various executive orders seeking to seize state voter rolls. He sent the FBI down to Fulton County, Georgia, where they did, in fact, seize voting records. Trump has attempted to change mail-in voting rules through the USPS, attempts that were recently struck down by the Supreme Court.
Trump is not up for reelection this cycle because it’s an off year, but he is worried about these midterms. He has voiced fears that if Democrats control the House and Senate, he will be impeached and probably indicted for a list of crimes longer than War and Peace. Trump does have greater designs on the Oval Office in 2028. Technically, because of the 22nd Amendment, he cannot run for a third term, but Trump doesn’t seem to care about the Constitution. He has broached the idea of running for a third term time and time again. “Trump in 2028” yard signs are visible in all sorts of Republican strongholds. He does have concerns about this election, however.
It does look as if he’s at it again, but the truth is he’s never stopped trying to rig elections, disenfranchise voters, and terminate our democracy. It’s doubtful he was ever legitimately elected, and the truth is Americans didn’t like him as president, so he had to cheat.
In his New Republic article, “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy”, Michael Luttig states, “Trump told talk show host Dan Bogino on February 2, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting.’… The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.’”
Trump has Congress so firmly under his thumb that they seem willing to do anything to aid and abet Trump’s bid to maintain control, even if the Democrats win the majority. As Luttig puts it, “So unalterably subjugated to Trump is today’s Republican House that even a decisive victory for Democrats and a resounding repudiation of Trump and the MAGA Republicans at the polls in November will not guarantee that a Democratic majority-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress on January 3” (New Republic).
By hook or by crook. Just as Trump attempted coercing Vice-President Mike Pence into refusing to certify the election results by introducing fake electoral ballots from seven battleground states stating Trump had won. The certification was to take place January 6th, 2021. In order to ensure Congress would do as he wished, Trump assembled, riled up, and set a mob loose upon the Capitol Building
Mr. Luttig describes in some detail how Trump and House Republicans could co-opt the results of the upcoming mid-terms. Speaker Johnson would replace the House Clerk and replace him with an accomplice who would then refuse to list on the statutory roll any representative-elects who are Democrats to the new Congress. The Democrats would then sue for a writ of mandamus to force the clerk to do his duty. If he (or she) refuses, as they are sure to do, subsequent court battles could take weeks or even months to resolve and probably wind up on the docket of the Supreme Court.
Last time, Vice-President Pence stepped in to stop the madness. This time around, it seems as if there is no Republican who might step up to stop this illegal power grab and thwart the will of the American people. Mr. Luttig seems to think Republicans—SCOTUS, no less—may come to their senses, but I, for one, am far less hopeful.
The elephant in the room is that all the prognosticating, speculating, calculating, and campaigning will come to naught. Unless there are members of the GOP willing to stand up to Trump and put the welfare of our democracy ahead of themselves and their careers, we might very well be seeing the last of our free and fair elections.
I, along with Mr. Luttig and millions of others, are hoping for the Republicans to stand up for our democracy, for our freedom, and for the people. Let them be the elephants in the room we can cheer for.
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