In 2020, Donald Trump lost the presidential election, but claimed that he didn’t. He and his supporters fought that election loss in court, in speeches, in social media speeches, and then with an in-person insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
None of that succeeded, and Joe Biden was duly inaugurated that January. But in the years after, Trump continued to insist that he had been robbed in 2020, and to insist that those loyal to him go along with that lie. Trump was impeached a second time, and later indicted, but none of that stuck- nor did it prevent Trump from returning to the presidency this year.
Now, a report says that the GOP might be trying to stack the deck in future elections, including the midterms and on to 2028.
Purging the Voter Rolls
According to The New Republic, Trump is “bolstering the election denial movement.” He recently signed an executive order on “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which would require more documentation for registering to vote. The measure also, per TNR, “directs the U.S. attorney general to sue states that count mailed ballots that are postmarked before Election Day but arrive afterward.”
This move may be challenged in the courts, as elections are run by the states and not the federal government, and should therefore be outside the purview of an executive order.
The executive order is similar to the SAVE Act, a piece of legislation that passed the House but is facing a likely filibuster in the Senate.
In addition, various states have undertaken purges of the voter rolls.
The goal of all these actions, per TNR, is to “reduce the number of voters likely to vote Democratic to begin with, challenge any reasonably close elections that you lose, and make voters who voted against you prove they were eligible after the fact.”
Stop the Steal: 2026 Edition
Voter roll purges, by Republican governors and legislatures, aren’t exactly a new tactic. But even in the past, that tactic hasn’t made it impossible for Democrats to win elections- far from it.
However, per the story, it could go further in the event of a close election.
If the Democrats win one of the houses of Congress in 2026, the story says, “Trump may very well argue that they did so only because they refused to comply with its dictates, indicating widespread fraud, and he may potentially use that as a pretext to order the attorney general to stop states from counting ballots that arrive after Election Day.”
Reasons For Skepticism
Would the courts go along with this? That’s not clear, and it’s important to remember that the courts, more than 60 times, rejected Trump’s claims about the “stolen” 2020 election, and that included some Trump-appointed judges.
The other question is whether Trump will be able to muster enough outrage to fight, say, individual House races, the way he did for his presidential race in 2020. It’s been consistent throughout his political career that Trump doesn’t usually have coattails for special or midterm elections when he’s not on the ballot.
When the 2018 midterm elections resulted in Democrats winning back the House, Republicans made no major effort to challenge that result. And all of the election conspiracies spread by Trump and his allies since 2020 have never contended with one major flaw: Why didn’t the supposed Democratic conspiracy “steal” all of the Senate and House races too? Why are all of those election results legitimate while the presidential one was not?
And also, various reporting has shown that Trump’s team knows they have a limited amount of time to enact their agenda, because they may very well lose control of one or both houses of Congress in the midterms next year. That attitude doesn’t seem compatible with a foolproof plan to steal those same midterm elections.
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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