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How Trump Could Try to Undermine the 2026 Elections — and Fail: Columnist
The Atlantic’s David Frum sat down with Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center at New York University, to discuss how President Donald Trump and his administration might try to undermine the 2026 midterm elections, and what is in place that could prevent them from succeeding.
“What can a president and a party that is still in control of Congress do to bend things their way?” Frum asked.
“Well,” Waldman replied, “there is much they can do to try to undermine the way the system works, but there are limits as well.”
“I want to stress that,” he added, “in each of these areas, there are things that can be attempted, and there are potentially effective pushbacks that can make sure that the election actually does happen, as we would hope it happens, where the voters, however they choose, get the last word.”
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But Waldman also warned Frum that “for the first time, I think, in American history, the federal government and the Trump administration are actively waging an effort to undermine the 2026 elections.”
“One thing that President Trump has tried to do already,” Waldman noted, “is to take personal control of the election system.”
Frum and Waldman discussed several activities Trump and his administration have tried, could try, or are trying, including issuing an executive order requiring passports as ID to vote — which the courts blocked. Similar legislation, requiring a passport or birth certificate to vote, passed the House but stalled in the Senate (the SAVE Act).
There is also the purging of federal election security experts, the weaponization of law enforcement, the use of federal agents — including, for instance, ICE and CBP near polling locations — and the use of the courts.
“When Congress blocked the SAVE Act,” Waldman noted, “the president put out another, rather, another post on social media saying, ‘I’m going to do an executive order ending vote by mail.'” Paraphrasing the president, he suggested that Trump claimed, “I’m gonna do this, and, by the way, the state election officials are merely agents who work for the president, and their job is merely to count the votes as agents for the president.”
“They are threatening to use the tools of law enforcement to scare off people in the election machinery,” Waldman explained.
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Frum warned that National Guard troops, for example, operating near polling locations, could “detain” people for a few hours, “at least until after the polls close.”
“Those are known as ‘Kavanaugh stops,'” Waldman interjected, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court justice.
There is also the use of gerrymandering and the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will further gut the Voting Rights Act, they noted.
On gerrymandering, Waldman explained, “sometimes, if the voters have what’s called a wave election, where people are all rushing to the polls to vote, you know, their opposition to the current party in power, it can actually not only not have the desired impact, it can actually create more victories for the other party. That is, in technical terms, called a ‘dummymander.'”
Waldman noted that the Trump administration may be trying many different things to sow doubt about free and fair elections.
He said, “ultimately … they are trying to stir doubt, and create a cloud of suspicion, to make it easier, should there be, you know, the opportunity to push election officials and others to cave.”
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Image via Reuters
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The price of food in grocery stores and restaurants surged to a three-year high last month, even as President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted he had “defeated” inflation during what he described as “the greatest first year in history” of any president.
“Grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” Trump told an audience in Detroit on Tuesday. CNN’s Daniel Dale noted Trump made the claim “on the same day new Consumer Price Index data shows December had the biggest one-month spike in grocery prices, 0.7%, in more than three years.”
Despite the president’s claims, Axios reported that the cost of food in grocery stores rose “roughly 2.4% in December compared to the prior year.”
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“But that masks double-digit price increases for a slew of household staples over the past 12 months, including coffee (+20%), beef (+16%) and candy (+10%).”
Delivering his speech on affordability — which as recently as last month he declared a “hoax” — Trump said on Tuesday, “Under our administration, growth is exploding, productivity is soaring, investment is booming, incomes are rising, inflation is defeated, America is respected again, like never before.”
On tariffs, which experts say could increase prices for American families by nearly $5,000 annually and push nearly one million Americans into poverty, Trump pushed back.
“The evidence shows overwhelmingly that the tariffs are not paid by American consumers,” he said, a claim not supported by experts.
The White House on Monday said that Trump has been “laser-focused on making America affordable” since taking office. Just one month ago, President Trump called affordability a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.
Trump: Meanwhile, grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down pic.twitter.com/D5WU4nIVTD
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 13, 2026
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Image via Reuters
As Republicans continue their exodus from the House, a CNN analyst reveals that Democrats hold an advantage in party identification over the GOP, Democrats identifying as liberal just hit a 50-year high, and Democrats — he predicts — will take back the House in the November midterm elections.
CNN analyst Harry Enten reported that “the self identified liberalness of this country is at a 50-year high.” And he noted that “more folks are identifying as liberal than at any point since the Gerald Ford administration.”
In 1976, 30 percent of Democrats said they were liberal, Enten said.
“Look at where we are today: 59 percent — 3 in 5 Democrats — say they are liberal.”
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“This Democratic party is a liberal — it is a liberal party. Fifty-nine percent of Democrats now identify as liberal,” he continued. “That is also a 50-year high.”
Enten noted that “that is not the only good news for liberals.”
“The party ID margin, Democrats versus Republicans. Now get this, in the latest reading according to Gallup last quarter, it is an eight-point advantage for Democrats.”
“That looks nothing like what we saw going into the 2022 midterms when Republicans had a five-point advantage, and of course, took back the House. This is even better than what we saw Democrats had back in 2017, in quarter four, when they had a six-point advantage, and, of course, Democrats easily took back the House then.”
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“Democrats are gonna take back the House,” he said.
Enten also pointed to the prediction markets, which now say there is a 77 percent chance of Democrats taking back the House in November.
Liberal used to be a four-letter word in this country, but no longer.
The % of Americans identifying as liberal is at a 50-year high. Most Dems now say they’re liberal (59%), a 50-year high too.
Also, the Dem lead on party id is even bigger than at this pt in the 2018 cycle! pic.twitter.com/wriMxybqVG
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) January 13, 2026
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A prominent Democrat is demanding to know how many January 6 “insurrectionists” have been hired by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as critics warn that federal agents under President Donald Trump are increasingly engaging in violent enforcement actions.
“We know that several participants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have been rewarded with high-ranking positions in the Department of Justice (DOJ),” U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“However, it remains unclear how many more have been invited to join the ranks of this Administration, including among the masked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents and officers that have dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, shot, and killed citizens and non-citizens alike in communities across the country,” he added.
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According to Raskin, Jared Wise, a former Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), “stormed his way into the Capitol Building” on January 6, 2021.
“As he did so, he taunted and threaten police officers defending the building and the ones inside, screaming: ‘You guys are disgusting. I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting.”
Raskin included additional language attributed to Wise, then wrote that he “has never expressed remorse or contrition for his criminal actions.”
Wise was pardoned by President Donald Trump, along with nearly 1,600 others, “including hundreds of cop beaters.”
“Today, Mr. Wise serves as senior adviser in the office of the Deputy Attorney General, alongside another January 6th participant, Ed Martin, the U.S. Pardon Attorney and head of the DOJ Weaponization Working Group,” Raskin wrote.
Congressman Raskin also blasted the recruitment and vetting processes being used by the Trump administration.
“For its part, DHS seems to be courting pardoned January 6th insurrectionists. It uses white nationalist ‘dog whistles’ in its recruitment campaign for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that appear aimed at stirring members of extremist militias, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Three Percenters, which participated in the insurrection,” he stated. “The recruitment campaign began with a $50,000 sign-on bonus, removal of the college degree requirement, and a relaxed vetting process.”
“Who is hiding behind these masks?” Raskin demanded to know. “How many of them were among the violent rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th and were convicted of their offenses? The American people deserve to know how many of these violent insurrectionists have been given guns and badges by this Administration.”
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Image via Reuters
Trump ‘Laser-Focused’ on Affordability Says White House After Calling It a ‘Hoax’
Pirro Backtracks as Powell Investigation Rapidly Goes Off the Rails
Democrat Demands DOJ and DHS Reveal How Many Pardoned ‘Insurrectionists’ Have Been Hired
Warning Signs Flash for GOP as CNN Analyst Predicts House Flip
Trump Declares Grocery Prices ‘Rapidly Down’ as Cost of Food Surges to 3-Year High
Trump Declares Grocery Prices ‘Rapidly Down’ as Cost of Food Surges to 3-Year High
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Democrat Demands DOJ and DHS Reveal How Many Pardoned ‘Insurrectionists’ Have Been Hired
Pirro Backtracks as Powell Investigation Rapidly Goes Off the Rails
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