In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has made clear that he is ready to use the vast powers of his office to prevent his party from losing control of Congress in the renewal elections next year.
Some of Trump’s steps to interfere in the elections are typical, but they are controversial, and they are controversial political maneuvers to his brand. This includes Paying Republican legislators in Texas And other countries controlled by the conservatives to re -draw their legislative maps to expand the number of US House of Representatives conducive to the Republican Party.
Others involve the direct use of the official presidential authority in ways that have no modern precedent, such as the arrangement of its Ministry of Justice To investigate the entity of the collection of the main liberal donationsActblue. The section is also Demanding the voter files detailed From each state in a clear attempt to search for unqualified voters on a large scale.
On Monday, Trump was published Screaming is full of falsehood Social media undertaken to lead a “movement” to ban voting and voting machines via mail, and the latter has become a basis for democratic vote since Trump prompted Republicans to avoid them in 2020 – before 2020 – Stir in this case Before the presidential elections last year.
Individual procedures add an unprecedented attempt by a seating chief to interfere in critical elections before being held, and moves that have caused warnings between those who are interested in the future of American democracy.
“These are actions that you do not see in health democracies,” said Ian Basin, CEO of Democracy, a non -partisan organization that filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. “These are the measures that you see in authoritarian countries.”
Trump has already tried to cancel the elections
Basin pointed out that the presidents routinely for their party in the mid -term elections are trying to enhance job occupants by directing projects and supporting their provinces. But he said that Trump’s history is part of what causes an alert around the middle of the period.
He referred to Trump Attempts to turn results 2020 presidential electionsThat ended with Violent attack On the Capitol by its supporters.
“The only thing we know is certain of the experience in 2020 is that this is the person who will use every scale and try every tactic to stay in power, regardless of the election results.”
He pointed out that in 2020, Trump was examined by the Republicans elected in the Congress and the country who refused to bend the bases, along with members of his administration and even military leaders who distanced themselves from the defeated job operator. During his second term, the president closed the almost existing loyalty of the Republican Party and the accumulation of administration with the loyalists.
The current president’s party usually loses congressional seats during the midterm elections. This is what happened to Trump in 2018, when the Democrats won enough seats to restore the House of Representatives, suffering from the president’s agenda and ultimately leads to neglecting it.
Trump said he did not want to repeat.
He also argued that his actions are in fact attempts to preserve democracy. “Repeat unfounded allegations of fraud, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski,” “You can never get a real democracy with the votes of the mail.” Earlier this month, Trump said that, because he won easily in Texas in the 2024 presidential elections, “we have the right to get five other seats.”
An attempt to engineer control the Republican Party at the American House
Republicans currently have a three -seat margin in the House of Representatives. Trump prompted Republican Republicans in Texas to redraw their congress map to create up to five new beating seats, and pressed other red states, including Indiana and Missouri, to take similar steps to provide the margin more.
The Legislative Board of Texas will likely vote on its map on Wednesday. there There is no guarantee that the Trump maneuver will workBut there is also no legal ban against tampering with maps in those states for the partisan feature. In response, Democrats are advancing in California Re -dividing the circles As a way to confront Republicans in Texas.
Maps of the mid -contract map have occurred before, despite the response to court orders instead of presidents in the hope of manufacturing more seats for their party. Larry Diamond, a political scientist at Stanford University, said that there is an opportunity to redraw the home areas that will not succeed as Trump expects – but it may end up motivating Democratic voters.
However, Diamond said it was worried. “It is the worrying general pattern and the reason for this is the advantage of pure partisan.”
Diamond noted that in 2019, he wrote a book on a “12 -step” process to convert democracy into autocrate, and “the last step in this process is to dry the electoral process.”
The Ministry of Justice is working on Trump’s priorities
Trump asked loyalty to all levels of his administration and demanded the Ministry of Justice to follow his directives. One of them was an investigation of Actblue, an online gate that raised hundreds of millions of dollars of small donations of the dollar for Democratic candidates over two decades.
The site was so successful that the Republicans launched a similar project called Winred. Trump, in particular, did not order the federal investigation to win.
They appoint Trump in the Ministry of Justice as well Voting data student Of at least 19 states, Trump continues to insist that he has already won the 2020 elections and suggested the private public prosecutor to investigate the balance of that year. As he did before winning the 2024 elections, Trump rose Unrelated Democrats may ignore the coming voices against it.
In at least two of those states, California and Minnesota, the Ministry of Justice followed up with election officials last week, threatening legal procedures if they did not hand over the voter registration lists by Thursday, according to the joint messages with the Associated Press. No country – both of which were controlled by Democrats – publicly responded.
Attempts to interfere in voting and elections
Trump’s threat this week to end the vote on the mail and get rid of voting machines is just his recent attempt to influence how to hold elections. and Executive order Earlier this year, a documented evidence of citizenship was signed to register to vote, from other changes, although many of them were banned by the courts.
In the days before January 6, 2021, The attack on the Capitol To reflect his 2020 loss, Trump’s allies suggested making the army take over voting machines to investigate the alleged fraud, although Trump is private Public Prosecutor He said there is no evidence of major violations.
The constitution says that the countries and Congress, instead of the president, have set the rules of elections, so it is not clear what Trump could do to make his promises a reality. But election officials saw them a clear sign of his interests 2026.
Ann Jacobs, the Democratic Chairman of the Wisconsin Elections Committee, wrote on X.
The president has very few wheels to influence the elections
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said that the idea of seizing voting machines in 2020 was a sign of a few wheels that the president should influence in the elections, not from his strength. Under the constitution of the United States, elections are run by states and Congress alone can “change” procedures – and even then for federal races alone.
“It is a deep invisible system,” Muller said.
Muller indicated that there are less legal restrictions on the presidential authorities, such as criminal investigations, law enforcement and military resources. But he added that people usually make a mistake in predicting election disasters.
He pointed out that in 2022 and 2024, a wide range of experts prepared for violence and disruption and attempts to cancel losses by Trump’s allies, and there are no serious threats.
“One of the lessons I learned decades ago is that people are often preparing for the recent elections instead of what is already happening in the new grades,” Muller said.
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