Notes:

On January 24, 2026, progressive commentator Marc Elias posted a 43-minute video entitled "Trump Announces Plot to Cancel the 2026 Elections" on his Democracy Docket YouTube channel.

Marc Elias is a progressive attorney who left his position as a partner at Perkins Coie to start the Elias Law Group in 2021. Elias founded Democracy Docket in 2020 as a pro-democracy resource dedicated to information, analysis, and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts.

Along with Democracy Forward, the Elias Law Group has been one of the most active law firms challenging actions taken by the second Trump administration.

In the video, Elias makes the following major points:

• Trump and his DOJ are actively engaged in interfering with the 2026 mid-term elections.
• The media, corporations, the "business elite," and large law firms are not actively engaged in helping defend American democracy, and they are not doing their part to hold Trump to account. In particular, Elias calls out legacy media for its lack of coverage regarding Trump's recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where Trump said "The 2020 U.S. presidential election [was] rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did. That's probably breaking news."
• If the DOJ is allowed access to voter information in all 50 states, it will give the Trump administration a wealth of information it can use to target his political opponents and subvert upcoming elections.
• In an interview published January 11, 2026 in The New York Times Trump said he "should have" seized ballot boxes in 2020 by using the National Guard.
• In a January 14, 2026 interview with Reuters Trump said "It's some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms...when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election.

At the end of the video Elias puts forth a list of things we all can do to help save democracy:

• Make sure you are registered to vote, make sure friends, family members, and everybody in our community are registered to vote, and make sure they all know how to vote.
• Volunteer for a campaign, a state party, a local civic organization, or for a nonprofit group that's pro-democracy or pro-voting.
• Volunteer to be a poll worker or a poll observer.
• Spread good information (for example, share Marc's video or a link to Democracy Docket) to others, including state election official sites.
• Bear witness (stay engaged and aware) to what is happening in your community around democracy.
• Contact your legislators, your state senators, your federal members of Congress and tell them that you care about free and fair elections.
• Go to your town council meetings, your city council meetings, and if there's a board of elections in your state that has meetings, go to those.

Here are some highlights of the Elias video (bold added for emphasis):

We will be facing an administration that is using an all of government approach to try to suppress the vote to try to subvert the outcome of the elections to try to rig the election and potentially if necessary to try to just outright steal it.

We are 10 months out from the next election. and the rhetoric that is coming from him, the statements being made by his vice president and his administration, the policies being advocated by his Department of Justice should make all of us concerned about what is going to come next.

As I record this video, we are in 80 cases around this country in 40 states trying to protect free and fair elections in 2026. That is more cases than all of the top big law firms combined. We have 60 lawyers. Some of these law firms, they make billions of dollars in revenue. They have thousands of lawyers. And most of those firms are involved in zero cases. Zero O. That's what they think about democracy. They're just bowing down to Donald Trump. They are bending a knee at every opportunity.

The big mistake that people on the left make is that they think there is a line that Donald Trump won't cross. Donald Trump will cross any line. They think that maybe there's a bottom that he won't sink beneath. Have we not learned there is no level to which Donald Trump will not sink?

He didn't seize the ballots [in 2020] because his own attorney general, his own department of justice wouldn't go along with it. His own white house council's office wouldn't go along with it. People in the White House would have resigned...We know that his own White House council wouldn't go along with it because of their own notes and their testimony...So, Donald Trump didn't go forward with seizing the ballot boxes then because he didn't have the infrastructure of government behind him.

[Regarding the Reuters interview] He admitted now that when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms. He knows he's going to lose if we have free and fair elections in 2026. You can see it. You can see his process here...Because I ask you, has the legacy media walked you through this? Have they taken this to be a five alarm fire?

Donald Trump can't cancel them. But that isn't the right question. The question is, are they fair and free? If they can't be cancelled, can they be made so unfair, so un-free that they are the net effect of not really having elections? I mean, you have elections. I mean, Russia's got elections, right? I mean, but they're not fair and free elections. So, Donald Trump doesn't want there to be fair and free elections because that's the closest he can come to there not being elections at all.

Now, one of the ways he will make the elections not fair and free is by targeting his political opponents through the misuse of state power...He's got 10 more months to go after his political opponents in ways that will influence the 2026 elections.

He [Trump] literally said [at Davos, Switzerland], "I am breaking news. The 2020 US presidential election weren't [sic] rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out people will soon be prosecuted for what they did. It's probably breaking news, but it should be. It was a rigged election. Can't have rigged elections."

You might think this would have been breaking news...I checked out the networks looking for the breaking news Chiron, seeing if maybe they interrupted their regular coverage to break the news that Donald Trump just said he was breaking. That people will soon be prosecuted. Prosecuted because he lost the 2020 election and refuses to admit it. It was nowhere to be found. Do you know who treated as breaking news? Democracy Docket...He [Trump] is telling us what he is going to do.

But they've [the media] just decided that this is not the business they're in. They are out of the business of holding Donald Trump to account for his lies. They are out of the business of telling the truth about the 2020 election. They are out of the business of saying that prosecuting your political enemies in 2026, 10 months out from the next election, is wrong and we will not let it go.

I would tell you, you know, some of the worst advice we got, and I don't know where it started, but at some point, someone told us to take Donald Trump seriously, but not literally. That is terrible advice.

The Department of Justice under his control is currently suing 24 states in the District of Columbia to access your most sensitive data. They actually want to access your most sensitive voter data in all 50 states.

[Notes:

On January 6, 2026, the DOJ announced lawsuits against two more states, Arizona and Connecticut, for failure to submit voter rolls, bringing the total number of similar state lawsuits to 23.

On January 15, 2026, a federal judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit seeking to compel the state of California to submit state voter rolls.

On January 16, 2026, the DOJ announced a lawsuit against the state of Virginia for failure to submit voter rolls, bringing the total number of similar state lawsuits to 24.

On January 26, 2026, a federal judge in Oregon dismissed a DOJ lawsuit seeking to compel the state of Oregon to submit state voter rolls.

View a detailed, state-by-state tracker of DOJ requests for voter information on the Brennan Center for Justice website here.]

So my law firm and I, we're joining all those lawsuits. We are intervening in those lawsuits as
defendants on behalf of pro- voting groups and individual voters to stop them because that's what has to happen, right? We have to stop them from collecting this data on everybody and weaponizing it against you. And that's when I say that there are no big law firms on our side.

So they [Trump's DOJ] are collecting this data because if they want to make good, if Donald Trump wants to make good on his desire to upset the results or overturn the results or frustrate the results or subvert the results, you pick the word of the 2026 midterm elections. You can't do that without knowing whose vote you want to disenfranchise, right? [At timestamp 27:30 Elias describes specific pieces of voter information that the DOJ might use]

The voter file is the basic building block for this administration to engage in mass voter challenges, mass voter suppression, mass subversion.

But it's a whole different thing if it's the actual federal government on the other side. Like it's one thing for me to be out fighting fights against the Republicans and some right-wing lunatics. It's another thing when the people on the other side have the emperor of the US government. They have the Department of Justice and virtually near unlimited resources and they have the credibility and good faith that comes with walking into a courtroom saying I represent the United States.

We've got a president who says maybe no elections, maybe should have seized ballot boxes, prosecute my political opponents, lie about past elections, demonize the opposition, threaten voters. Oh, and by the way, I've got the Department of Justice doing all of this stuff with voter files.

So I've already said who's not helping, right? I mean, I've already said like big law, we can count them out. corporate America. Count them out. You know, I mean, I keep asking myself, how is it possible that corporate America could be watching what is going on and just turn a blind eye?

Just think about how different democracy would be if any of these large corporations gave a shit about democracy. If rather than sucking up to Donald Trump and shoveling money and making up awards and going to the White House and being used as props for his authoritarian regime, if rather than doing any of that, they said, "You know what? Let's take 1/100th of the money that we are shoveling into him in his pockets and his supporters and we used it for democracy," imagine how much good they'd do.

That's why you all need to support nonprofit organizations that do voter registration and turnout. You need to support candidates that you believe in and make sure they have the resources because we are on our own everyone. We are in it together. So we're not individually on our own. But boy, the big institutions, they're not going to help save democracy. It's going to be left to you and to me.

Do not cower in fear. Do not sit on the sidelines. I need you to all stand up right now and become part of a movement that is committed to free and fair elections in 2026. Because here's the thing, no matter what other issue you may care about, whether it is climate or it is immigration, whether it is women's reproductive health or it is better paying jobs, we are not going to have any of those things in this country if we do not have free and fair elections. And it starts in 2026.

On a January 29, 2026 I received an e-mail from Miles Taylor entitled "Why we should worry that Trump's spy chief was spotted at an FBI raid of an election office" and subtitled "The incident is beyond suspicious. In fact, it's a real-time flag of potential corruption — and the president's ambition to rig the coming elections."

Miles Taylor is an author, political commentator, and former government official who served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019 as an advisor to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and his deputy chief of staff during Trump's first term as president. In 2018, Taylor wrote an op-ed in The New York Times under the pen-name "Anonymous" entitled, "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration."

Taylor is, apparently (although I could find no mention of his name on the website), the founder of Defiance.org which is a hub/club "for courageous Americans — people willing to take peaceful, lawful, defiant action to defend democracy from a wannabe dictator.

Here's the complete text of Taylor's e-mail (bold added for emphasis):

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was caught on camera participating in an FBI raid on a local election office in Fulton County, Georgia yesterday. This is bad. Very bad. But we don't need to speculate wildly about why this is happening. Donald Trump told us the other week — and you may not have noticed. Let me explain.

In an interview earlier this month, Trump openly said he wished he'd "seized" ballots in the 2020 election, and he suggested he had the authority to do so. That should have rung alarm bells across the country. I wrote about it two weeks ago here.

For anyone who didn't read that piece — here's the bottom line up front: Trump doesn't have those powers. And I would know. I helped write the executive order he's talking about.

When he laments he didn't "seize" ballot boxes after losing the 2020 election, he's referring to a specific executive order that he thinks would justify such an act. Trump and his lawyers have suggested that Executive Order 13848, signed in 2018, gives the president the power to intervene in elections, even to the point of seizing voting machines or ballots.

Too bad for them, the people who wrote that order — myself included — are willing to publicly testify to the fact that it does NO SUCH THING. Here's what I wrote about it:

I co-drafted the order alongside experts from DHS, DOJ, the Intelligence Community, and other agencies. The central idea was to make it easier for a president to impose real consequences on foreign actors who interfered in U.S. elections. NOT to revisit vote counts. NOT to rummage through ballot boxes. And certainly NOT to allow a president to deploy the military against local election infrastructure because he didn't like the outcome.

What's ironic is that Trump was annoyed we put the executive order in front of him. He didn't want to sign it. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. But it probably has something to do with the fact that he didn't want to punish Russia, certainly not for trying to help him win elections.

In any event, he's now conveniently reinterpreting the order as some all-powerful election snooping tool. It is not. But you don't need to take my word for it. You can read the order yourself ("Executive Order 13848—Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election"). What's more, I really think you should. Because in the wake of Trump's comments this week, it sounds like at some point he's going to trot out this argument again, claiming he has the power to Hoover up ballots across America wherever he doesn't like the outcome of an election.

To repeat: the order was written in response to foreign interference in the 2016 election and designed to make it easier for a president to impose sanctions on foreign actors who meddle in U.S. elections. It does NOT confer domestic law-enforcement authority; it does NOT override state and local control of elections; and it does NOT authorize the seizure of voting machines by the National Guard, or anyone else for that matter. As I made clear in the piece —

…the order goes out of its way to do the opposite. It stresses the need to "maintain an appropriate separation between intelligence functions and policy and legal judgments" and emphasizes insulation from political bias. Indeed, the order explicitly states that nothing in it creates new rights or benefits or alters existing legal authorities — and certainly not a new "right" for presidents to go rummaging about in ballot boxes to see who you voted for or to slip a few extra ballots inside with a checkmark next to his name.

So when Trump says he "should have" done something like seize ballots, that isn't him recounting a lawful option that he prudently declined. That's an admission he wanted to take an illegal act and then pretend the law would have somehow allowed it.

In particular, I want to call your attention to these words from the order: "an appropriate separation between intelligence functions and policy and legal judgments." EO 13848 was explicit that the nation's spy agencies needed to tread lightly on this issue because they have no role in the administration of elections, other than to prevent foreign bad guys from doing things like trying to hack the vote.

So what on earth is Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard doing at an FBI raid of a local election office?

Well, if you ask me, it appears that Trump's claim of power to "seize" ballots has gone from an errant presidential fantasy… to some kind of actual directive… to a real-life raid carried out before our eyes. And all of it, potentially, resting on the flimsiest legal justification.

We don't yet know all the details. But what we do know is that FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operation Center in Georgia, seeking records tied to the 2020 election, which includes ballots, voter rolls, and other election materials. You don't need to be a law-enforcement analyst to see what's going on. This action was obviously tied to the broader effort driven by Trump's unsubstantiated claims about that election.

What made this scene more extraordinary — and deeply troubling — was that the nation's spy chief chose to personally be there. I can't emphasize how big of a break in custom this is (at best) and how deeply corrupt it might be (at worst), not to mention a signal of what's to come. The Director of National Intelligence is responsible for overseeing foreign espionage, not spying on Americans or mucking around in their ballot boxes.

Put another way, this is not normal.

Top lawmakers are worried, too. Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is already sounding the alarm loudly. He warned that either Gabbard believes there's some foreign intelligence nexus justifying her presence (in which case she's violated her legal obligations) or she's dragging the intelligence community into a domestic political stunt to legitimize conspiracy theories.

From the footage and reporting, it looked like the baseball-cap-clad Gabbard didn't want to be seen at the raid. For good reason. This stinks to high hell. If I were on one of the Congressional oversight committees, I'd announce an investigation TODAY into this situation and subpoena the Director of National Intelligence to explain her presence and what directives she was carrying out.

In the meantime, it's critical to remember: administration of elections is not a federal responsibility. The Constitution places that authority with the states. If the federal government is actually carrying out the president's wishes to seize election information to relitigate his baseless 2020 claims, then there may very well be violations of state law happening here. Right before our eyes.

Hopefully state and local prosecutors around the country are paying attention. Fortunately, I know a group of folks who probably are. Yesterday, top prosecutors around America announced the Fight Against Federal Overreach. And it looks like they might have another issue to take on.

Links to more election interference and related information:

Jan 29, 2026: Democratic senators accuse Trump DOJ of 'apparent ransom' in push to seize state voter rolls | Democracy Docket

Jan 28, 2026: FBI raids Fulton County, Georgia election hub, probing 2020 | Democracy Docket

Jan 27, 2026: 5 concerning things Trump has said about the 2026 elections | Roll Call

Jan 24, 2026: AG Bondi demands access to Minnesota voter rolls after fatal Border Patrol shooting | Democracy Docket

Jan 21, 2026: From Wind Farms to Stolen Elections: Fact-Checking Donald Trump's Speech at Davos | Time

Jan 4, 2026: Trump | 'Dominion Rigging Management System' | Truth Social

Aug 5, 2025: Trump on Texas redistricting: 'We are entitled to 5 more seats' | Politico

Timeline of the Trump Administration's Efforts to Undermine Elections | Brennan Center for Justice

Mar 3, 2026 Update

BOMBSHELL: Trump's election rigging plan gets EXPOSED | Brian Tyler Cohen | YouTube

Feb 28, 2026 Update

Trump posted the following on Truth Social:

Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Trump posted the following on Truth Social:

Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with United States:

Along with the post is a link to an article published yesterday entitled "Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with U.S.".

Feb 27, 2026 Update

Trump says he's not considering declaring a national emergency ahead of midterms | The Hill

Feb 26, 2026 Update

Trump Allies Circulating Draft Order to Declare National Emergency on Elections | Truthout

Read the laughable legal memo behind the claim that Trump can declare a national voting emergency | Democracy Docket

Feb 19, 2026 Update

Trump says Republicans will 'never lose a race' if Congress restricts voting | Democracy Docket

Feb 17, 2026 Update

'Flagrant Constitutional Violation': Fulton County blasts affidavit that backed FBI's 2020 election raid | Democracy Docket

Feb 16, 2026 Update

Debunked election claims behind Fulton County search spark new questions for Gabbard | The Hill

Feb 13, 2026 Update

Kristi Noem was unable to cite single election fraud case during secretive Arizona visit | AZ Mirror

Noem was in Arizona to talk about elections. Critics accused her of spreading misinformation | KJZZ

Adrian Fontes | Instagram

At 2:35 pm Trump posted the following on Truth Social (bold added for emphasis):

The Democrats refuse to vote for Voter I.D., or Citizenship. The reason is very simple — They want to continue to cheat in Elections. This was not what our Founders desired. I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future. There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not! Also, the People of our Country are insisting on Citizenship, and No Mail-In Ballots, with exceptions for Military, Disability, Illness, or Travel. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

At 3:02 pm Trump posted the following on Truth Social (bold added for emphasis):

We cannot let the Democrats get away with NO VOTER I.D. any longer. These are horrible, disingenuous CHEATERS. They have all sorts of reasons why it shouldn't be passed, and then boldly laugh in the backrooms after their ridiculous presentations. If it weren't such a serious matter, it would be considered a TOTAL JOKE! No Voter I.D. is even crazier, and more ridiculous, than Men playing in Women's Sports, Open Borders, or Transgender for Everyone. Republicans must put this at the top of every speech — It is a CAN'T MISS FOR RE-ELECTION IN THE MIDTERMS, AND BEYOND! Even Democrat Voters agree, 85%, that there should be Voter I.D. It's only the Political "Leaders," Crooked Losers like Schumer and Jeffries, that have no shame, and explain why it's "racist, and every other thing that they can think of. This is an issue that must be fought, and must be fought, NOW! If we can't get it through Congress, there are Legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted. I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order. I hope the Supreme Court realizes, as they "painstakingly" review the very simple topic of Country Saving Tariffs (Those same Tariffs that have been used, by other Countries, against the U.S.A. to drain it of its Treasure and Security — for many years!), and all sorts of other things, that are making our Country Rich, Powerful, and Safe Again, that these Corrupt and Deranged Democrats, if they ever gain power, will not only be adding two States to our roster of 50, with all of the baggage thereto, but will also PACK THE COURT with a total of 21 Supreme Court Justices, THEIR DREAM, which they will submit easily and rapidly when they immediately move to terminate the Filibuster, probably in their first week, or sooner. Our Country will never be the same if they allow these demented and evil people to knowingly, and happily, destroy it. Thank you for your attention to this matter — SAVE AMERICA! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Note that on August 18, 2025, Trump posted the following on Truth Social:

I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we're at it, Highly "Inaccurate," Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election. We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED. WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Remember, the States are merely an "agent" for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do. With their HORRIBLE Radical Left policies, like Open Borders, Men Playing in Women's Sports, Transgender and "WOKE" for everyone, and so much more, Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM. ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS. I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS. THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!! REMEMBER, WITHOUT FAIR AND HONEST ELECTIONS, AND STRONG AND POWERFUL BORDERS, YOU DON'T HAVE EVEN A SEMBLANCE OF A COUNTRY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!!! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Note that on March 25, 2025, Trump signed an executive order entitled "PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS"

Note that on August 31, 2025, Trump posted the following on Truth Social:

Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!! Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military. USE PAPER BALLOTS ONLY!

Feb 12, 2026 Update

Speaking from the White House, Trump said (bold added for emphasis):

And basically, it's [SAVE America Act] got three very simple points. It's got voter ID, photo ID, but voter ID with a photo, right? It's got the confirmation of US citizenship; you have to be a citizen. So, you have a vote, you have an ID. That's about a 99 percent one. And I think 90 percent with Democrats. Then you have confirmation US citizenship. That's about a 99 percent one with Republicans, about 86 percent with Democrats, except Democrat politicians because they cheat on elections. And then you have no mail-in ballots, and there would be no mail-in ballots. Very important. You know, we're the only country in the world that does a system like we do. We're the only country in the world that has mail-in ballots. The way we do this is unbelievable. It guarantees cheating. So, it's no mail-in ballots with the exception of disability, illness, military, or if you're traveling, you can get an exemption. If you happen to be out of the country for a good reason, you can have an exemption. So, with the exceptions, it's no mail in ballots. And that will assure the security of our crooked elections. We have crooked elections. Yeah.

Fulton County chair: FBI raid was 'a serious attempt to overturn and to take control of elections' | Democracy Docket

ICE chief admits there's no reason for immigration agents to be at voting sites | Democracy Docket

Pam Bondi makes an ABSOLUTE FOOL of herself frantically ducking Epstein questions | MS NOW | YouTube

Feb 11, 2026 Update

The House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act by a vote of 218-213. All House Republicans present voted for the bill and all Democrats (except Henry Cuellar of Texas) voted against the bill.

Feb 10, 2026 Update

House Republicans further voter ID bills that would disenfranchise millions | Democracy Docket

Trump-appointed judge rejects DOJ attempt to access Michigan voter rolls | Democracy Docket

FBI's Fulton County raid was based on reams of debunked 2020 fraud claims from election deniers, records show | Democracy Docket

Feb 9, 2026 Update

Today, an article entitled "Trump has a plan to steal the midterms. It will probably fail." was published on the Vox website. The author, Eric Levitz, states that experts are most concerned about election interference from the Trump administration using the two following strategies:

• Seize ballots and voting machines from key jurisdictions before votes have been fully counted
• Deploy ICE or other federal agents to the vicinity of critical polling places, so as to deter turnout among voters in general — and those with undocumented family members, in particular

The article describes how the recent Fulton County raid offers a legal blueprint for stealing an election. The article quotes Derek Clinger, senior counsel at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Clinger notes that despite the fact that "Fulton County's 2020 results have already been recounted, audited, and challenged in court multiple times. And the legitimacy of those results has been unfailingly affirmed," the Trump administration was still able to secure a search warrant from a magistrate judge to seize the county's ballots. Clinger also said:

The nightmare scenario used to be that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and have the military seize ballots and machines from a swing state on election night.

But Fulton County suggests a much more plausible scenario: one where the seizure of ballots is conducted with the appearance of a legal process. I think that approach is both more likely to happen and also harder to challenge in real time.

The article goes on to say (bold added for emphasis):

Gabbard's presence at the Fulton County raid — and her newly revealed search for evidence of Venezuelan hacking in Puerto Rico — are alarming. They indicate that the White House may be trying to engineer a pretense for (illegally) seizing voting machines this November, in the name of protecting America's national security.

The article notes that securing a search/seizure warrant for an election five years ago is one thing, but securing one for an election that just occurred would be much more difficult.

Feb 6, 2026 Update

Two days ago, Trump sat for an interview with NBC News anchor Tom Llamas. When Llamas asked Trump "What are you doing in Fulton County," Trump said (bold added for emphasis):

I'm not doing anything but the FBI went in because it's been under — under — I guess review for years, the cheating that took place in Fulton County...Again, they did this. That's been under review and under investigation for four years. And now — they got a court order. You know they got a court order...Well, you're gonna know what the ballots say because they're right now inspecting the ballot. I'm not involved in it but they are inspecting and checking the ballots.

When asked by Llamas why Tulsi Gabbard was present during the Fulton County raid Trump said (bold added for emphasis):

I don't know but, you know — a lot of the cheating comes from — it's — it's international cheating. You have people, they say, from China —

During the interview Trump also said:

I won three times. Unfortunately for this country, I didn't assume office the second time.

There are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt. They have very corrupt elections. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Atlanta. There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt. I could give you plenty more, too.

There should be nothing wrong with the fact that they went in, got ballots from a while ago, and they're going to look at them. And now they're going to find out the true winner of that state. And you know what? If there was cheating, which there was, but if there was cheating, it should be found, because we can't let it happen again.

In a February 2, 2026 letter Gabbard sent to Senator Mark Warner (Democrat-Virginia) and House Representative Jim Himes (Democrat-Connecticut) Gabbard said:

My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity.

Today, in an e-mail I received from Miles Taylor entitled "Did Trump secretly order an illegal recount of the 2020 election?" Taylor said:

He [Trump] suggested [during his recent interview with NBC News] FBI agents who raided a Georgia election office were going to determine who "really won" the 2020 election. If that was the objective, it's illegal.

If federal agents were indeed sent to Georgia to "find out the true winner" of a presidential election decided five years ago, that has nothing to do with an intelligence investigation into foreign meddling. That's a blatant attempt to relitigate a state's certified election results using federal power, which would be an abuse of authority so extraordinary that it raises constitutional and criminal questions that have never been tested in our country's history.

The "official" explanation for why this raid happened demands a remarkable suspension of disbelief. We are supposed to believe that — five years after the 2020 election that Trump contested — there is suddenly new evidence of foreign interference in the exact place where he famously pressured officials to "find" him 11,000 votes in 2020? We are supposed to believe that this discovery just happened to surface after he returned to office? And we are supposed to accept that the investigation coincidentally involves the very ballots tied to his baseless claims that the election was stolen from him?

Yesterday, the story got worse. When Trump was confronted with that contradiction, he changed his story again. He said Attorney General Pam Bondi had directed Gabbard to be there. That suggests the President of the United States has also been communicating with his Attorney General about the FBI raid — not just with his Director of National Intelligence — not to mention the fact that Trump spoke by phone with FBI agents at the scene after they were finished.

Based on what we know, we can reasonably say that: (1) Donald Trump knew an FBI raid was coming at a key location where he was previously indicted for election tampering; (2) he was in contact with his chief law enforcement officer about that raid, likely in advance; (3) he was micromanaging who would be there, including dispatching his top spy chief; and (4) he was following the whole situation closely enough to call the agents afterward to see how it went and to thank them.

That's not distance or ignorance. It's proof that he lied to the country when he said this week, "I'm not involved." Even more damning is the fact that in early January, the President lamented in an interview with the New York Times that he hadn't "seized" voting machines in 2020. Are we really supposed to think that's a coincidence, too? That the President was recently moping about how he should have snatched bags of votes when he had the chance… and then — weeks later — the FBI goes and does it for him?

Even more troubling is what Bondi's role implies. The Attorney General doesn't invite the nation's top intelligence official in routine law enforcement searches. But if the goal was to create the appearance of a "foreign interference" investigation, then suddenly Gabbard's presence makes sense. She shouldn't have been there in the first place, but if you want to tell the country this is the nefarious work of Russia or China or some other country, then having the Director of National Intelligence on site is a useful prop, since it's her job to spy on foreign adversaries.

Let me remind you once more: Donald Trump was already charged with crimes for attempting to do this. Trump was indicted in Fulton County, Georgia on 13 felony charges related to efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Last week, FBI agents returned to the scene of the crime — apparently at Trump's direction — and literally took all the ballots. You can either: (1) believe the White House's shifting stories; or (2) reasonably speculate that the President is sending agents to finish a criminal scheme that he began five years ago.

Feb 4, 2026 Update

Fulton County asks federal judge to return 2020 election records seized by FBI | CBS News

Steve Bannon says ICE will 'surround the polls' as Trump doubles down on taking over elections | Democracy Docket

Speaking with reporters from the White House Trump said (bold added for emphasis):

I want to see elections be honest, and if a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it. Because if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections, I don't know why the federal government doesn't do 'em anyway. But when you see some of these states, about how horribly they run their elections, what a disgrace it is, I think the federal government [should get involved]. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take it over.

Trump call for nationalizing elections sparks backlash, warnings | The Hill

Feb 3, 2026 Update

House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated support for Trump's call to nationalize elections saying:

What you're hearing from the president is his frustration about the lack of some of the blue states, frankly, of enforcing these things and making sure that they are free and fair elections.

We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on election day in the last election cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost, and no series of ballots that were counted after election day were our candidates ahead on any of those counts. It just looks on its face to be fraudulent.

Can I prove that? No, because it happened so far upstream.

We need more confidence in the American people in the election system. It's essential. And everybody, no matter what party you're in, should agree with that.

Rand Paul on Trump call to 'nationalize' elections: 'That's not what the Constitution says' | The Hill

Feb 2, 2026 Update

Speaking with Dan Bongino (conservative podcaster and former deputy FBI director during Trump's second term) Trump said:

And the, you know, amazing that the Republicans aren't tougher on it. The Republicans should say, "We wanna take over. We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places." The Republicans aught to nationalize the voting. And then we have states that are so crooked and they're counting votes.

We have states that I won that show I didn't win. Now you're gonna see something in Georgia where they were able to get with a court order and the ballots, you're gonna see some interesting things come out. But, you know, like the 2020 election, I won that election by so much. Everybody knows it. They put a woman in jail, Colorado, put a woman in jail, a wonderful woman, a 72 years old, had cancer, because she was a voting inspector.

She was in charge of a voting area, and she saw boxes of votes come in. So she went over to check it, and they put her in jail for voter manipulation, and she's still in jail, and they better let her out fast. And they're suffering a big price, Colorado. They have this woman in jail who's 71 years old and probably has cancer, she's sick, and they put her in because she challenged somebody who was dumping ballots into a box, okay?

Commentary:

Elias is "spot on" when he says that the media, corporations, the "business elite," and large law firms are not actively engaged in helping defend American democracy, and they are not doing their job to hold Trump to account. They are choosing to do nothing because they are afraid of retribution by Trump.

Unfortunately for democracy, this is exactly what Trump wants. Trump's modus operandi is to transact and rule by fear. He has managed to make it financially and politically uncomfortable for these entities to behave in a moral, pro-democracy, and responsible way.

As Elias said in his video, American democracy provides the relatively stable environment in which corporations and large law firms make millions upon millions of dollars, but now, when democracy is in jeopardy, the vast majority of them refuse to show up. It's a sad statement, but true.

The fact that the DOJ has not only issued requests for all 50 states' voter rolls, but that the DOJ has sued all or nearly all of those states that have failed to comply flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 which states:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

It's painfully obvious that Trump is very concerned about the upcoming 2026 mid-term elections. He knows that Democrats are going to do really well, so he's doing everything in his power to distract and make them look bad. It's just the same old Trump playbook, with a new set of unlawful, anti-democratic, and unconstitutional details.

Bondi's "ransom" attempt in Minnesota is beyond pathetic.

The same goes for the Republican bill announced this week called the "Make Elections Great Again Act."

Last, but certainly not least, Trump telling the entire world at Davos that the 2020 U.S. election was stolen, and that those responsible would be prosecuted is beyond, beyond FUBAR ("B-squared F").

Go back and reread the "to do" list that Marc Elias presented. Do as many of those things as you can. One thing I would add is to attend a protest. It's critical that we all stay positive and engaged, regardless of how exhausting it is to stay on top of the news. Attending a protest will make you feel engaged, and it will connect you with other like-minded, pro-democracy people. I attended three protests last year. It was uplifting, energizing, and it made me feel like I was taking an active role in defense of American democracy.

There is a nationwide "No Kings" protest scheduled for Saturday, March 28 (details forthcoming). Find upcoming protests near you here.

Elias is right. We can't depend on large, powerful entities to help us win the 2026 mid-term elections. It's up to us.

SPREAD THE WORD AND DO SOMETHING!