This Is How Trump Is Already Threatening the Midterms

President Donald Trump’s rhetorical war on elections has seemed to only get more serious with time. Over the past couple of months, he’s told podcasters and news outlets that Republicans “should take over the voting” and that he will only accept midterm results “if the elections are honest.”

Now, with Trump laser-focused on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, the administration appears to be threatening the midterm elections. The SAVE Act is the Republican response to the conspiracy theory that millions of noncitizens are flooding polling stations, despite evidence from the Brennan Center showing noncitizen voting accounts for as little as 0.0001 percent of votes.

The bill would require voters to produce specific documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate—documents that over 20 million Americans do not have access to. While its passage in the Senate remains unlikely due to the filibuster, Trump has connected the bill to government funding and executive orders.

Simultaneously, election deniers have found a new home inside the Trump administration. Figures like Kari Lake, Heather Honey, and Gregg Phillips—all of whom have promoted baseless election conspiracy theories—have been appointed to key roles in agencies ranging from the US Agency for Global Media to the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.

As polls show the Republican party could lose the House and the Senate, Trump and his allies are openly engaged in a concerted effort to undermine trust in elections, seemingly laying the foundations for baseless claims of rigged midterm elections in November. This strategy includes the weaponization of the Department of Justice, the redrawing of voting maps, and the installation of loyalists in key positions of power.