What we citizens can do as Trump makes his moves on the elections
It’s beyond obvious that Donald Trump can’t stand to lose an election.
So he’s “trying to use the levers of the federal government, along with personal influence over state and local lawmakers, to reshape the rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections in extraordinary ways,” says The New York Times.
While many of these efforts have been blocked by courts, by the Constitution or Congress, “the relentless assault by the president on the electoral process — both administratively and rhetorically — is likely to sow doubt and lay groundwork for extensive challenges to election results,” the Times says.
There are six main categories of federal agencies’ and officials’ efforts at Trump’s direction, the article says:
— Nationalize the elections
— Tighten voting restrictions
— Redistrict
— Reduce election security
— Undermine trust by questioning previous results
— Punish people who’ve worked against election denialism
I’m trying to gift the article to you; let me know if it doesn’t work.
The latest Trump administration efforts include threats to withhold some federal funding to states that don’t make changes to voting practices, says The Associated Press.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency antiterrorism grant announcement in June includes a list of election-related requirements and says that 20 percent of grants for states and urban areas will be withheld until they comply.
Election rights lawyer Mark Elias says:
“I think if we have free and fair elections, Democrats are going to take control of the House and the Senate [and restore Congress’ constitutional check on the executive branch], and they’ll do quite well downballot. But if Donald Trump is able to, in the darkness of the night, rig the elections through unfair districts, or suppress the vote through executive orders that go unchallenged, or make it impossible for people who have hourly jobs to be able to vote because there are long lines or because the streets are closed off, then he will have won. All of us can call that out. All of us can become ambassadors for access to voting by posting on social media, calling their friends, or texting their text chain with their college roommates. That’s the thing that I ask everyone to do.”
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How you can protect yourself from the cyclospora stomach-bug outbreak
You can call the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and be connected to the offices of your representative and senators. To email your House member and your two senators, you can connect to their websites at Congress.gov. Most lawmakers seem to only accept emails from their constituents, but these leaders accept emails from Americans nationwide, at:
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Majority Leader John Thune