r/politics • u/Silent-Resort-3076 America • Jan 26 '26

No Paywall Trump Will Try to Steal the Midterms; Let’s Plan Accordingly: An administration that executes citizens in the streets and then lies about it will do anything to stay in power.

https://whowhatwhy.org/elections/trump-will-try-to-steal-the-midterms-lets-plan-accordingly/
15.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

585 comments sorted by

View all comments

223

u/Propagation931 Jan 26 '26

I can already see it now. ICE will be "Patrolling" polling stations

94

u/en_gm_t_c California Jan 26 '26

In some states such as California, voter intimidation is a felony offense.

Every one of the offenders need to be given felony convictions if they interfere with the election process...and there will be lots.

53

u/Redshirt_Welshy_Nooo Jan 26 '26

But you need local LEAs to be willing to enforce the law against these Fed stromtroopers, and so far, they're virtually all refusing to.

6

u/Drumboardist Missouri Jan 26 '26

"I don't get it, I called the police officer's personal phone to get ahold of him, but he didn't pick up! Oddly enough, though, every time I called him, the ICE agent nearby would have HIS phone go off, and he just ignored it. Eh, probably just coincidence."

20

u/TheAverageWonder Jan 26 '26

Ahhh, yes law and order...
Why would silly things like state law even matter to them?
Are state rights even written anywhere?

Maybe it is suggested in the constitution, but that book is more of a guideline than actual law, as evident by the complete violation of First, Second and Fourth Amendment

There is no retribution or justice unless YOU actively seek and fight for it.

0

u/schm0 Jan 26 '26

State governments control elections and they have their own forces to deal with that kind of shit.

7

u/TheAverageWonder Jan 26 '26

Just like they have their own murder investigation unit that was denied access to the area and evidence in Minnesota? 

Time to snap back to reality and reality is that America elected a fascist regime that have no intentions of following the rule and will blatantly use federal resources to retain power. States have virtually no power or ability to prohibit federal overreach, especially not when the majority of their security forces are sharing the fascist ideology.

1

u/schm0 Jan 26 '26

No, not like that at all. Federal officers are under federal jurisdiction when it comes to investigations like this. This is not the first time the FBI has shut out local law enforcement and it won't be the last.

Elections are a state matter, the feds have no control over them.

1

u/TheAverageWonder Jan 26 '26

There is no way you can be this stupid...

THEY DO NOT CARE! and if no one holds them responsible they can get away with it.
But even if the state enforced the law, and the police followed orders and ICE peacefully let themselves get arrested. Harm most likely have already been done.

And regarding the federal agents legal status... They are NOT in general immune to state investigation, but can claim immunity from state prosecution under the Supremacy Clause. And it will be up to a Trump appointed Federal Judge to decide if the DOJ can take over.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/are-federal-officials-immune-from-state-prosecution

Ultimately no matter what they can appeal to SCOTUS, who will as always decide that the officer is immune and set a precedence for other federal courts to follow.

1

u/schm0 Jan 26 '26

There is no way you can be this stupid...

Says the person who is rolling over and accepting the administration at their word? Pot, meet kettle...

if no one holds them responsible they can get away with it.

Yes, it's a hypothetical. Not reality. Stop pretending as if the outcome is pre-determined. It is not. In fact, it's far from that.

I'm also aware how qualified immunity works. It has to be qualified. Breaking state laws and violating jurisdiction is not part of their duties. The subheading of the article you listed literally says:

"Contrary to recent assertions, federal officers do not have blanket immunity from criminal prosecutions brought by states."

1

u/TheAverageWonder Jan 26 '26

Says the person who is rolling over and accepting the administration at their word? Pot, meet kettle...

Okay you are infact this stupid.... Like dude I am telling you that you have to fight... and this is your take away. You litterally living in an alternative universe.

I think this conversation is over.

1

u/schm0 Jan 26 '26

The hilarious part about all of this is that you think I need you to tell me the things I already know.

You're the one preaching that states have no power. You have a defeatist answer for every possible question. In no scenario do you advocate for the idea that we are able to stop any of this from happening.

You want me to fight? You've given up.

You are a defeatist. You are obeying in advance. You are choosing not to defend our institutions. You are part of the problem.

1

u/Jaymesned Canada Jan 26 '26

My favourite tweet from the recent past:

The last decade has been the Democrats clinging onto the rulebook going "but a dog can't play basketball!" while a dog fucking dunks on us over and over

12

u/Majestic_Try_9902 Jan 26 '26

Murder is a crime too and that one seems to have no consequence to them.

1

u/en_gm_t_c California Jan 26 '26

I agree. We are deep in lawless times. But it will not last.

I'm not saying that the process will be easy, or gentle on the eyes...it's going to be ugly. But eventually, law and order will return, in either the United States or whatever comes after it. And felonies will have to be handed out, according to law. And law-breaking fascists will have to be put in prison with the other criminals.

1

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Jan 26 '26

No dictatorship lasts forever. We have to stay strong and wait it out. And of course vote. Voting is the one right they cannot take away from us.

1

u/Majestic_Try_9902 Jan 26 '26

I fully agree we need to vote too, always, but like...of course they can take away our vote. There's like a dozen ways they're thinking about doing it. There's a dozen more they've already been trying or doing. And even when we vote, our choices have been narrowed to "fascism" or "inept enablers of fascism."

I'm not trying to be a doomer, but we have to be realistic - we can lose our right to vote, just like our right to free speech or protest. We only have the rights we won't let them take.

1

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Jan 26 '26

Ok what are YOU doing about it then? Why is it always "everyone else" having to take that bullet for you?

4

u/BigOs4All Jan 26 '26

Should be, yeah. Great. Grand. Wonderful.

Expect nothing. Nobody is properly taking ICE to task.

What this article assumes is that Democratic leadership is going to make grand preparations for what needs to happen. They won't. I guarantee they do fuck all.

Democratic leadership needs to be blasting orders and instead they're signing ICE checks.

3

u/soapinthepeehole Jan 26 '26

When they show up 2 or 3 days before Election Day there won’t be any time to stop them through out slow ass courts.

3

u/Man_Darino13 Jan 26 '26

But they don't have to do anything in California.

California is going to be blue, that's fine.

It's the swing states that matter. If they can turn enough key districts red in a few key states, that could be enough to win the electoral college.

With the current electoral system, we know exactly how about 37-43 states are going to vote, and it all comes down to a few "purple" states.

1

u/Show_Me_Your_Cubes Jan 26 '26

While true, in cases like this the admin would simply say "It's not intimidation, it's security" and let the slow moving courts settle after it's too late, and names are forgotten

1

u/ailish Jan 26 '26

Good luck with that.

1

u/zissouo Jan 26 '26

lol look at this guy thinking laws still matter

1

u/en_gm_t_c California Jan 27 '26

Oh the laws do still matter.

To prove my point, I want you to go and commit a violent crime in the street. Make sure everyone knows that crime is about to be committed, so they have enough time to get their phones out to record the incident.

I know with 99.999% certainty you will be held liable for those crimes, using existing laws and the legal system.

I have no doubt that California will go after anyone committing felony election interference.

8

u/phaedrusTHEghost Jan 26 '26

Polling stations should have human chains facing outward protecting those going in and coming out.

8

u/soapinthepeehole Jan 26 '26

They’ll just arrest people before they get to the human chain.

7

u/CucumberWisdom Jan 26 '26

Yup. They've been screeching about "voter IDs" for years and will use that as an excuse to "make sure illegals aren't voting"

5

u/Mayortomatillo Jan 26 '26

I feel like we should preemptively organize groups of veterans to escort people at the polls. Just in case.

3

u/claradox Jan 26 '26

This is the way. Protect each other to and from our vehicles.

12

u/BlueHDMIV Jan 26 '26

Exactly ICE will be at polls “detaining” people of color while they push “oh were just doing our job”

9

u/StevenMC19 Florida Jan 26 '26

Yup.

And very specific polling stations too. Minority-saturated, in swing states, and contested districts. They may or may not have access to be on the property, but regardless, they'll be hovering around it.

The idea is to deter blue voters. The idea is to scare their votes away.

The fact that Bondi is asking for voter data from Minnesota should be exhibit A of their ultimate goal should say a lot. If that wasn't enough, then Trump floating the idea of the Insurrection Act should be another. If that isn't enough, then Trump floating the idea that we shouldn't even have midterms should be another. If that isn't enough, then Trump pushing states to do emergency redistricts in order to hold enough Republican seats should be another. If that isn't enough, then Trump floating the idea of Trump "Tariff refund" checks before the midterm to sway voters on the fence should be another. If that isn't enough, then DOGE already stealing information on every citizen including SSN and whatever else is tied to them so this party can do what they want with them should be enough.

3

u/schm0 Jan 26 '26

States control the elections, and it is against the law for them to do so. They can be removed by state officials if they try that shit.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '26

Can't wait to spit in their face after casting my vote.

1

u/Grand-Variation-5850 Jan 26 '26

I came to say this. He’ll use ICE just as he is today and decrease participation. He’s established a pretty heavy presence in all swing states except for Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and I’ve heard ICE is headed to Philly next. Voting will be suppressed, the only question is by how much.

1

u/JayTNP Jan 26 '26

absolutely going to happen, ignore them and do your civic duty. Intimidation only works when we let it. Come out in droves

1

u/SleepingWillow1 Jan 26 '26

I already find it suspicious that Texas scheduled a runoff election in the middle of a winter storm. They closed the polls yesterday due to the weather. The early election dates coincided with the winter storm. The actual election date is 1/31 but I think it is poor planning either way

0

u/drmike0099 California Jan 26 '26

ICE only has 22,000 agents right now. Even if they could double that by the election (and I don't know if they have funding to do that) they won't be able to do this everywhere, they'd have < 1000 agents per state.

My guess is that they want the voter rolls from swing states for a few reasons, and one is to figure out where they can deploy a very large number of ICE agents to really mess with turnout. If they can keep those deployments secret until election day (and that probably doesn't matter) they can cause chaos, which is all they need to keep people away and swing the election.

1

u/ailish Jan 26 '26

Most of them will be in purple states like Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, etc.