We say it every time, and it is always true: this is the most consequential election of our lifetimes. All things being equal, it should be a pretty significant blue wave. But all things are not equal. The next three or so months will determine if we are able to keep our democracy or not. It really is that simple.
Trump’s presidency has been a catastrophe. I’m not writing now to enumerate the ways this is true. You already know. Everyone does. It’s getting harder and harder for those of us in the media to come up with more ways of saying Trump’s polling is cratering. Even the people who love him hate him.
But that polling puts us in a very precarious, very dangerous position, because while Donald J. Trump doesn’t care about the actual direction of the country; he doesn’t care about the well-being of Americans; he doesn’t care about our standing in the world or our economy or the safety of our children or women or people who are not white; he does care about winning.
What’s more, the people who have snaked their way into his orbit care very deeply about maintaining a grip on their power.
For months he’s been talking about how the midterms are going to be unfair. He’s talked about how he might declare an emergency, or confiscate ballots in blue states, or how if he loses it will be because of cheating. And so on. You’ve heard it all.
We’re all waiting to see what he does to muck up the election and, therefore, our democracy. In the interest of clarity, let’s go through the list of things that could happen between the moment you’re reading this and, say, January 3, 2027.
Clear eyes.
So. What could happen?