Meddling in elections to stay in power? Targeting political opponents? If this sounds like stuff out of a dictator’s playbook, you’re right. And it’s happening in a democracy where that was once unthinkable, the United States.
There’s been a series of concerning developments ahead of the country’s midterms elections next year, where Trump’s Republican party risks losing control of the US House of Representatives.
🔹The Justice Department has launched an investigation into ActBlue, the big Democratic fundraising platform, while leaving the GOP’s WinRed untouched.
🔹Trump has urged red states like Texas to redraw maps outside of the usual ten-year timeframe to create more Republican-friendly House seats.
🔹 His administration is demanding detailed voter files from at least 19 states – more than half of which are democratic or bipartisan-controlled. They claim it’s to root out ineligible voters, but the Associated Press notes, it is a “direct use of official presidential power in ways that have no modern precedent”.
Donald Trump is also doubling down on his plans to deploy the National Guard to opposition strongholds like Chicago, and it’s got local leaders and legal experts worried over escalating authoritarianism.
Quick explainer: The National Guard is a unique branch of the US military that acts as a reserve force. These soldiers, mostly civilians serving part-time, typically support disaster relief, national emergencies, or state-level law enforcement. Trump’s push to deploy it in Democratic cities without state consent has raised alarms that he’s weaponising it as a personal paramilitary force, bypassing legal checks to intimidate political rivals.
Trump has used crime to justify the use of the guard, even when the stats don’t back it up. He painted Chicago as a crime-riddled “hellhole”, despite it not ranking in the top 50 US cities for violent crime. He’s extended similar barbs to places like Baltimore and bits of Los Angeles. And he called his controversial recent troop rollout in the country’s capital, DC, a “template” for other cities.
The trend started earlier this year. A federal judge in California slapped down Trump’s earlier move in June to send 2,000 National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles amid immigration and ICE protests, ruling it flat-out illegal.
Trump’s camp shrugged it off as judicial meddling and promised an appeal, while hinting at pushing ahead in spots like New York and San Francisco.
Ian Bassin, executive director of Protect Democracy, warns “those are actions you see in authoritarian states,” adding that Trump will “use every measure and try every tactic to stay in power, regardless of the outcome of an election.” Yikes.
