Let’s Keep Our Eyes on the Road to November Elections
Mail-in ballot collection box outside Tampa, FL, for voting in the 2020 election.
By Jo-Ann Johnston
We have entered a new season right now in America that requires our undivided attention.
Not because we’re worried about our car tires as the annual thaws bring the Northeast into mud season; not because we ought to check our storm cellars’ sturdiness all around the Midwest; and not because we have to keep an eye on the water tables out West ahead of summer’s wildfire-prone months.
Yes, we need to be aware of impassable roads, devastating winds, and unbridled flames.
But the most important condition to watch in our political climate here during the months leading up to our midterm elections is haze. There is impaired visibility ahead on the roads to polling places. Serious political scholars urge us to pay close attention to maneuvering ahead of the first midterms since the Trump administration took office for the second time.
Trump has shown the signs of “competitive authoritarianism”1 since taking office again, according to a relatively new political definition. That means he took power through the democratic means of an election, but has since been pulling power closer and tighter to himself.
Author, historian Timothy Snyder warns us Trump could try to prevent elections.
Timothy Snyder, a historian and author of a timely book called “On Tryranny,” has recently been raising alarms about what to expect now. He wrote recently that during these months before the midterm, we need to watch for signals that Trump might clamp down even more on power. 2
The president could try to claim the presence of a so-called national security risk — the war in Iran, supposed threats from terrorist elements, and a few other scenarios — that requires him to suspend our elections, Snyder writes. Trump did not say anything about the November elections in the days following the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Still, Syder’s warning is worth reading and noting.
Snyder also informs readers, though, that Americans have leverage in this situation, as Trump is in a weakened state, with lower popularity of late.
The public can know how best to resist “the next coup,” Snyder writes, by paying attention, by remaining skeptical of what Trump may claim are new dangers, and by insisting on voting. (There are also actions that judges, media, and the armed services can play in preserving our democracy, he notes.) 3
As news reports attest, Trump has already started trying to constrict voting rights. Even if Trump does not attempt another coup by November (the January 6, 2021, insurrection is considered the first attempt), he has telegraphed that he wants fewer eligible Americans voting and is keeping his followers busy inventing and defending new barriers to the ballot box.
The more voters Trump eliminates by November, the better his chances are of seeing pro-MAGA candidates in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to retain voting majorities and support his agenda.
The list of different attacks on voting rights and registration rights is long. Consequently, we have included a list of them and remedies to fight them, prominently in an earlier blog. We also explain why democracy supporters consider some of the tactics unconstitutional.
Please read the article and take any steps you can, as soon as possible, to keep elections fair and functioning. This is in keeping with one of our Project 2029 Founding Pillars: “Make sure that every voice has a chance to be heard, and citizens can exercise their constitutional and democratic rights.”
The season for holding the line on democracy is now.
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Multiple sources:
Anderson, Karrin A. (September 10, 2025). Why journalists are reluctant to call Trump an authoritarian – and why that matters for democracy. The Conversation U.S.https://theconversation.com/why-journalists-are-reluctant-to-call-trump-an-authoritarian-and-why-that-matters-for-democracy-263778# , citing Levitsky, Steven and Way, Lucan A. (February 11, 2025). The Path to American Authoritarianism, What Comes After Democratic Breakdown, Foreign Affair.
Snyder, T. (April 4, 2026). Thinking About…The Next Coup Attempt And How to Stop It, Substack. https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-next-coup-attempt
Synder, T.
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