General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI know Trump's plan for the 2026 and 2028 elections
Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, was a British intelligence professional. He knew the warning signs of enemy action. Fleming told beginning intelligence officers that if they observe something "Once is happenstance; twice is coincidence; three times is enemy action."
Trump has told us what he plans to do in the 2026 and 2028 elections 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . . god-only-knows how many times. This is not happenstance or coincidence -- this clearly is enemy action.
Trump has harped on two themes:
1. "There are 15 places." He often mentions one or more of Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, or other Democratic regions that often are majority minority.
2. He has said time and again he should have "sent the military" to seize ballot boxes in 2020.
These two frequent rants by Trump spill all the beans -- this is the plan.
15 PLACES.
Trump, Miller, and Bondi already have picked out 15 locales, likely 15 major, mostly-Black, solidly Democratic cities. We all know these cities include Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis, LA, NYC, Philadelphia -- you add the rest.
SEIZE THE BALLOT BOXES.
I served 12 years as one of three members of the Electoral Board in a rural Virginia County. Our procedure when the polls close is the same thing that is done in every precinct in the country:
-- voting machines accept ballots and drop them into an internal hopper.
-- the machines count the number of ballots cast and produce a tally of number of votes for each candidate. Depending on the machine, the number of votes cast is displayed on a publicly visible counter while the vote tally is printed on a tape (similar to an old adding machine tape) that contains precinct name, date, time machine turned on, time turned off, number of votes for each candidate, etc., etc. -- the people working at the polls can print as many copies of the tally as needed but only after the polls close.
-- ballots drop into a hopper inside the machine. At the end of the day, close the polls (which means the machines will take no more ballots), look at the public counter, open the hopper, at least two officers of election (poll workers) remove the marked ballots, place them in special containers, seal the containers with seals indicating # of ballots (get from the public counter), date, time, etc., etc., then print and sign their name attesting that they did it right.
-- unused ballots are sealed in separate containers. The precinct knows how many ballots were issued, how many were used, so simple math tells you how many unused you have. The containers of unused ballots are sealed same as used ballot containers.
-- all this stuff goes to the registrar's office where it is locked into a vault then removed to the Circuit Court vault the next day where it is stored for the required time (22 months in the case of federal elections) -- in our county, sheriff's deputies accompanied the material from the poll to the registrar's office and observed it being locked. The next day, deputies escorted the ballots, etc., to the Clerk of the Court.
I guarantee you Trump will order some kind of federal force -- ICE, active duty military, federalized National Guard, or a mixture -- into the 15 cities where they will seize everything coming in from the precincts -- they may seize it at the precincts -- and either the military or a gaggle of Trump-appointed thugs will count the ballots, add the tallies, or somehow see to it that Trump wins.
And that folks, is what's coming. Count on it.
How to stop it?
FIRST: The states must recognize Trump is SERIOUS.
SECOND: EVERYONE must recognize what I have described above is the plan.
THIRD: The states must decide what force they will use to stop it. And the only way to stop it will be with force -- local cops, state police, National Guard. And the state forces must be ready to shoot.
FadedMullet
(779 posts)ms liberty
(11,059 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(176,497 posts)Those concerned about democracy dont have the luxury of simply shrugging with indifference to the presidents latest conspiratorial nonsense.
Four weeks ago: Trump floated the idea of canceling future elections
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-03T14:05:32.050Z
Three weeks ago: âWhen you think of it, we shouldnât even have an electionâ
Yesterday: âThe Republicans ought to nationalize the votingâ
But itâs not just rhetoric: all of this has come against a backdrop of concrete action.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-ought-to-nationalize-the-voting-trump-eyes-radical-power-grab
Trump: "These people were brought to our country to vote, & they vote illegally. The Republicans should say, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that I won that show I didn't win. You're gonna see something in Georgia"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-02T18:03:24.971Z
In the course of an unsettling tirade about his landslide victory in 2024 (which clearly wasnt a landslide) and his belief that undocumented immigrants were brought into the U.S. specifically to vote against Republicans (undocumented immigrants cannot and do not vote), Trump elaborated on his vision for the nations electoral system.
You know, its amazing that the Republicans arent tougher on it, the president told Bongino. The Republicans should say, We want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting......
Trump has long made clear that he rejects the idea that Americans settle their differences at the ballot box, and in recent weeks hes offered fresh evidence of his antipathy toward democracy. On the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks, for example, Trump briefly floated the idea of canceling future U.S. elections. A few weeks ago, he told Reuters that hes so impressed with himself and his record that when you think of it, we shouldnt even have an election.
While Trump doesnt have a credible plan to take over the nations system of elections, his increasingly frequent and radical declarations have been unsubtle. Theyve also begun to result in concrete action: It was just last week when FBI agents raided an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing ballots and voting records as part of the presidents conspiracy theory, which included Trump personally thanking the agents for their efforts.
This coincided with Trumps Justice Department pursuing an aggressive campaign to acquire voter rolls from states where Democrats won in 2024.
Those concerned about democracy, voting rights and the integrity of election results dont have the luxury of simply shrugging with indifference at the presidents latest nonsense. Its part of a broader pattern of behavior that extends well beyond ridiculous whining.
pwb
(12,544 posts)Good luck trying to intimidate them. We have an army of them ready I am sure to say no, get the fuck out of here. IMO.
Eko
(9,857 posts)And they will do it because of election irregularities. .
Wiz Imp
(9,254 posts)and working. ZERO chance.
FormerOstrich
(2,880 posts)but I recall that ballots and print outs are transported from the polling sites to a centralized location setup up by I believe the Sheriff. It may be DPS. Maybe both. Regardless, they are very strict and serious about the process. My previous participation has always reassured me the process was secure.
I never in my wildest dreams would have thought it would have ever be attacked like it has been since 2020.