We don't know exactly what kind of fascist fuckery Trump and the MAGA Republicans will try to do, tomorrow, or between now and January 3 (the date the election would be certified by Congress). But we do know they have been discrediting, gerrymandering (and moving to gut the impact of Black voters), infiltrating election boards, and positioning themselves to subvert or outright steal the election.

They have also been unleashing their fascist social base behind the most vile racist, misogynist, anti-trans, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant attacks aimed at discrediting certain Democratic Party politicians, and whole sections of people. 

These attacks are significant in their own right and, should the fascists lose either the House or Senate, lay the basis for another level of escalation.¹ 

What we lay out here gives some sense of what is being set loose.

ONE. The fascist takeover of election boards and key positions in the states and counties, as well as preparing plans for state legislatures to subvert and/or overturn elections without any overt federal actions. 

By 2026, at least 94 election denial officials are serving in county-level positions across the country, including election-board members and officials with authority over vote counting and certification. At least 41 have already taken direct action to interfere with elections or have ties to election-denial organizations.

In 2025, eight election interference laws were enacted in seven states. Five of those laws expanded state officials' authority over local election administration in ways that could allow them to influence election outcomes. 

2023, Texas Republi-fascists passed a law giving the fascist secretary of state authority to take over election administration in counties with more than four million residents (the only county in Texas with four million people is Harris County, which includes Houston and has recently leaned to a majority Democratic voting county). The secretary can supervise election operations, require approval of county procedures, and initiate removal of local election administrators.

2021, Georgia fascists pass a law creating a mechanism for the State Election Board to investigate and suspend local election superintendents and appoint temporary replacements. This gives state officials the power to displace local election administrators and take control of election operations in individual counties.

June 2025, Iowa's Republican governor signs a law which gives the Republi-fascist secretary of state, who serves as the state's commissioner of elections, authority to order recounts in statewide, state legislative, and federal races. It also gives the secretary of state power to halt a county recount, take custody of ballots and voting equipment, and appoint staff to conduct the recount if the secretary believes it is "not being conducted according to law."

TWO. Attacking/Intimidating Opponents Within the Ruling Institutions:

October 12, federal agents raid the DC office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a prominent liberal political leader, as well as being a Muslim woman from Somalia, all of which are hated targets of MAGA fascists. Besides seizing phones and other “criminal” material, the raid effectively doxxed her, exposing her and her family to fascist haters. (Omar has since stated her family will be moving for safety reasons.)

October 15, Trump tells an Arizona campaign rally that “leakers” of military secrets “should be shot.”

On October 22, federal prosecutors unveil an eight-count indictment against Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas alleging she helped operate an illegal marijuana enterprise. Lucas is a prominent Black political figure and President Pro Tem of the Virginia state senate; she denies any wrongdoing. 

THREE. Crackdown on Media:

September 19, the White House strips three major news outlets (CNN, MS NOW and Politico) of press credentials, bars them from access to Air Force One and the Oval Office, and bans them from White House grounds entirely. Court rulings force them to allow journalists back on the grounds, but the ban on key locations remains in effect, and the White House has threatened to impose this on other journalists who displease them.

October 12, Justice Department launches anti-trust investigation of the five major news networks (ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC) who boycotted the official White House pool in response to the above attack.

October 21, federal government threatens to punish broadcasters for airing “fake polls.” Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, warns broadcasters they could be punished for sharing polls the administration believes deceive viewers.

Also: In the last few weeks, Trump has become even more belligerent towards reporters, viciously insulting and bullying them when they ask questions, aiming to intimidate and silence anything that could put him in a bad light.

FOUR. Raising the Specter of “Foreign Interference” in U.S. Elections: 

July 2026, Trump falsely claims that China had carried out “the largest compromise of election data in history,” illicitly collecting 220 million voter files.

October 21, U.S. accuses Canada of interfering in its elections; the U.S. embassy in Ottawa releases a “fact sheet” to journalists accusing several prominent Canadian politicians of interfering in its elections, including Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and others. 

These accusations not only feed the overall mantra of “stolen elections,” but because they involve foreign countries, could provide a basis for Trump to declare some version of “national emergency,” involving troops, canceling elections, and stripping people of their rights in a major way. We are not predicting this, but it is not out of the question.

FIVE. Lies About Immigrant Voting to Discredit the Elections and Intimidate Naturalized Citizens:

Early June, Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, issues an internal report on "noncitizen voting." Completely lacking in actual evidence, this report is being used as a pretext for “investigating” immigrants and attempting to purge the voter rolls. This includes demanding access to examine voter files. 

July, DHS claims to have found almost 16,000 noncitizen voters in Nevada alone. After making big noise about this and whipping up anti-immigrant sentiment, DHS is finally forced to admit that every single name they had flagged was a citizen.

September 1, Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin refuses to rule out armed ICE agents going inside polling places while voting is ongoing. (This is explicitly illegal under federal law.)

September/October, ICE goes door to door to intimidate potential voters: CBS reported on October 29 that armed Homeland Security agents have been going door to door in several states asking people their immigration status… and asking whether they plan to vote.

October 15, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sues California to block ballots from more than 20,000 people. DOJ claims—without evidence—that these 20,000 people are noncitizens and thus ineligible to vote. It is demanding that county officials segregate flagged ballots within 48 hours, warning that “any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy.” Subpoenas are being issued to election workers demanding that they appear before a grand jury the day after the election to answer questions about their performance as poll workers. All this serves to “encourage” poll workers to be “extra” strict and suspicious when “certain” people—i.e. Black and Brown, people with accents, etc.—try to cast their ballot. 

As of today, federal courts have swatted down these DOJ moves, but DOJ is still insisting that hunting down nonexistent noncitizen voters “is the Department’s job”!

SIX. Attacks and Threats Against Local and State Election Workers and Officials and Election Sites:

January 29, armed FBI agents, led by then-National Security Directory Tulsi Gabbard, raid Atlanta, Georgia voting center and seize 650 files of records from the 2020 elections.

April 29, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth refuses (during Senate testimony) to rule out deploying troops to the polls or seizing voting booths. (See Rep. Slotkin April 28 letter for more on this.) 

October 22, the Department of Justice says if the Democratic candidate is elected to the Senate in Alaska, she must not be seated. The DOJ’s suit seeks to block Alaska from certifying its Senate election if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and votes cast for another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan could theoretically have changed the outcome.² The lawsuit is considered legally thin with slim chances of success, but now the Republi-fascist governor of Alaska has piled on, ordering an investigation of the Democrat’s campaign. (On November 1, a federal judge dismissed this lawsuit but these attacks have set a precedent for claiming that if the Democrat wins, this should still be deemed illegitimate.)

SEVEN. Dehumanizing their Political Opponents

Trump and his MAGA fascist cohorts have been viciously attacking their political opponents, with attacks especially aimed at Muslims and trans people.

** Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan. He has been viciously attacked for his name and religion, with Trump leading the way, calling him a “jihadist” and saying that if were elected he would “have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate.” He has been accused of supporting the Islamic fundamentalist group Muslim Brotherhood. This is the kind of dangerous accusation that could lay the basis for further attack. 

** The anti-LGBT attack has been hyper focused on James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for a Texas senate seat. Talarico is a white male and Presbyterian minister who does not identify as gay. Nonetheless, MAGA fascists consider his gentle manner “unmanly” and his support for transgender rights to be intolerable. Trump refers to Talarico as “Talafreako” or “Talacreepo.” JD Vance has repeatedly said that Talarico’s support for trans kids is “suspicious,” telling one crowd: “A guy that age who is so obsessed and focused on transgender children, I don’t know about you, but I never want to see that guy’s web browser history.”

In South Carolina, Trump calls Annie Andrews, the Democratic candidate for Senate, “Tranny Annie.” (Andrews is not transgender.) 

This kind of “joking” and unfounded accusations builds on the lie that gay and trans people are not “normal,” not human, not deserving of rights or care—serving both to dehumanize the political opposition to the fascists, and all LGBT people.