The Trump regime is carrying out an all-of-government strategy to rig or steal the midterm elections while continuing to mobilize the hardened fascist base of millions to call into question any election not won by a fascist. The problem is that most people don’t know about these rapid moves by the MAGA fascists; those who do have no idea on how to fight it; and the horizons of those who do want to fight against this move, don’t yet know what to fight for.

Revcom.us has been covering how the Trump regime is changing the national election laws; seizing 2020 election ballots in predominantly Black Fulton County, GA as a practice run; placing truly insane fascist ideologues in key positions to oversee the next elections; threatening to post ICE at the polls to terrorize Latino voters; and much more. Central to this is the white supremacist decimation of the impact of Black people's vote with the Supreme Court gutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act and allowing fascists to redraw election maps to break up majority Black areas and merge them with more reactionary predominantly white areas (in a practice called "gerrymandering").

Maintaining the fascist grip on power is important to their ability to continue with their full fascist remaking of all of society: the undisguised rule through open violence and terror, crushing dissent and repressing political opponents, gutting due process and the rule of law, promoting anti-scientific lunacy, carrying out mass deportations and spreading anti-immigrant terror, rule through open white supremacy and patriarchal subordination of women and LGBT people shot through with Christian fascist, "we're on a mission from god" righteousness and blind faith.

Here, we'll lay out four major ways their moves to steal or rig the next elections are being moved on in just the last few weeks, and then speak to what YOU need to understand and do now:

I. Trump Lies about "Big Cheating" in California Primaries:

Just two days after the primary elections in California—as votes were still being counted—Trump went on the attack that there was “big cheating by the Democrats,” insisting the slow process of counting ballots must reflect a "rigged" system. On June 2, there were primary elections in California to determine which candidates will be running in November for Governor, LA Mayor, etc. (California has an especially slow process for ballot counting having to do with when ballots can be mailed by.)

The day after Trump's attack, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California—a known fascist—announced that “multiple election fraud investigations” had been opened related to California’s elections. He "predicted" election violations without even waiting for the votes to be counted. His evidence? None.

“We will be charging some people; it will be election fraud charges in the next... one or two months. We need some of these results to be certified so we can prove some of the allegations.” In other words: charges first—evidence to base it on later. Whether or not there actually will be criminal charges brought (which there may be), this serves to call into question the validity of these elections and builds up Trump's completely made up lie that election fraud is widespread in California.

II. The Postal Service is moving to fuck with mail-in ballots, while the Department of Homeland Security is compiling lists of voters which could be used to purge voter rolls ahead of the elections:

The Postal Service announced it won’t deliver mail ballots for states that don’t hand over their voter lists. This is based on an executive order Trump signed at the end of March taking over from the states who will receive a mail ballot. This means that state election officials must either hand over voter lists to the Trump administration or risk losing Postal Service delivery for mail-in ballots. If courts let the order stand, it would give the regime an unprecedented role in in how elections are run. It is written into the Constitution that elections are supposed to be state-run, so not only would this drastically restrict mail-in voting but it would put even more power into the hands of the federal government—while Trump has outright threatened federal takeovers of elections. 

This could also put even more voter data in the hands of the regime searching for nonexistent election fraud. The same order directs the Department of Homeland Security to use federal databases to put together a list of all adult citizens so states can then compare them to their voter rolls. Twenty-three Democratic-led states, Washington, DC and various organizations are suing to stop this, but it remains to be seen what will happen. In the meantime, a federal judge in Washington, DC overseeing one set of the cases did not block Trump’s executive order, allowing the Postal Service to begin implementing it. The Maine Secretary of State said “you will see a virtual elimination of mail-in voting, unless the states supply voter lists to the federal government.” 

Trump’s order also instructs the Department of Homeland Security to build its own state-by-state citizenship lists of eligible voters. These kinds of lists could be used to pressure states to purge their voter rolls of voters more likely to vote Democratic. 

III. Office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) raided by the FBI:

The regime is also working to criminalize efforts aimed at voter registration (these are often directed at young people and more oppressed sections of people who are less likely to be engaged with elections on their own). Last week, the FBI searched the offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative in Cleveland as part of a Justice Department investigation into its voter registration efforts. The FBI agents seized computers and phones, while spending hours questioning staff members. Agents went to the homes of people who have worked with the organization, seeking interviews and information about alleged voter fraud.

Voter fraud is nearly nonexistent but it's being used as an excuse to go after elections overall. And these intimidation tactics and harassment are a threat to people working with similar voter registration efforts everywhere. 

IV. Trump's Fascist "SAVE America Act" (The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act)

The so-called SAVE America Act is a proposed federal law which Trump insists be passed by Congress, that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. If passed, this “show your papers” requirement would mean voters would have to present documents such as a U.S. passport, certified birth certificate, military ID with proof of U.S. birth, or government-issued photo ID. This would have to be verified in person at an election office. Trump and his fascist team claim its aim is to prevent non-citizen voting—but this is really about preventing large numbers of people from voting at all. According to the Brennan Center: 

Our research shows that more than 21 million Americans lack ready access to those documents. Roughly half of Americans don’t even have a passport. Millions lack access to a paper copy of their birth certificate. The SAVE Act would disenfranchise Americans of all ages and races, but younger voters and voters of color would suffer disproportionately. Likewise, millions of women whose married names aren’t on their birth certificates or passports would face extra steps just to make their voices heard.

The House passed the bill in March; but as of this writing, Senate Republi-fascists have not yet been able to pass it. Trump shows no intention of backing off of making this the law of the land. 

V. How Elections Serve to Cover Over, and Legitimize, This Oppressive System... and The Need to Defend the Right to Vote

In an important new series, The Declaration of Independence (and Related Questions): Inventions and Distortions of Reality and History—In the Service of Real and Repeated Atrocity, the revolutionary leader, Bob Avakian, provides a scientific grounding in the actual nature of this country, and the roots and reality of its founding myths—historically and all the way up to today. And he brings alive the scientific method for you to be able to understand this as well. In Part 2 of this series, Avakian breaks down how:

This very electoral process itself tends to cover over the basic class relations—and class antagonisms—in society, and serves to give formal, institutionalized expression to the political participation of atomized individuals in the perpetuation of the status quo....[T]he very acceptance of the electoral process as the quintessential political act reinforces acceptance of the established order and works against any radical rupture with, to say nothing of the actual overturning of, that order. [emphasis added]

At the same time, these fascist moves to openly gut people's right to vote must be urgently opposed. As Avakian goes on to say: 

...what is required in this kind of situation is, at one and the same time, an understanding of the very terrible thing that is involved in ripping away the right to vote, and accordingly the need to vigorously defend this right, while at the same time understanding the actual role of elections under this system, and the importance of not reinforcing the rule of this system by becoming trapped within, and acting in accordance with the “logic” and dynamics of, its electoral process.

Yes, we do need to fight these attacks and defend our rights—AND to do that as part of breaking out of the straitjacket of what this system allows us to even imagine, let alone fight for and bring into being.

As Avakian breaks down further in this piece, the idea that voting is how you make a change under this system is a myth, but it's a foundational myth of this country—and it's part of why millions accept the unjust rule of this system. So it's a big deal that the fascists are working to undermine people's right to vote, and even rig and steal the next election. All this could result in a major crisis around the mid-terms if the vote goes against the fascists and they are not returned to power. No one can predict the future, and there's a great deal in flux, but everyone who wants to see a better world, and fundamental change, should be grappling now with how this situation might develop and how to act in relation to this to unite millions to act to defeat this fascism, and work toward a revolution to get rid of the system that has given rise to this fascism, and so many other horrors.¹

In Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating, Avakian discusses how "[t]his rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people." He goes on that:

as “the normal way” society has been ruled is failing to hold things together—and society is increasingly being ripped apart—this can shake people’s belief that “the way things have always been” is the only way things can be. It can make people more open to questioning—in a real sense it can force people to question—the way things have been, and whether they have to stay that way. And this is all the more likely to happen if the revolutionary forces are out among the people shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening, and why, and bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way.

VI. Confronting Reality As It Is... Working to Radically Change This Reality

Whether anything positive for humanity can be wrenched out of this dangerous situation requires people to confront what is actually happening, and stop comforting themselves with dangerous illusions. Last week, a member of the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity spoke with a student who is actively agonized about the Trump fascist regime, but still clung to what the revcom described as "an almost conscious self-delusion that this can be derailed through the midterms." The revcom described the exchange, "In response to pressing him about the state of the midterms (dismantling voting rights act, etc.), the student said 'all you can do is hope that will work because otherwise there’s nothing.'"

This student captured the thinking of millions of people—people who don't want to see this fascism consolidate, but are willfully putting their heads in the sand. 

First, there's a basic immorality in refusing to confront objective reality because it makes you uncomfortable. As Bob Avakian said sharply years ago:

“There is a place where epistemology and morality meet. There is a place where you have to stand and say: It is not acceptable to refuse to look at something—or to refuse to believe something—because it makes you uncomfortable. And: It is not acceptable to believe something just because it makes you feel comfortable.”

—BAsics 5:11

To cling to this illusory hope in the midterms is to put a blindfold on in the face of an oncoming train. This is after we witnessed 2020 where Trump organized an insurrection and all-sided coup which came very close to succeeding... this is after Trump pardoned 1,500 of those insurrectionists who violently stormed the Capitol... this is after Trump has filled his cabinet—and key positions overseeing the elections—with election denying nutjobs who spread conspiracy theory craziness... this is after Trump has repeatedly threatened to run for a third term, and recently said, "I don't care about the midterms."

This is rooted in a blind and frankly idiotic American exceptionalism that fascism can't really be consolidated here. Not only do people need to wake up and look at the reality of what is happening before your very eyes, but they need to dig beneath the surface to understand how this fascism has its roots in the whole history and structures of this system founded in slavery, genocide and capitalist exploitation. To understand this scientifically, and to break away from make-believe, people need to dig seriously into the series we quoted from above, "THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (And Related Questions): INVENTIONS AND DISTORTIONS OF REALITY AND HISTORY—IN THE SERVICE OF REAL AND REPEATED ATROCITY.”

Finally, this argument that "all you can do is hope the elections will work because otherwise there’s nothing" is an argument for giving up before you've put up any real fight and it rests on the lie that there is no alternative to this outmoded system of exploitation and oppression. 

The fascists are throwing down and openly announcing their intention to violate the laws to stay in power and, as part of that, to violate the fundamental rights of Black and Latino people in particular. There is a need to not only resist and seriously prepare to defeat that attack on fundamental rights, but to prepare now by spreading the word on this—and there is the even greater need to do this as part of winning people to break fundamentally with the system that has given rise to this madness and much more, and to wage this struggle as part of moving to replace that system through an emancipating revolution that is not just necessary, but possible. 

As the Declaration from the revcoms, WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM, lays out:

With the urgency the situation requires

WE DECLARE AND DEMAND:

The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished And Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA.

So long as we are still living under the rule of this system of capitalism-imperialism, we will defend people against attacks on their lives and on the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. But we need a whole different system, with a whole different Constitution—the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America—which will provide much greater rights for the people, including the basic right to have the fundamentally determining role in a new society and government whose purpose and goal is to eliminate all exploitation and oppression, everywhere.