Having seemingly given up on the House of Representatives, President Donald Trump and the officials in his administration are indicating that they intend to steal the 2026 midterm election to maintain Republican control of the Senate.
asserted
they → give → Senate
Trump continues to try to use the power of the government to boost his own popularity.
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Trump → continue → popularity
On Friday and Saturday, Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano sent an email to people with online Social Security accounts declaring that under Trump, “the Social Security Administration (SSA) is transforming into a model of excellence,” producing “the best performance in the agency’s 91-year-history.”
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Administration → send → history
More than 100 million Americans have online SSA accounts.
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Americans → have → accounts
In fact, as Tara Siegel Bernard reported in the New York Times in July, the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts of about 14% of SSA staff have created service delays.
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cuts → report → delays
It’s much harder to get an in-person appointment, and although the agency reports that average phone response times dropped from 11 minutes to 5 minutes, it achieved that reduction by counting anyone who agrees to hang up and accept a return phone call as waiting zero minutes.
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who → ’ → minutes
But it’s not just in boosting Trump that the administration is corrupting our government.
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administration → ’ → government
Yesterday, in an astonishing illustration of just how thoroughly Trump and his cronies are weaponizing the government to cement their power, U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stop threatening local and state election officials with criminal prosecution if they don’t do as the administration demands.
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administration → weaponize → prosecution
Victoria Craw of the Washington Post reported that Thompson said that Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin exceeded their authority when they sent warning letters to state election officials because states, not the federal government, are responsible for congressional elections.
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states → report → elections
She also noted that they likely violated the Voting Rights Act by intimidating election officials.
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they → note → officials
“In the lead-up to the election,” Thompson wrote, “high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials have engaged in a campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees who are engaged in administering the ongoing midterm 2026 election.
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who → write → election
Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters.”
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actions → claim → voters
“One of the hallmarks of a fair election is the freedom to exercise the right to vote free from threat, fear, or intimidation,” the judge wrote.
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judge → exercise → threat
“Free exercise of the right to vote is a core tenet of our democracy.
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exercise → vote → democracy
It requires safeguarding to ensure full participation and public trust in our elections.”
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It → require → elections
Central to this effort to keep control of the Senate is the state of Alaska, where Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola has a slight edge over the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan.
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Peltola → keep → incumbent
In late October, the administration sued to prevent the certification of any candidate in the election unless Sullivan wins.
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Sullivan → sue → election
The administration’s argument was that Alaskan election officials had agreed to permit two candidates with similar names to be on the ballot.
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officials → agree → ballot
On Friday, October 30, after a New York Times article alleged that members of Peltola’s staff recruited a challenger with a name similar to Republican Dan Sullivan—a common and legal maneuver both parties engage in—the administration asked a judge to order election officials in Alaska to separate all ballots that rank Daniel J. Sullivan from the rest of the ballots in the election.
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that → allege → election
As Gary Grumbach and Kyla Guilfoil reported at NBC News, they claimed they wanted the ballots separated “for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary.”
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investigation → report → confusion
They did not explain how such a ballot could be reviewed or how reviewing a ballot would explain if a voter was confused.
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voter → explain → ballot
It also downplayed that under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, any ballots on which the lesser known Sullivan is ranked first will automatically go to the voter’s second choice—presumably Dan Sullivan—if no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes on the first round.
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candidate → downplay → round
Today U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska dismissed the lawsuit prohibiting the state from certifying any winner in Alaska other than the Republican incumbent.
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Gleason → dismiss → incumbent
She wrote that the administration had not provided a “workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy.”
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that → write → secrecy
The administration, willing to violate Americans’ right to a secret ballot in order to make sure a Republican holds Alaska’s Senate seat, immediately filed a notice that it would appeal.
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it → violate → notice
The Alaska Supreme Court signed off on the ballot months ago, specifying that the ballots would identify Senator Sullivan as the Republican incumbent and list the other Sullivan without a party affiliation.
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ballots → sign → affiliation
Meanwhile, Democrats have filed a lawsuit over Alaska’s apparent failure to fully open at least 18 early voting locations in rural Alaska, disproportionately affecting the opportunity of Native Alaskans to vote.
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Democrats → file → Alaskans
Trump wants to retain power, but he seems to have little concern for the Americans he wants to govern.
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he → want → Americans
Tyler Pager of the New York Times reported that Trump spent last night at a lavish jungle-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, where guests could feast on Alaskan king crab and eat from a caviar bar.
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guests → report → bar
Even as Americans are struggling under soaring prices of gasoline and diesel caused by Trump’s war on Iran, and as polls show almost 70% of Americans are unhappy with Trump’s handling of the economy, Trump was proud to party with wealthy people three days before the midterms.
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Trump → struggle → midterms
“Look at all my rich members,” Trump crowed to reporters covering the event.
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Trump → look → event
“They spent all day getting ready.
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They → spend → day
Pager reported that Trump repeated his anger with his former lawyer Alina Habba Mildon, who allegedly pocketed $50 million for obtaining a pardon from Trump for a Venezuelan billionaire.
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who → report → billionaire
In a different article on October 29, Pager reported that Trump has told people around him that Mildon should make sure some of that money moves in his direction.
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some → report → direction
He wants her to donate some of the $50 million payout to one of the projects that he’s pushing: his future presidential library, for example.
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he → want → example
Pager noted that at his Halloween party, Trump also acknowledged the story Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Ana Swanson, Paul Mozur, Tripp Mickle, and Julian E. Barnes broke in the New York Times on October 29 that a Chinese spy targeted Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang to obtain information about the company’s advanced AI chips.
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spy → note → chips
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was allegedly sending information gathered from Jensen Huang directly to Beijing, facilitating China’s acquisition of advanced chip technology.
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Huang → know → technology
Previous presidents have thought such a transfer endangers national security.
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transfer → think → security
Although he was briefed about the intelligence about a year ago, Trump chose to do nothing about it.
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Trump → brief → it
The reporters note that Trump has not wanted to disrupt Nvidia sales, which are key to the strength of the stock market, or to complicate trade with China even more than he already has.
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he → note → China
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
