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For nearly six months, we have watched what appears to be an inexorable slide to outright dictatorship, as one after another of the firebreaks has been breached. We are left with the hope that Republicans will be repudiated at the polls in 2026. In a democracy, the ultimate firebreak is the right of the citizens to throw the rascals out. But that, in turn, will depend on whether the courts—notably an increasingly compliant Supreme Court—are willing to defend the ultimate check and balance of free elections.
What we’ve seen in the past few weeks isn’t encouraging. In March, Trump signed an executive order requiring all prospective voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. In April, a district court judge enjoined DHS from carrying out Trump’s order. Since then, however, the Supreme Court has ruled in Trump v. CASA that district court decisions do not apply nationwide. So the Trump order on proof of citizenship in voting could be revived.
Trump is pursuing his characteristic strategy of flooding the zone, in this case demanding voter information, threatening election officials with prosecution for even technical violations, and deterring voting by demanding proof of citizenship, while targeting naturalized citizens on another front.
In 2024, some vigilante Republican county officials and activists tried to overwhelm voting centers and poll workers in blue states. For the most part, it didn’t work, in part because the Biden Justice Department was there to prevent intimidation. This time, Trump will control the Justice Department response.
Trump doesn’t have to depress voting or accurate counting all that much to keep legislative control. That’s how dictators simulate continued democracy.
With these multiple assaults and the Supreme Court’s increasing complicity, the high court has to be considered a slender reed.
In these posts, I confess a slight bias toward hope. We may yet have free-enough elections in enough places in 2026. And the Supreme Court may yet remember that its prime job is to defend the Constitution. If not, full-on fascism will arrive. |
