By Michael Randall
(The following is “Part Two” of a three-part series about (1) the emerging Trump dictatorship – link below; (2) Trump’s determination to stay in power at all cost; and (3) what people can do peacefully and non-violently to stop our country’s descent into tyranny.)
To stay in power after the 2026 and 2028 elections, Trump will leave no tactic or tool untried, including the use of force. He knows that in 2027, if new Democratic majorities prevail in both congressional chambers, he is likely to be impeached in the House and convicted in the Senate for a long list of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” then removed from office. Presidential immunity will allow him to return to Mar a Lago, nurse his wounds, brag about his “accomplishments,” play golf, and whine about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
What simply will be a forced vacation for Trump actually will be most terrifying for his many Trump-compliant, law-breaking appointees (eg, Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, Russell Vought, etc.). If the Democrats win, those Trump-obedient folks likely will be indicted and tried for their numerous violations of the law and the US Constitution. They will do just about anything between now and the November 2026 elections to derail the Democratic Party’s return to power in Congress, and to steer clear of prison’s striped pajamas.
Trump’s upcoming 2026 election strategies are various, but plain for all to see. They are the same ones he used to manipulate voters during the 2020 election that he lost. He is working to weaken the courts and Congress, but rewards his loyalists while making them fear him and remain obedient to him. His opponents may moderate their voices and criticisms to some extent, given their justifiable fears of persecution.
If Democratic candidates do well in the 2026 elections, in the days and weeks that follow, the Trump administration will demand investigations and file lawsuits, just as they did unsuccessfully in 2020. As before, his minions will harass and threaten election workers. Chaos again will ensue, but a chaos different from that of January 2021. Unlike in his first term, Trump is surrounded by highly capable (if twisted) loyalists, and this time they control the US government’s tools of force.
He already has used the Justice Department to harass and launch investigations against his political opponents (eg, most recently Senator Mark Kelly), and fired federal prosecutors who investigated him for crimes in previous years. He has ignored court orders forbidding him to remove migrants without due process hearings. He already has expelled “unfriendly” media outlets from the White House and Pentagon, but invited in those outlets that are his loyal mouthpieces. He has hinted at doing away with the two-term limit on his position as president.
He will continue to thunder against mail-in voting, and will claim he has evidence that vote counts in various states won by Democrats have been rigged, just as he claimed in 2020. He will say he has evidence and will soon show it to the public. Ultimately, he will present no evidence because in truth there will be none to present.
But the lack of any evidence will not matter, because his supportive media outlets will pound their drums far and wide, charging Democrats with election fraud and demanding that voting machines be collected by federal agents for auditing. Protestors from both sides will race into the streets. This will be an excuse for Trump to send in Marines and National Guard to quell the “left-wing terrorist plot to destroy our country,” as he has already done in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
The foregoing, well-proven tools are on loan from Russia’s Putin and Hungary’s Orban and other tyrannical leaders. Trump will use them to foster fear, despair, and a sense of inevitability regarding his reign in power.
What will each of us personally do to help flush MAGA cruelties into the sewer of history’s worst political movements? We should speak up, mock and ridicule MAGA’s political leaders and their statements, participate in local protests, give time and money to organizations that fight Trump’s growing dictatorship. We can help reshape America’s future so that our grandchildren become vibrantly capable adults instead of glassy-eyed, obedient servants of a few powerful overlords.
Each of us must decide what we can do to help mitigate Trump’s damage, and strive to rebuild our communities and our country’s place in the world. Some suggestions, hopefully useful, will follow in “Part Three.”