Trump Is Now Openly Flirting With Attacking the Midterms
Speaking to a far-right conspiracy theorist who advocated seizing control of the polls, the president said merely, 'Stranger things have happened.' In actual elections, progressives had a mixed night.
On this day in 2021, the U.S. Census revealed the first-ever decline in the white population, down by 2.6% in 10 years as Hispanic and Asian populations surged.
Good morning. Martin here, writing on another day (and night) of momentous primary elections, with the direction of the Democratic Party once again in play. It may be the middle of August, but politics won’t slow down.
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ we look first to an alarming moment, in which a far-right TV host urged Donald Trump to declare a national emergency in order to grab control of midterm elections Republicans seem bound to lose, and the president played alarmingly coy. Are we dangerously numb to such moments?
We also consider what turned out to be a mixed night for progressives with primary hopes, as Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist many thought would be Democrats’ nominee for governor in Wisconsin, lost a tight battle with moderate David Crowley. There was still a big win for the left in Minnesota, where Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan won the Senate primary.
We also have exclusive polling that shows a near-tie for Senate in Kansas, which hasn’t sent a Democrat to the upper chamber in 96 years. All around the U.S., the electoral stakes are high. Let’s read on.
‘Stranger Things’
Donald Trump openly flirted with a new coup against U.S. democracy, telling an interviewer, “Stranger things have happened.”
The president was speaking to Real America’s Voice, the far-right network that is home to shows including ‘The War Room,’ hosted by former Trump campaign chair, White House strategist, and election attacker Steve Bannon, and ‘The Charlie Kirk Show.’ Host Wayne Allyn Root – a conspiracy theorist who once said Trump was like “the King of Israel” and like “the son of God” – told Trump that declaring an emergency over the midterms would be a viable alternative to the SAVE Act, the voter suppression bill that the president has obsessively championed but which remains stalled in the GOP-run Senate.
Root said: