The Guardian’s take on the US midterm elections and election meddling: Trump’s attempted heist is already underway | Editorial

TPsychologist Jennifer Freyd identified a pattern often used by abusers: denying, blaming, and reversing the victim and abuser. More than one observer has noted that Donald Trump uses this model politically. With polls suggesting that Republicans are at risk of losing the House and perhaps also the Senate in the midterms, the man who refused to accept Americans’ Democratic verdict in 2020 is peddling a narrative that Democrats are cheating and stealing seats via illegitimate votes.

The January 6 insurrection showed how grave the peril to American democracy had become. This is more the case now. This time, Republican efforts to undermine the results began well before that. In 2020, Mr. Trump’s Vice President, Mike Pence, Attorney General, William Barr, and others refused his most outrageous demands; now the Justice Department is inactive. And the Supreme Court’s elimination of the Voting Rights Act, which protected against the worst forms of racial discrimination, means states no longer require pre-approval of decisions that could swing a race. The neighborhoods have already been redesigned.

Courts have so far blocked executive orders unconstitutionally asserting electoral powers that clearly belong to the states. But the blizzard of effort ensures that Republicans won’t need to get it right every time. A few thousand or even hundreds of votes in key places could have a profound effect on the outcome. This all-out push also intimidates potential voters. Whatever happens with the federal criminal investigation into allegations of non-citizen voting in California, and whether or not Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are actually stationed near polling locations as discussed, legitimate voters may fear drawing attention to undocumented parents. Finally, all these threats and initiatives establish the false story of a stolen election, which will be repeated with greater force after the vote.

Mr. Trump reiterated his call for charges against Mary Peltola, the Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska, after The New York Times reported that his campaign had sought to confuse voters by recruiting another candidate with the same name as his Republican opponent, despite her denials. The state’s Republican governor has not committed to certifying the result in the event of victory. Running candidates with similar names is an old trick, but also a dirty trick. Although not inherently illegal, this practice is unethical and could potentially lead to criminal charges. This is no reason to dispute the outcome of this race. But it is a gift to Republicans who claim that Democrats are seeking electoral solutions – when it is clearly evident that the threat to American democracy comes from Mr. Trump and his accomplices.

Their broad and concerted efforts have two key obstacles. The first is that, despite horrific abuses and death threats, election officials – including Republicans – are assiduously preparing to resist anti-democratic efforts. This situation is, however, tempered by the Republican desire to control the electoral commissions, with a growing number of election deniers.

The second is that an increase in early voting suggests that the clear threat to democracy is motivating citizens to participate and ensuring their vote counts. Recent elections elsewhere – notably in Brazil, where Mr. Trump’s favored far-right candidate was rejected – show that a decisive message from voters is harder to challenge than a marginal one. The best defense of democracy is to show that people care. And the clearer the verdict, the better the chances of respecting it.