The Little-Noted Trump-DOJ Move That Should Scare the Hell Out of You

Of the many ways that Donald Trump, abetted by the U.S. Supreme Court, has laid waste to the executive branch and ransacked civil society, one Trump target above all others requires our constant vigilance and hair-trigger sensitivity.

That is federal elections—and the prospect that Trump will try to achieve in pseudo-legal fashion what he failed to accomplish through brute force after the 2020 election he lost to President Biden.

Democracy can weather a lot of damage and unlawful conduct at Trump’s hands, but if he succeeds in taking control of the machinery of elections, it could be a fatal blow.

That’s why a barely noticed story in The New York Times last week was so worrisome. As reported by the Times, unidentified senior administration officials have directed DOJ lawyers to explore the possibility of federal criminal charges against state or local election officials deemed to have failed to adequately safeguard computer systems.

Tellingly, the initiative isn’t grounded in any new evidence, data, or legal theory. It’s not about truth or justice. It’s a political and ideological ploy, reportedly incubated in the Project 2025 workshop—part of Trump’s broader effort to delegitimize democratic institutions and seize autocratic control.

I’ve often said the best way to unravel a Trump scheme is to start with the lie that always forms its foundation. That’s not hard here: It’s the same, repeatedly discredited but inexhaustibly pressed canard that elections are rife with fraud, including votes cast by undocumented immigrants.