Tootfinder

Straight from Fat Loser playbook;
1️⃣ "The election is rigged."
2️⃣ "We're looking into it."
3️⃣ "I will never concede."
✅ Trump-backed Mike Lindell refuses to concede Minnesota election loss
https://www.

No matter what happens I take joy in knowing that people in the US were rooting for a Bin to win against Farage. The amount of people in the US who knew about this election was staggering to me.

One of the biggest election stories no one's talking about: the US Democratic primaries are becoming a proxy war between rival AI factions, with candidates tuning their strategies accordingly. My latest Substack digs into how that happened.
…

Trump fires last members of election commission, sparking fears of midterm ‘chaos’
The Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission maintains mail-voter registration form, among other duties
The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”,
accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems,
and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act o…

Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’
Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission maintains mail-voter registration form, among other duties

A campaign using manipulated videos of US celebrities, falsely branded with CNN logos, is targeting Democratic candidates and seems to be backed by the Kremlin (Brandy Zadrozny/MS NOW)
https://www.ms.now/news/russia-election-influencing-campaign-targeting-dem…

A Russian disinformation campaign is doctoring celebrity videos to meddle in the midterms
The Kremlin-backed operation, known as Matryoshka, has Hollywood actors telling voters to disavow the Democratic Party and vote Republican.

MIT launches the LLM Election Observatory, a dashboard tracking how nearly a dozen AI models tailor responses to political queries during the 2026 US midterms (Tiffany Hsu/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes…

Voters Are Asking A.I. About Elections. The Answers Can Vary by User.
Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a go-to stop for voters looking for information about political races. Researchers are studying the effects.

Apparently, if US senator Mitch McConnell has indeed passed away or is in a vegetative state, Republicans can avoid an election in Kentucky by preventing him vacating his seat until after 3 August. That's over 3 weeks from now.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gyjpkzew1o

Questions swirl over top US Republican McConnell's hospital stay - here's what we know
McConnell, 84, has been in hospital for more than four weeks, and his staff have not yet said why he was admitted.

Nigel Farage has spent his summer fighting a pointless election against a bin, an attempted distraction from his £5m donation.
Meanwhile, the Labour Government has closed 13 more asylum hotels. That brings the total to 44 asylum hotels closed this year. Saving the taxpayer £224 million and bringing us a step closer to ending their use for good.

“Firing every remaining member of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission
months before the midterms
is a brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast,”
Chuck Schumer wrote on X.
“He is gutting the independent agency that certifies voting systems and helps election officials run secure elections.”
Schumer said Senate Democrats will fight this move.
“The American people—not Donald Trump—will decide the 2026 election.”

‘Brazen attempt to seize control’: Democratic leader vows to fight Trump’s election commission firings – live
Politicians and advocates say dismissals are ‘deeply concerning and part of president’s ‘relentless efforts to interfere with elections’

Democrats to train tens of thousands to monitor polls amid election interference fears (Rachel Leingang/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/14/democratic-poll-monitors-prevent-republican-election-interference
http://www.memeorandum.com/260914/p38#a260914p38

US supreme court rejects Missouri Republicans’ appeal to use
Trump-backed congressional map in the midterms
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/sep/08/new-…

US supreme court rejects Missouri Republicans’ appeal to use Trump-backed congressional map in midterms – live
Last week the state’s supreme court ruled that the map must go before voters to approve or reject new districts, meaning it cannot be used in the November election

"The secret ballot has been an article of faith in US elections. That’s being tested in Georgia" - Election Law Blog
https://electionlawblog.org/2026/the-secret-ballot-has-been-an-article-of-faith-in-us-elections-thats-being-tested-in-georgia/

The efforts at #EthnicCleansing continue, and while I see the news reports, I don't really hear much about this from my elected officals who can influence US policies that currently enable these crimes.
Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election

Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election
Growing number of farm outposts using violence to seize territory, a process seemingly enabled by radical elements in Netanyahu’s government

The efforts at #EthnicCleansing continue, and while I see the news reports, I don't really hear much about this from my elected officals who can influence US policies that currently enable these crimes.
Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election

Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election
Growing number of farm outposts using violence to seize territory, a process seemingly enabled by radical elements in Netanyahu’s government

I'm already exhausted by the Toronto politics narrative that's going to bombard us non-stop through the election: "mayoral race has tightened." I've seen no evidence whatsoever that Brad Bradford - my councillor - has any business being elected to the office he holds, much less the mayoral position. Toronto's got problems. It'd be great if we could avoid making Bradford an even bigger one.

GREATER MANCHESTER MAYORAL BY-ELECTION - Greater Manchester Mayoral By-Election
https://greatermanchester.greenparty.org.uk/?link_id=4&can_id=fa41d46fda326186a7dd2445f763d020

GREATER MANCHESTER MAYORAL BY-ELECTION - Greater Manchester Mayoral By-Election
Greater Manchester Mayoral by-election · 30 July Vote Green to stop Reform. Again. We stopped Reform in Gorton & Denton when they were the runaway favourites. Now we’re campaigning to win the Mayor of Greater Manchester. Put up a posterboard → Volunteer → Donate → Help us win this — pick a way to get […]

Justice Department to Conduct Election Monitoring in Minnesota Primary Election (US Department of Justice)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-conduct-election-monitoring-minnesota-primary-election
http://www.memeorandum.com/260811/p98#a260811p98

Trump center stage at RNC in midterms gamble
Donald Trump is due to address Republicans tonight at the party’s first ever national "midterm election" convention,
The GOP is hoping to energize voters as it fights to hold its narrow congressional majorities.
The two-day gathering takes place in Dallas, and marks a break from the longstanding tradition of holding national conventions only during presidential election years.
Trump first floated the idea for a c…

Trump center stage at RNC in midterms gamble – US politics live
President to give speeches on both days of unprecedented gathering

The front-runner for the Democratic nomination for governor of Wisconsin is State Representative Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist.
While her victory on Tuesday is assured by most accounts, where she does well — or less well — could reveal clues as to whether the socialist brand can work in a general election in a purple state
Left-wing candidates have harnessed enthusiasm and turned it into actual votes by engaging in superior messaging and organization on the ground.

What to Watch in Tuesday’s Primary Elections in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Carolina
The left and the middle continue to battle in Democratic primaries for governor in Wisconsin and Senate in Minnesota. In South Carolina, all eyes are on Darline Graham.

Any government which passes this law has ceased to be a #Labour government. It has become a #Fascist government.
Let us all hope that #Burnham will personally vote against it today.

Political campaign managers and consultants are using AI to analyze voter data, create campaign materials, and more; survey: 87% of campaigners use AI daily (Stuart A. Thompson/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29…

How A.I. Is Changing the Way Politicians Run for Office
A.I.-generated images are the public face of this election overhaul. Behind the scenes, campaigns are using the technology to analyze voter data, craft campaign materials and write custom messages.

Seems legit, what with the contract soldier call-up: "Ukrainian president also says Russia will use its parliamentary election next month as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation."
Zelenskyy says Ukraine has sent proposals to US to end war with Russia | News | Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/12/zelenskyy-says-ukraine-has-sent-proposals-to-us-to-end-war-with-russia?traffic_source=rss

#USPol #Trump #Insane
Now rumors are that Trump will make some 'deal' with Xi and China to allow Chinese EVs to be sold in the US.
Wonder what the over/under on how many times he nixes and then begs to redo it before the Nov Election
https://electrek.co/2026/09/09/slotkin-trump-chinese-evs-us-market-xi-deal/

A far-right leader who has won an important state election in Germany has
thanked Elon Musk for his support,
as voices in Europe warn the result is a serious moment for the continent.
No far-right party has led or formed a government in Germany since the defeat of nazism at the end of the second world war.
Ulrich Siegmund, the Alternative für Deutschland’s lead candidate, thanked Musk on X
after the tech billionaire said “Well done!” in German to the AfD co-fou…

First Thing: German far-right leader thanks Elon Musk after landmark election win praised by Russia
The populist, far-right, anti-immigration AfD won the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt

This is the desired outcome, and it is by design. The chaos is not a stepping stone on the way to a compromised election; it •is• the compromised election.
1/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/08/supreme-court-ruling-missouri-gop-congressional-maps

In an incoherent speech last night, Trump prepared the US public for him stealing the midterm elections in November, which his Republican party would normally lose.
https://bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k9wvv5wyo

Trump alleges 'shocking vulnerabilities' in US election security ahead of midterms
The president accuses China of meddling in the 2020 election, directly contradicting past findings from US intelligence.

A federal judge on Friday again blocked Donald Trump’s executive order
to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting,
the latest in a legal back-and-forth playing out less than two months before election day.
US district court judge Indira Talwani initially placed a temporary order blocking the president’s mandate
and has now extended that prohibition with a stronger preliminary injunction.
The ruling comes hours after North Carolina became the first state …

US judge extends block on Trump order to restrict mail-in voting
Indira Talwani’s ruling presents major setback for president as first states begin to send out mail ballots for midterms

Trump corruption hits critical levels, now against the Federal Election Commission & US elections along with:
▫️ Blocking mail-in ballots to suppress Democratic voting
▫️ Mandating for identification to vote from people too poor to have driver's licenses
▫️ Redistricting to eliminate black votes
▶️  ‘Actions of a traitor’: Trump escalates assault on voting rights as mid...

Senate Democrats Will Train Staff as Election Observers (Michael Gold/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/us/politics/senate-democrats-will-train-staff-as-election-observers.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260625/p6#a260625p6

Michigan U.S. Senate primary results
https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/michigan-primary-results-us-senate/#Dem

Michigan U.S. Senate Primary Election Live Results 2026
Live results for the August 4, 2026 Michigan U.S. Senate primary. Track election results with real-time vote counts, county-level maps and race calls from AP.

The United States Constitution puts control over elections in the hands of the states
and grants Congress the ability to pass federal election legislation.
It gives no explicit authority to the executive branch.
But in early February, Trump said he wanted the Republican-led federal government to “nationalize” or “take over” the running of elections.
“A state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” he said.
Trump had already, in March 2025, signed…

The Many Ways Trump Is Trying to Tip the Scales for the Midterms
Here’s how President Trump is using the powers of his office to try to reshape the rules governing the midterms and future elections.

Trump Claims He Asked Prosecutor to 'Do Me a Favor' and Look Into the California Election (Shawn Hubler/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/politics/trump-us-attorney-hilton-california-governor.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260624/p134#a260624p134

The Fat Loser who attempted to OVERTURN AN ELECTION on Jan 6th...
...claims he's trying to "protect the sanctity" of US elections by blocking mail-in ballots - claiming a "national security emergency".
▶️ Obama Judge slams door shut on #Trump election scam - #MeidasTouch

As Francesca Hong surged ahead in the final weeks of the chaotic Democratic primary to be Wisconsin’s next governor,
the democratic socialist has become the internet’s main character.
Donald Trump has mocked her old tweets,
while major figures in her own party publicly questioned her ability to win a general election.
The man she is vying to succeed even launched a late blitz in support of one of her rivals.
But on the ground in Wisconsin, the enthusiasm for her…

Francesca Hong, the progressive leading a ‘messy’ race for Wisconsin’s governor: ‘They’re tired of the status quo’
Hong, whose grassroots campaign has made her a frontrunner, aims for primary win after public skepticism from top Democrats and a last-minute shake-up

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson won the Democratic primary in the Volunteer State's newly redrawn 9th Congressional District on Thursday,
besting state Sen. London Lamar to advance to the general election
Pearson is expected to face Donald Trump-endorsed and favored GOP candidate State Sen. Brent Taylor
in the November general election.
The area encompassing the newly redrawn 9th District,
which sits on the state's southern border east of Memphis,…

How concerns about AI became an important midterms issue, with candidates adding AI and data center policies to their websites in ~40% of races across the US (Washington Post)

The unexpected issue dividing parties and midterms candidates
More candidates talk about artificial intelligence or data centers on their campaign websites than mention Israel or manufacturing, according to a Post analysis.

A federal judge in Boston said on Thursday the US Postal Service had told her nothing about how it would implement a plan to regulate mail ballots for the midterms
as she considers whether to let the plan proceed in the weeks before election day.
US district court judge Indira Talwani is deciding whether to extend her prohibition on the proposed regulation of mail ballots,
an effort undertaken as part of an executive order by Donald Trump.
The hearing in the closely …

Federal judge considers whether to extend ban on USPS mail ballot changes
Judge says US Postal Service has told her nothing about how it plans to regulate mail ballots for midterm elections

Trump says he asked US attorney for California election probe: 'Do me a favor' (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/trump-california-election-probe-do-me-a-favor-00972919
http://www.memeorandum.com/260624/p7#a260624p7

The Trump administration has unrolled a plan to potentially restrict voting by mail
by placing new requirements on states,
just before the election.
That plan remains frozen by the courts, at least for now.
Since the administration announced the proposal, a legal fight over the plan has made its way through the federal courts.
The legal developments have been dizzying, confusing both voters and local officials.
But the legal fight may now be coming to a…

Trump’s Mail Voting Plan Is Coming to a Head. Here’s What to Know.
The administration’s plan to screen mail-in ballots remains blocked as the Supreme Court considers challenges to new U.S. Postal Service ballot rules.

US Rep. Julia Letlow, endorsed by Trump, wins the GOP primary for Senate in Louisiana (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-senate-election-letlow-fleming-96d33228504ee6bde5c38b208fecfdc3
http://www.memeorandum.com/260627/p51#a260627p51

In addition to all the other arguments we are making in these final two months before the midterm election #we need to be up front and open about the Republican's outrageous cheating and manipulation
-- for it will both help us win
and prepare the electorate for all the fuckery to come.
Their cheating is a manifestation of their oligarchical betrayal
and disdain for our democracy, …

We Need To Turn Their Furious, Desperate Cheating Into Righteous Anger And Make A Big Blue Wave
People will start voting in North Carolina this week, early in person voting kicks off in thirteen days - the General Election is here everyone! Make your early vote plan today!

Trump Feuds With Thune and G.O.P., Stoking Election-Year Rift (Carl Hulse/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/us/politics/trump-thune-republicans-election-year-rift.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260617/p125#a260617p125

A series of moves by Donald Trump’s administration to sow doubt in the integrity of US elections have intensified concern among voting experts
– and sparked hope among election deniers
– that it could declare a 🆘 national emergency.
The White House and US federal agencies have released a string of documents this summer
– including disputed analyses of alleged voting by noncitzens and historical intelligence memos
– stoking expectations that the US president coul…

Trump’s continued distrust in election integrity has experts eyeing his next move
President’s speech, declassification of documents and heightened claims of noncitizen voting have experts concerned

American fact-checking organizations are joining forces ahead of the 2026 midterm elections
in a major collaboration:
a joint newsletter that shares findings with media professionals, content creators and election observers.
The newsletter will highlight common findings and identify election-year information trends across the United States.
Election-year collaborations among fact-checkers have long been common internationally, including in France, Brazil and Nigeria. …

US fact-checkers launch collaboration debunking deceptive 2026 midterm ads and election disinformation - Poynter
From person-to-person coaching and intensive hands-on seminars to interactive online courses and media reporting, Poynter helps journalists sharpen skills and elevate storytelling throughout their careers.

Bill Pulte Picks G.O.P. Election Operative for Spy Agency Job (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/pulte-spy-agency-christina-norton.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260626/p105#a260626p105

[Gift Article]
At first glance, the Trump administration’s deployment of more than 200 F.B.I. analysts to Georgia this week seems to be another stubborn assault on a fact that has refused to budge:
Despite the president’s baseless claims, no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election has ever surfaced there.

But critics contend that it is just one piece of a broader effort to sow doubt about the electoral process itself
and the integrity of elections to come.
And no matt…

Trump Targets Not Just Georgia’s Vote, but Also Trust in Elections
The president has sent 260 F.B.I. analysts to Georgia, repeating his baseless claims of fraud in 2020. But critics say the intention is to undermine overall confidence in the electoral process.

Harvard- and Yale-educated
Vivek Ramaswamy, whose parents immigrated from Kerala before he was born in Cincinnati in 1985,
received Donald Trump’s much-coveted endorsement for Ohio governor in February 2025
– nearly two years before the election
– to the shock of many in Ohio’s Republican establishment circles.
Having secured Trump’s endorsement, Ramaswamy then met little opposition in the Republican primary election last May, winning 82% of the vote.
But …

Can Vivek Ramaswamy count on Ohio’s Indian Americans as he struggles to connect with voters?
Ohioans of Indian heritage will see one of their own take center stage in race for governor, but their support amid a rocky campaign is not a guarantee

The US Postal Service (USPS) said on Thursday ‌that ‌
new ‌requirements for mail-in ‌voting are now ⁠in effect
as Donald Trump seeks to crack down on the practice.
The move is expected to trigger a new round of legal challenges.
The Trump administration has sought to impose new rules requiring state election leaders to submit their voter rolls for inspection
as part of a broader bid to increase federal government oversight over voting and elections.
The pos…

US Postal Service says new mail ballot rules tied to Trump order are in effect
Move from USPS comes amid Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting in November’s midterms

After months of resistance, the Democratic National Committee finally relented this May and published a draft of its "autopsy" of what had gone wrong in the 2024 election,
saying it was releasing the unfinished document “in its entirety” in the interest of transparency.
But, according to Paul Rivera, the man who wrote the autopsy, the draft omitted a chapter titled
“What Happened in 2024,”
which he said he had printed out and placed in a three-ring binder th…

Author of Democrats’ 2024 Autopsy Says Party Left Out Key Chapter
A dispute over the chapter between the author and the Democratic National Committee has added to the party’s turmoil as it tries to look forward, not backward.

A Florida lawyer who describes himself as Donald Trump’s boyhood “best friend”
is pushing the president to declare a national emergency
to enable him to take control of November’s midterms, according to a report.
Peter Ticktin, 80, is a long-time believer in the claim that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump by a vast voter fraud conspiracy
told CNN in a new interview that the threat remains real

Trump’s childhood pal is pushing him to declare national emergency and seize control of midterms: report
Lawyer Peter Ticktin claims Democrats are conspiring to steal November’s vote, this time with a view to removing Trump and JD Vance from power and installing Hakeem Jeffries in their place

All across America, the midterm elections are drowning in dark money.
A New York Times review of advertising data, campaign-finance filings and tax records
revealed that about $1 billion in anonymous money is sloshing through the political landscape in 2026,
a staggering sum and yet almost certainly a low-end estimate,
given how difficult this money is to trace.

‘The Least Transparent Midterm’: How Dark Money Is Washing Over the 2026 Election
At least $1 billion from anonymous donors is flowing into the midterm elections. Dark money is not new, but it now permeates nearly every major contest.

‘The biggest threat is the president’
Election fears in Arizona as Trump sows fresh doubts
Experts warn election denialism could bubble up again in November,
despite truce in bitter power struggle
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/j

‘The biggest threat is the president’: election fears in Arizona as Trump sows fresh doubts
Experts warn election denialism could bubble up again in November, despite truce in bitter power struggle

Judge Quashes Justice Dept. Subpoena in 2020 Election Inquiry (Alan Feuer/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/us/politics/2020-election-inquiry-trump-georgia.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260707/p131#a260707p131

The Trump administration is waging war on voting rights using justice department lawsuits,
FBI investigations,
and an executive order to limit voting by mail,
-- moves mirroring the US president’s false claims he lost the 2020 election due to voting fraud, say election experts and ex-officials.
🔥Since Donald Trump began his second term, numerous 2020 election denialists have been installed in key agencies such as the DoJ, the FBI and elsewhere to pursue widely discred…

The US Senate voted to confirm Jay Clayton as the director of national intelligence on Tuesday,
giving Trump another key ally directing the nation’s intelligence apparatus.
The tally, 51-47, fell along party lines, with all Republicans supporting his nomination and all Democrats opposing it.
Clayton, currently the US attorney for the southern district of New York, will replace Bill Pulte,
a staunch Trump loyalist who had been temporarily serving in the role since June…

Senate confirms Trump ally Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence
At confirmation hearing, Clayton sidestepped questions about 2020 election and declined to say Trump lost

Trump’s legal and rhetorical assault on voting by mail
— and the flurry of contradictory court decisions around it
— has left voters confused and local officials scrambling just eight weeks before November’s critical midterm elections.
The contortions have county registrars dusting off Election Day contingency plans developed for natural disasters like floods and wildfires.
They have struggled to make it through planning meetings before the latest version of the rules…

Trump’s War on Mail-In Ballots Has Voters Baffled. That May Be the Point.
From Oregon to Florida, officials are at once reassuring voters that their ballots are safe and encouraging them to use drop boxes or vote in person.

Hillary Clinton Says Biden's Re-election Bid Was a 'Terrible Mistake' (Tim Balk/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/16/us/politics/clinton-biden-reelection-terrible-mistake.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260616/p137#a260616p137

Hear from #SanLuisObispo County Clerk-Recorder, Elaina Cano,
about how checks and balances protect your vote.
Take this opportunity to ask questions.
Following the presentation,
stay to write Get Out the Vote Postcards to Swing States
h…

Behind the Ballot - how election integrity really works · Indivisible
Indivisible San Luis Obispo County is hosting a speaker event. Hear from the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder, Elaina Cano, who will tell us about how the checks and balances work to protect your vote. Take this opportunity to ask questions. Following the presentation, stay to write Get Out the Vote Postcards to Swing States. *A core principle behind all Indivisible events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontatio…

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Sign-up For Democracy Action Network / Indivisible LA · Indivisible
The Democracy Action Network (DAN) was founded in November 2024 by David Comfort in response to the re-election of Donald Trump. Emerging as a grassroots organization dedicated to defending democratic institutions, promoting civic engagement, and fostering inclusive democracy, DAN has quickly become a prominent force in the pro-democracy movement. With a nonpartisan ethos and a commitment to nonviolent resistance, DAN seeks to address threats to constitutional governance while building a broad-…

Donald Trump has decreed that Republicans will stage their first ever national convention ahead of the midterm elections
-- a move aimed at energizing voters as the party fights to hold its narrow congressional majorities in November.
The two-day gathering will take place in Dallas on 9 and 10 September,
marking a break from the longstanding tradition of holding national conventions only during presidential election years.
Trump confirmed the plans on Tuesday in a Tru…

‘Historic Event’: Trump announces Republican midterm convention
President unveils plans for Dallas summit, in break with tradition of conventions only in presidential election years

First Thing: German far-right leader thanks Elon Musk after landmark election win praised by Russia (Martin Belam/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/07/first-thing-elon-musk-german-far-right-afd-election-win-russia
http://www.memeorandum.com/260907/p18#a260907p18

Trump is trying to use the levers of the federal government,
along with personal influence over state and local lawmakers,
to reshape the rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections in extraordinary ways.
Many of these efforts have been blocked by courts, stymied by the Constitution or stopped in Congress.
But the relentless assault by the president on the electoral process
— both administratively and rhetorically
— is likely to sow doubt

The Many Ways Trump Is Trying to Tip the Scales for the Midterms
Here’s how President Trump is using the powers of his office to try to reshape the rules governing the midterms and future elections.

Those seeking to join Trump’s second administration had to pass a key litmus test:
Did they believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump?
With like-minded allies now positioned in key roles throughout the government,
Trump has trained the full arsenal of the federal government on one of his most persistent obsessions:
sowing doubt about the security of the country’s election systems.
Major agencies such as the Justice Department, the F.B.I., the Homeland Secu…

Trump Brings Full Weight of Government to Bolster False Election Claims
Intelligence agencies provided the White House with a trove of declassified documents that President Trump cited on Thursday as evidence of election vulnerabilities.

In a matter of weeks, Francesca Hong, an unlikely candidate for governor in one of the country’s most heated battleground states, will test a message that is at once radical and, to many, incredibly practical:
👉the government should help pay for childcare.
“When we talk about free childcare, you can connect to folks whether it’s on an economic argument or just purely that it’s the right thing to do for our kids,” said Hong,
a democratic socialist running in Wisconsin’s Demo…

How free childcare started winning US elections: ‘Overnight, people realized how essential it was’
Francesca Hong, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, is part of a wave of democratic socialists finding traction with an old idea

A Growing Number of Election Deniers Hold Key Local Roles in Midterms (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/us/politics/a-growing-number-of-election-deniers-hold-key-local-roles-in-midterms.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260806/p15#a260806p15

When John Sayles, then a student at Williams College taking time off from his summer factory job,
was hitchhiking during the summer of 1970 in West Virginia,
it was often coalminers who picked him off the main interstate highways.
At the time, miners were amid the wake of a contentious union election within the United Mine Workers of America.
Fierce tensions had led to the murder of the union reform candidate Joseph Yablonskiand his wife in December 1969.
Miner…

‘A reminder of why we have unions’: Matewan writer and director on the film’s lessons for the labor movement
John Sayles’s 1987 film, which dramatizes a 1920 labor conflict, shows how class solidarity can overcome prejudice

Democrats are targeting vulnerable seats this midterm election with working-class candidates they hope will resonate with voters exhausted by the economy.
Some candidates are new to politics,
and many have backgrounds as union members and leaders,
which the party hopes will give them an edge over Republican incumbents
as people have grown weary of Washington and the higher cost of living.
One of these new candidates is Mitchell Berman,
an emergency room nu…

Working-class ER nurse seeks to flip battleground Wisconsin House seat
Mitchell Berman is among Democrats the party hopes can flip a Republican-leaning district in November’s midterms

US Sends Election Monitors to Four Michigan Cities for Primary (Myles Miller/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-04/us-sends-election-monitors-to-four-michigan-cities-for-primary
http://www.memeorandum.com/260804/p56#a260804p56

Democrats have accused the US House of Representatives judiciary committee of a
“baseless” and “vindictive” attack on former special prosecutor Jack Smith
after it referred him for criminal prosecution for allegedly lying to Congress over his investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Committee chair Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote to acting US attorney general Todd Blanche on Wednesday night,
asserting Smith “made willfully and int…

Republican-controlled committee refers former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith for criminal investigation
Committee accused of trying to ‘weaponize’ justice system via ‘laughably weak and vindictive criminal referral’

“It’s war.”
That’s how one Canadian journalist described overnight developments between the governments of the US and Canada
after trade talks between the two were suspended on Friday night
without a deal in place to avoid the imposition of 50% tariffs threatened by Trump on a wide swath of Canadian goods.
Both nations accused the other of scuttling the deal,
with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney citing “last-minute changes” by the Trump administration
an…

'It's War': Trump's 50% Tariffs Take Hold After US-Canada Trade Talks Collapse | Common Dreams
"Trump is going to be hitting American consumers with a new round of tax hikes just over two months before the election," said one economist.

Democrats have slammed Donald Trump’s Thursday night speech
where he repeated conspiracies and unfounded claims that both the 2020 election was stolen,
and the current state of election integrity is compromised.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said the address was
a “pathetic attempt” by the president to cast doubt on the fact that he lost the 2020 election.
The Senate minority leader said that Trump is evading discussing contentious policy issues,

DHS chief threatens states that refuse Trump’s election demands after president’s widely condemned speech – live
Markwayne Mullin follows up on president’s unproven claims as Democrats accuse Trump of ‘working to rig the midterms’ in advance

Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the southern district of New York,
refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election during his Wednesday confirmation hearing to become the country’s next intelligence chief.
Clayton opted instead to say that Biden was “certified” as president.
Clayton also skirted questions about his previous election integrity claims and whether or not a White House official asked him to subpoena a group of New York Times journalists as part of an alleg…

Trump intelligence pick Jay Clayton refuses to say Biden won 2020 election
Clayton, if confirmed, would replace Bill Pulte, and is facing senators for confirmation as the US’s top spy

Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the justice department’s civil rights section,
told Bloomberg Newsof the plan to send out 1,000 election monitors earlier this week,
which she claimed was “probably going to be a historic number for a Republican administration”.
“This DoJ has amply earned the public’s distrust,
but this announcement isn’t reason to freak out,”
said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who has worked on voting rights issues at …

Voting rights experts skeptical over Trump pledge of 1,000 election monitors
Department of Justice plan raises questions over its ability to recruit so many people – and what they would do

Not another Trump sycophant': Democrats lambast Trump's nomination of Overton for FDA chief
And we’re already getting some sense from senators of how that might go. Democrat Patty Murray, of Washington, who sits on the Senate health committee, shared this on X:
Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA.
The American people deserve someone who will put science and facts FIRST,
not another Trump sycophant who will …

‘Not another Trump sycophant’: Democrats blast Trump’s nomination of Heidi Overton for FDA chief – live
The abortion opponent stood next to the president as he made false claims about vaccines last week

Primary elections are taking place in Oklahoma today and a closely watched run-off is underway in Georgia,
as Donald Trump’s iron grip on the Republican party faces its next test.
In Washington DC - a Democratic stronghold - voters are also selecting a candidate for the party ahead of November’s mayoral election.
Oklahoma will hold races to help decide US senate and gubernatorial candidates.
Ahead of November’s midterms, Trump has given his early backing to Kevin Hern…

Incumbent Dan S Sullivan, the US senator,
advanced in Alaska’s non-partisan primary race for his seat on Tuesday
alongside Mary Peltola, a former Democratic congresswoman.
The Associated Press reported that Sullivan and Peltola had qualified for November’s general election.
https://marypeltola.com/2026/

Trump is dangerous twice over:
in what he does
and what he tells us to fear while doing it.
Factcheckers agreed he proved nothing.
Failing as evidence, his address succeeded as permission
– for federal intervention already under way in Fulton county.
In his speech, Trump assembled old intelligence, vulnerabilities and lies
into a conspiracy:
220 million US voter records in Chinese hands,
“extremely exposed” voting machines,
278,000 s…

Trump is invoking foreign election interference to justify his own
The president no longer treats the people who defeated him as voters. He treats them as suspects

Democrats and voting rights groups say Donald Trump’s primetime speech
making unverified claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election
is the clearest sign yet that the president is laying the groundwork to tamper with the results of November’s midterms.
The upcoming elections to decide the balance of power in Congress and many state legislatures
will be a major test of Trump’s appeal to voters two years after he resoundingly beat the Democratic candidate Kamala…

Trump speech lays groundwork for him to tamper with midterm results, critics warn
Democrats and advocates sound alarm at Trump rehashing false claims about 2020 election in his primetime address

Mullin threatens states that refuse Trump's election demands
Mullin also repeated his threat of withholding Federal Emergency Management Agency grant funding to states that don’t work to “secure” elections.
“If they’re not willing to do it, it should raise serious questions.
It’s not that hard. This isn’t a partisan issue,”
the homeland security secretary said.
This also comes after the Trump justice department sent letters to election officials in every sta…

DHS chief threatens states that refuse Trump’s election demands after president’s widely condemned speech – live
Markwayne Mullin follows up on president’s unproven claims as Democrats accuse Trump of ‘working to rig the midterms’ in advance

Documents Trump released to support his claims — and previous assessments from the intelligence community — do not back up his most aggressive statements about election security.
In fact, some of the documents reach the opposite conclusion.
They also do not contain significant new revelations about vulnerabilities in election systems.
One of the documents posted on the White House website was blunt:
“We assess that vote tabulation systems would be difficult to manipu…

Takeaways From Trump’s Speech Claiming Election Vulnerabilities and China Interference
Documents released by the Trump administration to support the president’s claims did not back up his most aggressive statements.

The audience for pro-Trump content has fallen from its heights and,
for some creators, has reached new lows.
Views are dropping for many of Trump’s greatest allies, while some figures on the right who have taken to criticizing Trump are showing uneven gains.
The shifts complicate messaging this year for Republican candidates, who have for years relied on a united front of content creators to rile up Republicans and guide them to the polls each election cycle.

How the Pro-Trump Media Ecosystem Is Splintering Ahead of the Midterms
Once united in support of President Trump, right-wing influencers are embroiled in feuds and losing viewers, creating a problem for Republicans in the midterm elections.

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico
is pushing for one of Texas’ most important swing counties to
drop plans to close nearly a third of its polling places before November’s midterms.
Amid public outcry, the Commissioners Court for Tarrant County
— which contains Fort Worth and borders Dallas
— plans to hold a vote on Tuesday on whether to shutter 92 of the polling places used in the 2022 election,
many of which serve the city’s poorer and minori…

Talarico Protests as Texas Swing County Plans to Close 92 Polling Places | Common Dreams
​“The most powerful people in this county, the most powerful people in this country, don’t want us to be able to vote easily."

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a stopgap measure to head off a government shutdown until early December,
with its Republican leaders seeking to defuse a volatile issue in the run-up to the November midterm elections.
The continuing resolution authorizing government spending until 4 December passed by a vote of 220-205,
roughly along party lines.
It next heads to the Senate, where it will need to win bipartisan support to clear the chamber.
T…

House passes spending bill to head off government shutdown before midterms
Measure authorizes spending until 4 December as Republicans seek to avoid volatile issue in election season

A naval aircraft carrier under construction was slated to bear the name of a black enlisted sailor, the first for an African-American.
Now the Navy is planning to replace Doris (Dorie) Miller’s name on the ship, with that of president Donald Trump, CNN reports.
No carrier in the US Navy has ever been named for a sitting president.
The citation awarding Doris Miller the Navy Cross from his actions at Pearl Harbor reads:
While at the side of his Captain on the bridge o…

‘Shouldn’t be renamed at all’: senator attacks Navy’s reported consideration of honoring Trump instead of Black war hero – live
Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and retired Navy officer, slams Navy’s mulling of naming a carrier for Trump instead of WWII hero Doris Miller

From the outside, the city of Avenal appears to embody every bit of its motto
– an “oasis in the sun”.
Approaching the community, passing through the dusty yellow hillsides of the Central Valley,
Avenal emerges with a sudden burst of green on the horizon.
Its small-town feel and quiet tree-lined streets offer respite from the bustling Interstate 5 some five miles away. But trouble is brewing here that has brought this lonesome city national attention.
🔸In April,…

This California town booted out its leaders – what happens if they refuse to leave?
Avenal has been rocked by the council’s refusal to accept the results of a recall election – and the repercussions extend far beyond the Central Valley

Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday
as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries,
while voters in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina cast ballots in primaries and runoffs.
Brad Lander, the former New YorkCity comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably,
defeating the Democratic represen…

Trump’s endorsement has appeared to be a golden ticket in some Republican primaries
-- but it has come up short in others.
This month, Republican primary voters rejected his choices in governor’s races in Iowa and Georgia.
And Trump shifted to what many saw as a face-saving dual endorsement in South Carolina.
In an interview, challenger Fleming contended that the dynamic in the Louisiana Republican primary race had “completely changed” in the runoff,
adding th…

What to Watch in Louisiana’s Republican Senate Runoff
Saturday’s election will be the latest test of President Trump’s influence in G.O.P. contests.

Trump may be trying to wind down his conflict with Iran,
but he is escalating his war with Senate Republicans.
Trump blindsided his supposed allies in the Senate on Wednesday with a rocket of a social media post from across the Atlantic,
tying together a host of his pet peeves about the Senate while yanking his new nominee for national intelligence director from his confirmation hearing just hours before it was to occur.
It was an extraordinary move from a president w…

Trump Feuds With Thune and G.O.P., Stoking Election-Year Rift
The president upended the majority leader’s plans by yanking his intelligence nominee from a confirmation hearing and insisting on an end to the filibuster.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine said in a new interview that she did not “regret” her vote to confirm Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018
but was “disappointed” that he later helped overturn the constitutional right to an abortion.
“I do not regret that vote,” Ms. Collins, widely seen as the most vulnerable Republican senator up for re-election this year,
said when asked about the episode by News Center Maine.
“I do disagree with Justice Kavanaugh’s…

Susan Collins Laments Roe’s Fall but Doesn’t ‘Regret’ Confirming Kavanaugh
Ms. Collins, a Republican in Maine facing a tough re-election battle, defended her vote to confirm Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh as Democrats look to capitalize on it politically.

The New Canadian Tariffs
take aim at big industries,
like aluminum and steel,
in addition to smaller ones located in states with closely watched midterm elections
The Canadian tariffs were designed to protect domestic companies hit by a fresh set of hefty U.S. tariffs
and to sting Donald Trump and his Republican Party
as they head into a difficult midterm election in November

House Adopts $95 Billion G.O.P. Budget for Iran War
Republican leaders muscled through resistance in their own ranks to approve the budget blueprint for the war and other measures,
but its prospects are far dimmer in the Senate
House Republicans on Wednesday won narrow approval of their $95 billion budget plan to fund the war with Iran
and impose new election restrictions that Trump has demanded,
muscling through dissent in their ranks to send the measure to a …

House Adopts $95 Billion G.O.P. Budget for Iran War
Republican leaders muscled through resistance in their own ranks to approve the budget blueprint for the war and other measures, but its prospects were far dimmer in the Senate.

In 2022, a group of prominent conservative legal experts
—including former federal judges, Republican election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg, former Solicitor General Ted Olson and ex-U.S. Senators John Danforth and Gordon Smith
—released a report titled
"Lost, Not Stolen", concluding that
“Joe Biden was the choice of a majority of the Electors”
and that there was “absolutely no evidence of fraud” sufficient to alter the results.
Independent reviews, …

Republicans in the Georgia State Legislature, facing mounting anger from Black leaders,
scuttled plans to take up redistricting on Wednesday during a special session that had been called expressly to erase U.S. House seats in majority-Black districts.
Gov. Brian Kemp called the session to draw legislative maps before the 2028 election with the aim of creating boundaries more favorable to Republicans.
Georgia was to be the latest Southern state to consider redistricting afte…

Georgia Republicans Shelve Redistricting Amid Mounting Protests
The leaders of the Georgia legislature pulled the plug on gerrymandering away U.S. House seats held by Black Democrats just hours before a special session was to begin.