File the date. May 2026. Six months before a midterm election in which the president’s party has lost seats in thirty-eight of the last forty-two cycles. In which the generic ballot shows Democrats up nearly six points. In which Trump’s approval sits below forty percent.
Note which party is not running a campaign.
They are running something else. Note the sequence. The Supreme Court removes the Voting Rights Act’s core protection for majority-minority districts in Louisiana v. Callais. Within days, Trump urges states to redraw maps — including states where voting has already begun. Louisiana cancels its primaries to buy time for a new gerrymander. Florida convenes a special session. Mississippi signals it will follow.
Note what this is not. It is not a response to voter demand. It is not a policy correction. It is not an attempt to persuade.
Note what it is. It is the drawing of an enclosure.
The SAVE Act requires proof of citizenship to register. The August runoff ballot in several states excludes most Democrats and all independents by design. ICE agents at polling locations — endorsed by the acting attorney general at CPAC — have been shown to reduce minority turnout by measurable margins. Texas added three congressional districts over seventy percent Latino, then deployed enforcement mechanisms that suppress Latino participation.
These are not separate initiatives. Note which direction they all point.
Jack is correct that they are not trying to win 2026. Winning implies a contest. What is being built here is not a path to victory. It is a structure in which the outcome is decided before the votes are cast.
File this distinction. Autocracies do not ban elections. They make elections into ceremonies. The question of whether the 2026 midterms are a real contest or a managed performance will not be answered on Election Day. It is being answered now, in special sessions and redistricting chambers and Justice Department press conferences about who gets to stand near a polling place.
Note which question is not being asked loudly enough.
Note when you started reading about this. Note what you did next.
They make elections into ceremonies." That is the sentence. That's the whole argument compressed into ten words.
Note when you started reading about this. Note what you did next. That's the close of the essay I should have written. Grateful you're here, Jane...and grateful this comment exists in public where other people can find it!
James...the Orbán comparison is the RIGHT one....and almost nobody in American political coverage is making it.
Twelve years of "unbeatable" autocratic machinery...gerrymandered districts...captured courts...controlled media...and then Péter Magyar shows up...and the WHOLE thing starts cracking in real time.
Tsunamis don't announce themselves. They just ARRIVE. Keep smiling!
I live in Ohio. Are the "to do" items you lifted to combat Republican perfidy the only actions for Democrats to take. I am hearing lots of my fellow Democrats wanting to fight back through retaliatory gerrymandering? What are your ideas about that tactic?
I'm lucky I live in Oregon, we've had Mail-In Voting for twenty years. I just hope Everyone gets registered and Votes Blue 💙❗ Thanks, Jack, your doing a Great service here, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Karen...Oregon got it right twenty years ago and the rest of the country is still catching up!
Universal vote-by-mail...automatic registration...paper ballot trail...it's the GOLD standard...and...it's exactly the model the people in this article are working overtime to prevent everywhere else.
Thank you for the restack and thank you for being a subscriber.
Readers like YOU are the only reason this work travels!
Jack, I’ve checked our registration…and will again several times before the election. We have voted by mail, and always mailed early, for over 20 years now…AND we receive an email/text from the Secretary of State when are ballots are received and then again when they’ve been counted. Besides the things you’ve mentioned I expect even more chaos thrown our way, I would not put it past this regime to try and suspend the election all together….it is looking grim for them and the entire Republican party come election day…he can’t lose, the stakes are too high for him IF/WHEN he loses…plus Donald Trump cheats, always has, always will…he even cheats at golf!
Christie...you are doing exactly what every American voter ought to be doing...and the fact that your state lets you track your ballot from mailbox to count...is the kind of system EVERY state could have....if it WANTED one.
Some of them just don't want one.
Your suspicion about further chaos is not paranoia. Election lawyers across the country are gaming out exactly that...emergency declarations...delayed certifications... "irregularities" invented in real time to justify intervention.
NONE of it requires actually canceling an election. It just requires ENOUGH CHAOS... to make the result CONTESTABLE.
And...yes...a man who cheats at golf...when nobody's even watching...is NOT a man who plays fair when the stakes are this high. You've got him pegged.
I am OVER that despicable criminal who is squatting in the White House, and even MORE frustrated with the Congress whose job it is to rein in an unqualified, incompetent president. It’s hard to win against cheaters and that’s how I see the Republican Party right now. They’re not interested in freedom. They’re interested in controlling everyone and turning us into drones, working to maintain their wealth, comfort and power. I’ll go down fighting them with my last breath in order to leave my family an improved situation. Creeps and criminals are running the country
Lynn...this is exactly the energy this moment needs.
You nailed something most people are still tiptoeing around: a Congress that won't do its constitutional job...is just as much the problem as the man it refuses to check.
They were built to be the brake. They've decided to be the GAS PEDAL.
The "going down fighting for my family" part hit me.
That's the ONLY frame that actually works right now.
Not abstract civics...YOUR people...YOUR patch of ground...YOUR last breath.
Thank you for being here...and...thank you for paying for this work. It matters more than you know!
Jack, I don’t think anyone who’s truly paying attention doubts any of this. Of course they know they can’t win a fair election. They have no choice but to stop us from winning.
Nothing you wrote surprised me. I’ve been watching this carefully for quite a while so… I’m more than concerned..
I live in North Carolina so you know what I’m up against. My district is still very red but it’s changing around me even though all the adjacent counties are rural. People are hurting financially.. out of work.. scared.. losing or lost healthcare.. and that makes a big difference.
Before I commented I forwarded this to 5 people with personal comments. They’ll all do this and some will forward it to others. I’ll try to think of more people I can send it to. My circle is pretty small these days.
I’ve been watching social media lately and people are confident that we’ll win big.. far too confident. They’re missing things or just don’t understand. I try to educate when I can but they see it as pessimism rather than realism. They think big numbers will save us. I’m not even sure we’ll get those numbers and even if we do we could obviously still lose.
I’ll be honest, you’ve written some concerning things of late because that’s just what’s been happening but this is terrifying. I’ll do everything I can.
Susan...this is the kind of comment that reminds me there are real people on the other side of this work.
Thank you!
North Carolina is one of the key states in the ENTIRE 2026 calculation.
The redraw there wasn't done because Republicans are confident...it was done because they're SCARED.
They've watched the same shift you're describing: rural communities losing jobs...losing clinics...losing patience with politicians who promised them everything...and delivered NOTHING.
The new map...is an attempt to lock in a result BEFORE that frustration hits the ballot box.Your instinct on the over-confidence problem is right...and I wish more people in our orbit were saying it out loud.
The crowd insisting "we'll win big" is making it harder to do the unglamorous work...that actually wins elections.
Realism...is NOT pessimism. Realism is the only HONEST way to fight this.
People who confuse the two...are going to be VERY surprised in November.
You forwarded this to five people with personal notes...BEFORE you even commented.
That is exactly the work. That's it. That's the assignment.
Most readers will not do what you did. You did it...WITHOUT being asked twice.
Thank you, Jack. Being here keeps me sane, grounded and pushing on. I’m not sure what I’d do without you and this community. Pretty sure I’d be lost and frightened not knowing which way to turn. It means a lot knowing I can get straight answers and advice. I appreciate you more than I can express.
My fervent hope is this whole thing backfires in a big way. Many of the redraws have been based on 2024 voting patterns. T has pissed off so many younger voters that I’m hoping there is a big blue wave where they thought they would get more seats.
That said, we still have to do all the things. Literally nothing can be taken for granted.
I am in a purple swing state and we quite recently enshrined a citizen redistricting committee in our Constitution. I have heard no rumblings of an attempt to do as CA did. I will be doing my best to see the maga incumbent in my district lose his job come fall….. 86 Bill!!
Deb...you just made the point most political analysts are too cautious to make: these maps are built on 2024 turnout...and 2024 turnout is NOT coming back.
Trump has spent the last year personally radicalizing the exact demographic...younger voters...especially younger men...that sat out the last election.
The redraws assumed those voters would stay home. They WON'T.
Your state did the smart thing locking in a citizen commission...while it could.
Jack, thank you. I do not trust them one iota. How I hope their foils are foiled and our finest efforts are rewarded with honest wins carried out to fruition for our freedom saved future!
If you scroll past the fill-in form on that page, it has links for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for checking your registration directly, without getting yourself on Vote.Org's mailing lists.
Power to the People! Remember, Check, Check, Check, Vote! Tell five people! Rinse & Repeat.
#HoldFast
Robert...YES, YES, YES!
#HoldFast
-Jack
Jack is correct.
File the date. May 2026. Six months before a midterm election in which the president’s party has lost seats in thirty-eight of the last forty-two cycles. In which the generic ballot shows Democrats up nearly six points. In which Trump’s approval sits below forty percent.
Note which party is not running a campaign.
They are running something else. Note the sequence. The Supreme Court removes the Voting Rights Act’s core protection for majority-minority districts in Louisiana v. Callais. Within days, Trump urges states to redraw maps — including states where voting has already begun. Louisiana cancels its primaries to buy time for a new gerrymander. Florida convenes a special session. Mississippi signals it will follow.
Note what this is not. It is not a response to voter demand. It is not a policy correction. It is not an attempt to persuade.
Note what it is. It is the drawing of an enclosure.
The SAVE Act requires proof of citizenship to register. The August runoff ballot in several states excludes most Democrats and all independents by design. ICE agents at polling locations — endorsed by the acting attorney general at CPAC — have been shown to reduce minority turnout by measurable margins. Texas added three congressional districts over seventy percent Latino, then deployed enforcement mechanisms that suppress Latino participation.
These are not separate initiatives. Note which direction they all point.
Jack is correct that they are not trying to win 2026. Winning implies a contest. What is being built here is not a path to victory. It is a structure in which the outcome is decided before the votes are cast.
File this distinction. Autocracies do not ban elections. They make elections into ceremonies. The question of whether the 2026 midterms are a real contest or a managed performance will not be answered on Election Day. It is being answered now, in special sessions and redistricting chambers and Justice Department press conferences about who gets to stand near a polling place.
Note which question is not being asked loudly enough.
Note when you started reading about this. Note what you did next.
#HOLDFAST
Jane..."Autocracies do not ban elections.
They make elections into ceremonies." That is the sentence. That's the whole argument compressed into ten words.
Note when you started reading about this. Note what you did next. That's the close of the essay I should have written. Grateful you're here, Jane...and grateful this comment exists in public where other people can find it!
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
ABSOLUTELY correct ..HKJANE!!
Right on the money Jack; we just keep building a Tsunami...just like happened to Orban...makes me smile just thinkin bout it...
James...the Orbán comparison is the RIGHT one....and almost nobody in American political coverage is making it.
Twelve years of "unbeatable" autocratic machinery...gerrymandered districts...captured courts...controlled media...and then Péter Magyar shows up...and the WHOLE thing starts cracking in real time.
Tsunamis don't announce themselves. They just ARRIVE. Keep smiling!
-Jack
I live in Ohio. Are the "to do" items you lifted to combat Republican perfidy the only actions for Democrats to take. I am hearing lots of my fellow Democrats wanting to fight back through retaliatory gerrymandering? What are your ideas about that tactic?
I'm lucky I live in Oregon, we've had Mail-In Voting for twenty years. I just hope Everyone gets registered and Votes Blue 💙❗ Thanks, Jack, your doing a Great service here, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Karen...Oregon got it right twenty years ago and the rest of the country is still catching up!
Universal vote-by-mail...automatic registration...paper ballot trail...it's the GOLD standard...and...it's exactly the model the people in this article are working overtime to prevent everywhere else.
Thank you for the restack and thank you for being a subscriber.
Readers like YOU are the only reason this work travels!
-Jack
Jack, I’ve checked our registration…and will again several times before the election. We have voted by mail, and always mailed early, for over 20 years now…AND we receive an email/text from the Secretary of State when are ballots are received and then again when they’ve been counted. Besides the things you’ve mentioned I expect even more chaos thrown our way, I would not put it past this regime to try and suspend the election all together….it is looking grim for them and the entire Republican party come election day…he can’t lose, the stakes are too high for him IF/WHEN he loses…plus Donald Trump cheats, always has, always will…he even cheats at golf!
Christie...you are doing exactly what every American voter ought to be doing...and the fact that your state lets you track your ballot from mailbox to count...is the kind of system EVERY state could have....if it WANTED one.
Some of them just don't want one.
Your suspicion about further chaos is not paranoia. Election lawyers across the country are gaming out exactly that...emergency declarations...delayed certifications... "irregularities" invented in real time to justify intervention.
NONE of it requires actually canceling an election. It just requires ENOUGH CHAOS... to make the result CONTESTABLE.
And...yes...a man who cheats at golf...when nobody's even watching...is NOT a man who plays fair when the stakes are this high. You've got him pegged.
Keep doing what you're doing!
-Jack
I am OVER that despicable criminal who is squatting in the White House, and even MORE frustrated with the Congress whose job it is to rein in an unqualified, incompetent president. It’s hard to win against cheaters and that’s how I see the Republican Party right now. They’re not interested in freedom. They’re interested in controlling everyone and turning us into drones, working to maintain their wealth, comfort and power. I’ll go down fighting them with my last breath in order to leave my family an improved situation. Creeps and criminals are running the country
Lynn...this is exactly the energy this moment needs.
You nailed something most people are still tiptoeing around: a Congress that won't do its constitutional job...is just as much the problem as the man it refuses to check.
They were built to be the brake. They've decided to be the GAS PEDAL.
The "going down fighting for my family" part hit me.
That's the ONLY frame that actually works right now.
Not abstract civics...YOUR people...YOUR patch of ground...YOUR last breath.
Thank you for being here...and...thank you for paying for this work. It matters more than you know!
-Jack
WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED!!
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!!
WE SHALL and MUST OVERCOME!!
#HOLDFAST!!
Sky Blue..."We are not intimidated."
Print that on a sign. Put it on a shirt. That's the WHOLE movement in one sentence.
They are counting on intimidation doing the work...their arguments can't. Every reader like YOU... who refuses to shrink...is a brick they can't move.
Keep showing up like this. It matters more than you know!
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Jack.. THAT is EXACTLY what is on my posters when I attend ALL the NO KINGS rallies!
People always come up and give it a thumbs up!
You're right, Jack!
THAT IS our strongest response!
WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED!!
Amen. #HoldingFast and checking my voter registration.
Roberta...BOOM! Well done.
#KeepHoldingFast
-Jack
Thanks, Jack. NH's Secretary of State's website has an interesting feature. It shows whether or not you have an absentee ballot request on file.
Jack, I don’t think anyone who’s truly paying attention doubts any of this. Of course they know they can’t win a fair election. They have no choice but to stop us from winning.
Nothing you wrote surprised me. I’ve been watching this carefully for quite a while so… I’m more than concerned..
I live in North Carolina so you know what I’m up against. My district is still very red but it’s changing around me even though all the adjacent counties are rural. People are hurting financially.. out of work.. scared.. losing or lost healthcare.. and that makes a big difference.
Before I commented I forwarded this to 5 people with personal comments. They’ll all do this and some will forward it to others. I’ll try to think of more people I can send it to. My circle is pretty small these days.
I’ve been watching social media lately and people are confident that we’ll win big.. far too confident. They’re missing things or just don’t understand. I try to educate when I can but they see it as pessimism rather than realism. They think big numbers will save us. I’m not even sure we’ll get those numbers and even if we do we could obviously still lose.
I’ll be honest, you’ve written some concerning things of late because that’s just what’s been happening but this is terrifying. I’ll do everything I can.
Thank you, Jack
#Holdfast
~Susan
Susan...this is the kind of comment that reminds me there are real people on the other side of this work.
Thank you!
North Carolina is one of the key states in the ENTIRE 2026 calculation.
The redraw there wasn't done because Republicans are confident...it was done because they're SCARED.
They've watched the same shift you're describing: rural communities losing jobs...losing clinics...losing patience with politicians who promised them everything...and delivered NOTHING.
The new map...is an attempt to lock in a result BEFORE that frustration hits the ballot box.Your instinct on the over-confidence problem is right...and I wish more people in our orbit were saying it out loud.
The crowd insisting "we'll win big" is making it harder to do the unglamorous work...that actually wins elections.
Realism...is NOT pessimism. Realism is the only HONEST way to fight this.
People who confuse the two...are going to be VERY surprised in November.
You forwarded this to five people with personal notes...BEFORE you even commented.
That is exactly the work. That's it. That's the assignment.
Most readers will not do what you did. You did it...WITHOUT being asked twice.
Grateful you're here...Susan. Keep going.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Thank you, Jack. Being here keeps me sane, grounded and pushing on. I’m not sure what I’d do without you and this community. Pretty sure I’d be lost and frightened not knowing which way to turn. It means a lot knowing I can get straight answers and advice. I appreciate you more than I can express.
~Susan
May I share this on a Facebook page?...at least until it gets removed by Meta...
Of course!
My fervent hope is this whole thing backfires in a big way. Many of the redraws have been based on 2024 voting patterns. T has pissed off so many younger voters that I’m hoping there is a big blue wave where they thought they would get more seats.
That said, we still have to do all the things. Literally nothing can be taken for granted.
I am in a purple swing state and we quite recently enshrined a citizen redistricting committee in our Constitution. I have heard no rumblings of an attempt to do as CA did. I will be doing my best to see the maga incumbent in my district lose his job come fall….. 86 Bill!!
Deb...you just made the point most political analysts are too cautious to make: these maps are built on 2024 turnout...and 2024 turnout is NOT coming back.
Trump has spent the last year personally radicalizing the exact demographic...younger voters...especially younger men...that sat out the last election.
The redraws assumed those voters would stay home. They WON'T.
Your state did the smart thing locking in a citizen commission...while it could.
THAT...is how you win the long game.
86 Bill is the perfect closing line. Go do it!
-Jack
Forwarded to 15. Sending 3 emails tonight.
OUTSTANDING...BG!
-Jack
Holy shit!!!
Jack, thank you. I do not trust them one iota. How I hope their foils are foiled and our finest efforts are rewarded with honest wins carried out to fruition for our freedom saved future!
#HOLDFAST!!!!!!!
Judy...trust is the most EXPENSIVE mistake a voter can make right now...and you're refusing to pay it. GOOD.
That's the posture this moment requires.
Foils foiled. Honest wins. Freedom saved. That's the WHOLE agenda...right there in ONE comment.
#HOLDFAST ...together...all the way through.
-Jack
Check here: https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/
If you scroll past the fill-in form on that page, it has links for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for checking your registration directly, without getting yourself on Vote.Org's mailing lists.
trifik. i'm in texas. but i'm not giving up. time to give up being a hermit.