The Last Election - Read by Eunice Wong

This article is read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.

Text originally published January 19, 2026.

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Full Text:

Donald Trump’s threat to cancel the midterm elections is not a feign. He attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and said he would not accept the outcome of the 2024 election if he lost. He ruminates about defying the Constitution to serve a third term. He is determined to retain absolute control — buttressed by an obsequious Republican majority — in Congress. He fears, if he loses control of Congress, impeachment. He fears impediments to the rapid reconfiguration of America as an authoritarian state. He fears losing the monuments he is building to himself — his name emblazoned on federal buildings, including the Kennedy Center, his scrapping of free entry to National Parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and replacing it with his own birthday, his seizure of Greenland and who knows, maybe Canada, his ability to put cities, such as Minneapolis, under siege and snatch legal residents off the streets.

Dictators love elections as long as they are fixed. The dictatorships I covered in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans staged highly choreographed election spectacles. These spectacles were a cynical prop whose outcome was preordained. They were used to legitimize iron control over a captive population, mask the enrichment of the dictator, his family and his inner circle, criminalize all dissent and ban opposition political parties in the name of “the will of the people.”

When Saddam Hussein held a presidential referendum in Oct. 1995, the only question on the ballot was “Do you approve of President Saddam Hussein being the President of the Republic?” Voters marked “yes” or “no.” The official results saw Hussein win 99.96 percent of some 8.4 million votes cast. Turnout was reported at 99.47 percent. His counterpart in Egypt, the former general Hosni Mubarak, in 2005 was re-elected for a fifth consecutive six-year term with a more modest mandate of 88.6 percent of the vote. My less than reverential coverage of the elections held in Syria in 1991, where there was only one candidate on the ballot, President Hafez al-Assad, who reportedly got 99.9 percent of the vote, saw me banned from the country.

These spectacles are the model, I expect, for what comes next, unless Trump gets his deepest wish, which is to emulate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia — whose security detail assassinated my colleague and friend Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — and hold no elections at all.

Wannabe president-for-life Trump floats the idea of canceling the 2026 midterm elections, telling Reuters that, “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.” When President Volodymyr Zelensky informed Trump elections were not held in Ukraine because of the war, Trump gushed, “So you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that’s good.”

Trump told The New York Times he regrets not directing the National Guard to seize voting machines after the 2020 election. He wants to abolish mail-in voting, along with voting machines and tabulators, which allow boards of elections to post results on election night. Better to slow the process down and like the Chicago political machine under Mayor Richard J. Daley, stuff boxes with ballots after the polls close to ensure victory.

Trump’s administration is prohibiting voter registration drives at naturalization centers. It is imposing nation-wide restrictive voter ID laws. It is reducing the hours that federal employees have to leave work and vote. In Texas, the new redistricting map blatantly disenfranchises Black and Latino voters, a move upheld by the Supreme Court. It is expected to eradicate five Congressional Democratic seats.

Our money-drenched elections, coupled with aggressive gerrymandering, mean few races for Congress are competitive. Recent redistricting has, so far, all but guaranteed the Republicans another nine seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio and six for the Democrats, five in California and one in Utah. Republicans intend to carry out more redistricting in Florida and Democrats plan a redistricting ballot initiative in Virginia. If the Supreme Court continues to gut the Voting Rights Act, then Republican redistricting will explode, possibly cementing into place a Republican victory whether the majority of voters want it or not. No one can call redistricting democratic.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United took from us any real input into elections. Citizens United permitted unlimited money from corporations and wealthy individuals to rig the election process in the name of protected speech under the First Amendment. It ruled that heavily financed and organized lobbying by large corporations is an application of the people’s right to petition their government.

Our most basic rights, including the freedom from wholesale government surveillance, have been steadily revoked by judicial and legislative fiat.

The “consent of the governed” is a cruel joke.

There are few substantial differences between the Democrats and Republicans. They exist to provide the illusion of representative democracy. The Democrats and their liberal apologists adopt tolerant positions on issues regarding race, religion, immigration, women’s rights and sexual identity, and pretend this is politics. The right wing uses those on the margins of society — especially immigrants and the phantom “radical left” — as scapegoats. But on all the major issues — war, trade deals, austerity, militarized police, the vast carceral state and deindustrialization — they are in lockstep.

“One cannot point to any national institution[s] that can accurately be described as democratic,” the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin noted in his book “Democracy Incorporated,” “surely not in the highly managed, money-saturated elections, the lobby-infested Congress, the imperial presidency, the class-biased judicial and penal system, or, least of all, the media.”

Wolin called our system of governance “inverted totalitarianism.” It paid outward fealty to the façade of electoral politics, the Constitution, civil liberties, freedom of the press, the independence of the judiciary, and the iconography, traditions and language of American patriotism, while it allowed corporations and oligarchs to effectively seize all of the mechanisms of power to render the citizen impotent.

The emptiness of the political landscape under “inverted totalitarianism” saw politics merge with entertainment. It fostered a ceaseless political burlesque, a politics without politics. The subject of empire, along with unregulated corporate power, endless war, poverty and social inequality, became taboo.

These political spectacles create manufactured political personalities, Trump’s fictitious persona, a product of “The Apprentice.” They thrive on empty rhetoric, sophisticated public relations, slick advertising, propaganda and the constant use of focus groups and opinion polls to loop back to voters what they want to hear. The vapid, issueless and celebrity-driven presidential campaign of Kamala Harris was a sterling example of this political performance art.

The assault on democracy, carried out by the two ruling parties, set the stage for Trump. They emasculated our democratic institutions, stripped us of our most basic rights and cemented into place the machinery of authoritarian control, including the imperial presidency. All Trump had to do was flick the switch.

The indiscriminate police violence familiar in poor urban communities, where militarized police serve as judge, jury and executioner, long ago handed the state the power to “legally” harass and kill citizens with impunity. It spawned the largest prison population in the world. This evisceration of civil liberties and due process has now been turned on the rest of us. Trump did not initiate it. He expanded it. Terror is the point.

Trump, like all dictators, is intoxicated by militarism. He is calling for the Pentagon’s budget to be raised from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion. Congress, in passing Trump’s One Big Beautiful Act, has allocated more than $170 billion for border and interior enforcement, including $75 billion for ICE over the next four years. That is more than the yearly budget for all local and state law enforcement agencies combined.

“When a constitutionally limited government utilizes weapons of horrendous destructive power, subsidizes their development, and becomes the world’s largest arms dealer,” Wolin writes, “the Constitution is conscripted to serve as power’s apprentice rather than its conscience.”

He goes on:

That the patriotic citizen unswervingly supports the military and its huge budget means that conservatives have succeeded in persuading the public that the military is distinct from government. Thus, the most substantial element of state power is removed from public debate. Similarly, in his/her new status as imperial citizen the believer remains contemptuous of bureaucracy yet does not hesitate to obey the directives issued by the Department of Homeland Security, the largest and most intrusive governmental department in the history of the nation. Identification with militarism and patriotism, along with the images of American might projected by the media, serves to make the individual citizen feel stronger, thereby compensating for the feelings of weakness visited by the economy upon an overworked, exhausted, and insecure labor force.

The Democrats in the next election — if there is one — will offer up least-worst alternatives while doing little or nothing to thwart the march toward authoritarianism. They will remain hostage to the demands of corporate lobbyists and oligarchs. The party, which stands for nothing and fights for nothing, could well hand Trump a victory in the midterms. But Trump does not want to take that chance.

Trump and his minions are energetically closing the last exit built into the system that prevents absolute dictatorship. They intend to orchestrate the sham elections familiar in all dictatorships, or abolish them. They are not joking. This will be the death blow to the American experiment. There will be no going back. We will become a police state. Our freedoms, already under heavy assault, will be extinguished. At that point, only mass mobilizations and strikes will thwart the solidification of the dictatorship. And such actions, as we see in Minneapolis, will be greeted with lethal state repression.

The subverting of the next elections will offer two stark choices to Trump’s most vocal opponents. Exile or arrest and imprisonment at the hands of ICE thugs.

Resistance to the beast, as in all dictatorships, will come at a very high cost.

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Photos

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Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

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A person and a dog walk in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on January 10, 2026. The Washington National Opera announced on January 9 that it would move its performances from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts which has been its home since 1971. Artists have cancelled performances at Washington’s premier performing arts center to protest its renaming to include US President Donald Trump. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents and protesters, Minneapolis, January 2026

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. - JANUARY 2026: A protester was pinned to the ground by federal agents and a chemical irritant was sprayed directly into his face, Wednesday, January 21, 2026, in south Minneapolis, Minn. Protesters gathered in the area after federal agents detained two individuals, according to witnesses. (Photo by Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Arab League Summit in Amman, Jordan on November 11, 1987.

JORDAN - NOVEMBER 11: Saddam Hussein in Amman, Jordan on November 11, 1987. (Photo by Chip HIRES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

President Mubarak At The White House

View of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the White House’s Oval Office, Washington DC, September 29, 1995. (Photo by Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

SYRIA-EGYPT

Syrian President Hafez al-Assad (R) welcomes Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at Damascus airport 22 January 2000. Mubarak is visiting the Syrian capital for talks after the indefinite postponement of high-level peace negotiations between Syria and Israel. (Photo by SANA / AFP) (Photo by -/SANA/AFP via Getty Images)

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US President Donald Trump greets Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC on November 18, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

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TOPSHOT - A general manager of Alarab TV, Jamal Khashoggi, looks on during a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, on December 15, 2014. The pan-Arab satellite news broadcaster owned by billionaire Saudi businessman Alwaleed bin Talal will go on air February 1, promising to “break the mould” in a crowded field.AFP PHOTO/ MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP via Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: (L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump and Zelensky are meeting today to sign a preliminary agreement on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources that Trump says will allow America to recoup aid provided to Kyiv while supporting Ukraine’s economy. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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(Original Caption) Chicago’s Democratic Mayor appears glum as he makes a point during news conference 11/6 after Richard Nixon won the race for President. Illinois, the state where Nixon lost his first presidential bid, gave him the victory margin this time. Daley, however retained his power base as Democrats swept to victory in all Cook County races.

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 29: U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris wave to members of the audience after speaking at a campaign rally at Girard College on May 29, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biden and Harris are using today’s rally to launch a nationwide campaign to court black voters, a group that has traditionally come out in favor of Biden, but their support is projected lower than it was in 2020. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

VP Vance And Defense Secretary Hegseth Visit Federal Law Enforcement Officers Patrolling At D.C.’s Union Station

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 20: White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speak with members of the National Guard during a visit to Union Station on August 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

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TOPSHOT - Former US President Barack Obama speaks with President-elect Donald Trump before the State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JULY 30: Megan Thee Stallion performs onstage at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the Georgia State Convocation Center on July 30, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Julia Beverly/Getty Images)

U.S. Forces Move Through Southern Iraq

SAFWAN, IRAQ - MARCH 21: (NEWSWEEK AND U.S. NEWS OUT UNTIL 4/7/03) U.S. Marine Major Bull Gurfein pulls down a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein March 21, 2003 in Safwan, Iraq. Chaos reigned in southern Iraq as coalition troops continued their offensive to remove Iraq’s leader from power. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Donald Trump Interviews Candidates for NBC’s “The Apprentice” Season Five

Donald Trump during Donald Trump Interviews Candidates for NBC’s “The Apprentice” Season Five at Trump Tower in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Daniel J. Barry/WireImage)

Kamala Harris Holds Rally In Houston, Texas Highlighting Support For Reproductive Rights

HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 25: Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris embraces singer Beyoncé at a campaign rally on October 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas. Harris is campaigning in Texas holding a rally supporting reproductive rights with recording artists Beyoncé and Willie Nelson. (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)

SWAT Officer Killed During Violent Standoff In Los Angeles Suburb

LOS ANGELES - FEBRUARY 7: LAPD officers wait along Vanowen Street a block from a suspect’s home on Welby Street east of Oakdale Avenue on February 7, 2008 in the Winnetka neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Al Seib-Pool/Getty Images)

Bald Prison Inmates Marching in Yard

A group of prison inmates start boot camp by marching in line at the Sumter County Correctional Institution. | Location: Bushnell, Florida, USA.

Protestors Rally Outside ICE Detention Facility In Newark, NJ

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JUNE 13: A Federal agent threatens to Taser protestors during a protest over federal immigration enforcement raids and detainees transfer at Delaney Hall Detention Facility on June 13, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. Protests have continued outside the facility where four detainees escaped after allegedly breaking through a wall. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT-US-ANNIVERSARY-ATTACK-9/11-TRUMP

TOPSHOT - Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) and US Senator from Ohio and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance attend a remembrance ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 terror attack on the World Trade Center at Ground Zero, in New York City on September 11, 2024. (Photo by Adam GRAY / AFP) (Photo by ADAM GRAY/AFP via Getty Images)

NYC National Anti-ICE Protest

Demonstrators march down Canal Street in New York City, United States, on January 30, 2026. Many protests across the country take place as part of the National Day of Action. Many participants stand in solidarity with those in Minneapolis and other cities, striking against recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They call for a National Shutdown with the slogan ‘’No work, no school, no shopping.’‘ Many labor unions and students are part of this strike, calling to ‘’shut down the economy,’‘ sources say. (Photo by Matthew Hoen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Federal Agents Descend On Minneapolis For Immigration Enforcement Operations

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JANUARY 13: ICE agents pull a woman from a car before detaining her on January 13, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Trump administration has deployed over 2,400 Department of Homeland Security agents to the state of Minnesota in a push to apprehend undocumented immigrants. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

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