A conservative icon is warning that the true threat to American democracy this election cycle isn't Nov. 3, but Jan. 3, 2027 — the day the next Congress would be sworn in.
J. Michael Luttig, a former federal appeals judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush and a longtime conservative critic of Donald Trump, argues in a new essay that even if Democrats win enough seats to retake the House or Senate, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are preparing to prevent them from actually taking power.
"That catastrophic end to democracy could well come on Jan. 3, 2027, when Trump and his Republican congressional allies waged the final battle in Trump's determined war to corrupt America's democracy and deliver a lasting political victory over the Democrats," Luttig wrote.
Luttig expanded on that warning Monday morning on "CNN News Central," saying that Trump has been "very publicly planning for this final battle" since returning to office in January 2025, culminating at last week's Republican National Convention in Dallas.
"The president exhorted Republicans around the country to go out on Nov. 3 and 'cheat like hell,'" Luttig said, quoting his speech last week.
He added that House Speaker Mike Johnson "joined in that chorus" by "assuring the Republicans that he and the House Republicans and the president of the United States would never allow the Democrats to take over the House of Representatives."
"Any other president of the United States that we've had for 250 years would have immediately assured the American people that this unavoidable catastrophe would never happen," Luttig said, "but you can be assured that neither man will assure the American people that this final battle will not occur."
The Supreme Court would have a constitutional obligation to "adjudicate... whether the House of Representatives had constitutionally refused to seat Democrats to the 120th Congress or not," Luttig said, which he said is a view shared by "some of the greatest constitutional minds in America today."
Pressed on whether any Republican has explicitly said they'd defy their oath of office, Luttig acknowledged none has and none will.
"There's never been a politician, to my knowledge, in 250 years, who would say that," he said. "The point for you, the media, and for the American people is that if Donald Trump, Mike Johnson and the House Republicans... bring on this next Jan. 6 in a catastrophic battle for America's democracy, they will have violated their oath to the Constitution and to the American people. I don't really care what they say about it, and neither should you."
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