Americans have roughly 400 days to save their democracy from impending doom, according to one historian.
Timothy Garton Ash, a British historian and author, argued in a new op-ed for The Guardian that the 2026 midterm election could decide the fate of American democracy. If Republicans win, Ash argued that there will be no check on President Donald Trump's power, which would hasten the erosion of democracy.
"I return to Europe from the US with a clear conclusion: American democrats (lowercase d) have 400 days to start saving US democracy," Ash wrote. "If next autumn’s midterm elections produce a Congress that begins to constrain Donald Trump there will then be a further 700 days to prepare the peaceful transfer of executive power that alone will secure the future of this republic. Operation Save US Democracy, stages 1 and 2."
"During seven weeks in the US this summer, I was shaken every day by the speed and executive brutality of President Trump’s assault on what had seemed settled norms of US democracy and by the desperate weakness of resistance to that assault," he added.
Ash noted that the economy appears to be the best messaging topic for Democrats in the upcoming election. Recent job numbers have shown Trump's economy may not be as healthy as the president claims.
"So the big question is whether the negative economic consequences of Trump will be palpable to ordinary voters before the midterms," Ash wrote. "One astute political observer suggested to me that Trump, flush with revenue from the new tariffs, could do a pre-election cash handout to voters, perhaps presented as compensation for the 'temporary difficulties' of the transition to a MAGA economy."
"That would be a classic populist move," he added.