A conservative anti-Trump columnist has revealed a chilling theory about the midterm elections and how President Donald Trump and Republicans could incite another coup, an analyst reported Tuesday.
Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, discussed how New York Times commentator and attorney David French outlined "a more sinister scenario" in a recent article. As Trump gets closer to the November elections, and a potential Democratic wave on the horizon, Trump has a plan.
"With each passing day, it becomes increasingly clear that Trump has only one strategy for averting that fate: stealing the 2026 midterm election," Kuttner wrote.
Trump sees "the possibility of a new impeachment," and Kuttner suggests his strategy is a move to prevent that.
"French points out that the process for contesting an election to the House is governed by the Federal Contested Elections Act of 1969," Kuttner explained. "Under that act, a losing candidate has 30 days after certification by a state to challenge the certification, and the challenge is ultimately decided by a simple majority vote of the respective chamber."
"French poses a coup scenario, in which 'even if Democrats win a House majority after all the votes are counted this fall, one or more defeated Republican candidates could try to persuade the lame-duck Republican majority not to permit their Democratic opponents to take office while the challenge is pending,'" Kuttner wrote. "The incoming House would subsequently be flipped from majority Democratic to majority Republican. Because the Constitution is clear that each house is the sole judge of its membership, the courts could not intervene."
Kuttner raised a question over French's comments.
"When I emailed French, he also confirmed my reading of the law, but said that he was posing this scenario because the challenge process begins in the old Congress and that Republicans might try to act under 'bad-faith readings of the law,'" Kuttner wrote.
"But if dozens of losing Republican candidates, in a coordinated effort, claimed that they had really won, the usual judicial deference to the political process might well not apply. Courts would likely step in to uphold state certifications, and the duly elected new Congress would be seated," Kuttner explained.
Trump might not get his way — and if he does — it will take a serious effort to stop him, Kuttner argued.
"If this Republic survives, it will take a combination of citizen mobilization and vigilant courts that have increasingly lost patience with Trump’s efforts to govern as a dictator," he added.