Will the Trump presidency collapse over the next 35 months?
By 
America’s favorite demented malignant narcissist was ranting last night about how he’s going to take over the midterm elections if Congress doesn’t pass the Voter Suppression Act of 2026:
Donald Trump threatened on Friday to impose a requirement that US voters present photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots in the upcoming midterm elections.
Trump insisted he will push for the change even if Congress fails to pass the Save America act, which cleared the House earlier this week but faces an uphill battle in the Senate. The bill would impose a national photo identification requirement to vote, in addition to requiring proof of citizenship to register and drastically limiting mail-in voting.
“There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!” Trump posted while onboard Air Force One on Friday afternoon after speaking to troops at Fort Bragg.
“Also, the People of our Country are insisting on Citizenship, and No Mail-In Ballots, with exceptions for Military, Disability, Illness, or Travel,” the president added, falsely, since there is no popular majority for banning vote by mail.
In fact, polling conducted last year showed the exact opposite: 58% of Americans favor allowing any voter to cast their ballot by mail if they want to.
Trump’s efforts to impose voter ID requirements are likely to face immediate legal challenges, as the US constitution leaves the conduct of elections to the states.
The president, however, claimed to have “searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one” that would allow the federal government to take unprecedented control of elections run by the states. But in a second post during his flight to his Palm Beach resort, he offered more hyperbole than facts, in a long diatribe punctuated with all-caps words.
“We cannot let the Democrats get away with NO VOTER I.D. any longer. These are horrible, disingenuous CHEATERS,” Trump wrote.
“If we can’t get it through Congress, there are Legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted. I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order,” Trump added.
“I hope the Supreme Court realizes, as they ‘painstakingly’ review the very simple topic of Country Saving Tariffs … that these Corrupt and Deranged Democrats, if they ever gain power, will not only be adding two States to our roster of 50, with all of the baggage thereto, but will also PACK THE COURT,” the president posted.
Trump has long alleged systemic voter fraud contributed to his 2020 presidential election loss, despite no evidence to back up that claim.
Predictions are dangerous, especially about the future, but here goes anyway:
(1) If Trump tries this I think the federal courts will block it.
(2) Even if it were somehow to go into effect, I suspect the GOTV factor would swamp the marginal value to the GOP of their latest poll tax/literacy test attempt.
(3) I don’t think the Trump regime will be able to interfere with the fall elections enough to keep the Democrats from taking the House, although their no doubt crude and bungling attempts might end up making a difference at the margin in regard to the Senate, which is going to be very close. OTOH the GOPisn’t even running a candidate in New Mexico for the Senate seat held by Ray Lujan, because they were too incompetent to collect the fewer than 2,500 signatures necessary to get someone on the ballot. (This is in a state that Harris won by only six points). This illustrates how putting fanatical idiots in charge of important things can blow up in your face, which has always been a key weakness of fascism.
(4) More generally, I have a feeling, a feeling deep inside, that there’s a significant probability that enough of the right wing power structure gets sick enough of Trump at some point over the next 35 months that his presidency collapses into something close to impotence. I see this happening in the wake of midterm losses, plus the SCOTUS clawing back his precious tariffs, plus the moronic American electorate is very easily distracted these days, and a general boredom with the Trump show may well play a role here.
Anyway, there have been some green shoots over the past few weeks, although I note Thomas Massie is afraid of suffering a mysterious sudden death, which illustrates that it’s likely to be a bumpy ride. Or maybe Trump will just up and die, like the dog in the song.