Trump Is Already Plotting to Steal the Midterms
Plus: The president makes nice with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
It’s been a minute since we heard from Eagle Ed Martin, the Trump attack dog who bounced from a stint as interim U.S. attorney for D.C. to an Orwellian role as the Justice Department’s “weaponization czar.” The New York Times reports he’s been keeping busy:
Days after Mr. Martin, a Trump-aligned activist, was tapped by the Justice Department to investigate the New York attorney general, Letitia James, he wrote a letter to her lawyer saying he would take it as an act of “good faith” if she were to resign.
Mr. Martin followed up this breach of prosecutorial protocol by showing up outside Ms. James’s Brooklyn home, clad in a trench coat and posing for pictures for The New York Post.
Each of Mr. Martin’s actions violates Justice Department rules and norms . . . . The behavior may ultimately be so outside the bounds that it could undermine any criminal case, according to legal experts. Attorney General Pam Bondi and her top deputy, Todd Blanche, caught off guard by the Brooklyn stunt, let Mr. Martin know that his actions were not helpful, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
When Pam Bondi is telling you your glassy-eyed partisanship is bringing the integrity of the Justice Department into question, it’s probably time to pump the brakes. Happy Tuesday.
How Far Will He Go?
by Andrew Egger
Yesterday, in a Bulwark Takes video, JVL and I were discussing Donald Trump’s ridiculous claim that the federal takeover of policing Washington, D.C. had turned the capital from “the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United States” into “perhaps the safest” in mere days, “and getting better every single hour.” The crackdown, JVL suggested, looked like a dry run for an even more consequential deployment later:
Maybe we do a little bit of this in Philly the week before the election, right? Try to dissuade people from maybe turning out to vote in the midterm elections. . . . I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t shave a couple tenths of a point in turnout off by doing this sort of thing—do you?
Old habits of mind die hard: In the moment, I wondered whether this analysis might be a touch too dismal. It was certainly clear that Trump has no intention of keeping his law-enforcement crackdown contained to D.C. But was there specific reason to believe he had an eye on using federal law-enforcement officers or National Guardsmen to meddle in elections?
It was as if Trump said: Buddy, I am SO glad you asked.
In a Truth Social post yesterday, the president launched the latest offensive in his forever war against mail-in and machine-tabulated voting. “THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!!” He intends to put a stop to it. He’ll start, he says, with an executive order.
Disturbingly, there are reports that Trump discussed mail-in voting with Vladimir Putin at their meeting in Alaska. But let’s leave aside the intriguing question of why that conversation apparently prompted Trump’s outburst, and instead ask: On what authority does the president intend to meddle in states’ governance of their own elections? Well, let Trump give you the bone-chilling details:
Remember, the States are merely an “agent” for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.
In a sane world, it would probably ‘matter’ that these rants are utterly divorced from fact and law.
Trump’s claims that mail-in ballots and machine tabulation are rife with fraud are, as ever, utter bunk. (Amazingly, this post came on the exact same day that Newsmax agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 million to settle a lawsuit over the voter-fraud lies it spread after the 2020 election. My question to the White House press office about whether Newsmax should have settled went unanswered.)
But those tired old fraud claims are somehow even less outrageous than the genuinely insane précis Trump is offering for how election systems interact under our system of government. Under the U.S. Constitution, it is the states, not the federal government, that run their various elections. Electing their representatives is the states’ responsibility because those representatives serve under the states’ authority. And the Constitution is crystal clear about which part of the federal government is permitted to get involved:
The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
To this Trump scoffs: Well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. He’s got an alternate reading. In it, states are just pencil-pushing functionaries to whom the president has delegated some busy work. And they’d better do it the way he tells them to if they know what’s good for them.
Back in the good old days (lol) of Trump’s first term, this sort of spasm of naked fascist desire tended to surface and then recede without leaving too much of a mark on policy. Today, who would be so Pollyannaish as to predict that’s what will happen here? The Constitution doesn’t carry its own guns. But the National Guardsmen do.
We’re hitting the road again this fall for three live shows:
Toronto (Sep. 26) • Washington, D.C. (Oct. 8)
New York City (Oct. 11)
Join Sarah, Tim, JVL, and Sam for a night of politics among friends.
Tickets for Toronto and D.C. go on sale
this Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 10 a.m. EDT.
TheBulwark.com/events
The Pendulum Swings Back
by Cathy Young
The Trump/Russia/Ukraine rollercoaster continues its dizzying ride. Right on the heels of the disgraceful Alaska lovefest between Trump and Putin—and the alarming signals of a new push for Ukraine’s surrender—Monday saw an apparent new pivot toward Ukraine as Trump met with Volodymyr Zelensky and a squad of European leaders at the White House. Under the circumstances, “it could have been much worse” counts as good news, especially when we remember the disaster of Zelensky’s last White House visit six months ago, in which he was hectored by a boorish Trump and a smug JD Vance.
Monday’s meeting was probably as good as it could have been, despite the usual bizarre Trumpian moments, such as the lecture on the evils of mail-in voting while the Ukrainian president listened patiently. Zelensky and the European guests, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, sounded upbeat. Trump has expressed at least a theoretical willingness to commit the United States to security guarantees for Ukraine after a peace settlement (whose contours are still unclear). The Financial Times reports that these arrangements will include Europe buying $100 billion worth of U.S. weapons for Ukraine, as well as a $50 billion Ukraine-U.S. drone production project.
How long the optimism will last is another question. While Trump is apparently working on a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelensky, Putin has yet to say yes. (Putin aide Yuri Ushakov has said only that Russia is prepared to send higher-level officials to talks with Ukraine.) The question of territorial concessions remains sticky. And, while bumbling Trump envoy Steve Witkoff has claimed that Putin had accepted security guarantees that would oblige NATO countries to help defend Ukraine from future attacks, yesterday the Russian foreign ministry predictably reaffirmed its opposition to the deployment of any NATO troops in Ukraine.
It’s worth noting that a very large share of the credit for the relative success of Monday’s meeting goes to Zelensky, who has fully mastered the necessary art of what expatriate Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats bluntly called “tongue-bathing Trump.” He lavished praise and gratitude for Trump’s peacemaking efforts. He brought a letter to Melania from Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in appreciation of her vaguely phrased “think of the Ukrainian children” letter to Putin.
And he wore a suit, which led to one of the meeting’s most Oscar-worthy moments. Real America’s Voice host (and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s beau) Brian Glenn, who berated Zelensky during the February fiasco, complimented the Ukrainian president’s “fabulous” new look. Trump concurred and added, “That’s the one that attacked you last time.” (He wasn’t the only one, Donald.) Zelensky, without missing a beat: “You’re in the same suit. I changed. You have not.”
Glenn apologized. At least Zelensky got an apology from someone.
AROUND THE BULWARK
Democratic Doctors Are Pouring Into Politics... And for that you can thank Trump and RFK Jr., writes JILL LAWRENCE.
Trump’s Diplomacy-by-Spectacle Failed in Alaska… A principled ceasefire and negotiation require hard work. Trump prefers a fantasy peace, observes GEN. MARK HERTLING.
Trump’s Ukraine Sellout, AI Boyfriends, and the Sydney Sweeney Flop… On the latest FYPod, TIM MILLER and CAM KASKY break down the bizarre Trump-Zelensky meeting and the disturbing implications of Trump's apparent willingness to appease Putin, including a look at rumored “Golan Heights-style” occupation plans for Ukraine.
The Brawl Heard Round TPUSA… How two mid-tier MAGA influencers ended up in a scrabble in the gravel, a tale told by WILL SOMMER in False Flag.
Steve Vladeck on Trump, the Courts, and the Rule of Law… On The Mona Charen Show, guest STEVE VLADECK helps MONA CHAREN unpack the Justice Department’s attack on Judge James Boasberg, Trump’s efforts to bend universities to his will, the Supreme Court’s retreat into procedural evasions, and the broader erosion of guardrails in American governance.
Quick Hits
2028 WATCH: We regret to inform you that the handicapping of the 2028 presidential contest has already begun. This week, the respected conservative pollster Echelon Insights surveyed voter sentiment for potential candidates on both the Republican and Democratic sides. Unsurprisingly, Vice President JD Vance has a big head start on the GOP field, with 43 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him if the election were held today. Trailing him are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tied at 9 percent. (That’s not quite the 14 percent Kennedy was nabbing in Democratic primary polls a couple years ago, but still, not bad.) Marco Rubio follows at 6 percent, with Nikki Haley at 4 percent—and God love ya if you’re a Nikki Haley Republican who’s still holding out hope that this clown car is one good primary away from turning it all around.
Over on the Democratic side, it’s a wide-open field: 26 percent favor a Kamala Harris campaign redux, while 13 percent would pull the lever for Gavin Newsom and another 11 percent are pining for Pete Buttigieg. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clocks in at 6 percent; Cory Booker gets 5 percent; JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, and Jasmine Crockett each come in at 3 percent support. (Your correspondents hope to spend the entirety of Vance–Crockett 2028 in a medically induced coma.)
One question, potentially more interesting, is one the poll skirts: How many GOP voters would turn up their nose at the whole bundle of jokers in favor of a fourth presidential campaign for Trump himself? The Echelon gang doesn’t get into it. Hey, plenty of time to figure it out later.
TRUST US, THIS IS TOTALLY NORMAL: Let’s check in on how things are going in the Texas gerrymandering saga, shall we? Here’s NBC News:
State Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth said Monday she will remain locked in the Austin statehouse chamber until the House reconvenes Wednesday morning.
She is making the move after she refused Republican leaders’ conditions that would have required her to sign off on a law enforcement escort before she would be allowed to go home after Monday’s session. . .
“I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts," Collier said in a statement that called her a "political prisoner" for refusing Republican "surveillance protocol."
Although this may seem insane on its face, Texas is a crazy place—the hardball tactics are arguably consistent with the state constitution, which both enables a legislative minority to grind business to a halt by breaking quorum and a legislative majority to deputize law enforcement to haul them back to the office. But it seems like a microcosm of the whole sordid story now playing out across the country. Republicans and Democrats alike are dropping all pretense of high-mindedness and rushing to crank out the most screamingly lopsided gerrymanders their population maps can sustain. Trump’s GOP may have kicked off this particular race to the bottom, but voters in both red and blue states will be worse off for it.
THE SECOND SECOND GUY: In today’s FBI, it seems, one second-in-command just isn’t enough. Politico reports that Trump is planning to appoint Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to share Dan Bongino’s job as Kash Patel’s No. 2 at the bureau—a decision that follows weeks of uncertainty about whether Bongino himself, who has butted heads with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the White House’s shambolic handling of the Epstein files, will remain in the job.
Bailey, a former prosecutor who has been serving as the attorney general of Missouri since January 2023, interviewed with Trump at Mar-a-Lago during the transition for the role of U.S. Attorney General. . . .
Bailey’s tenure as Missouri AG has included high-profile moves aligned with Trump’s interests, including a long-shot petition filed last year with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift the gag order against Trump and delay his New York sentencing until after the Nov. 5 election.
Not really the point, but can we talk about how fruitful of a launching pad the Missouri AG job has been over the last decade? The last two guys who held the post, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, are now U.S. senators. Now it seems Bailey’s ticket to the big time (well, okay, the biggish time) is here too.
Cheap Shots
Thank you for mentioning what's going on on the floor of the Texas House. For those of you skipped down to the Cheap Shot, the Texas government has locked a Democratic member of the Texas House on the floor of the House until Wednesday. She cannot leave, because she refused to sign a document giving state troopers permission to follow her everywhere she goes and arrest her any time they want.
Fascism is here, folks, and Texas is leading the way.
My prediction is even Dems do well in the midterms, their new members will not be sworn in. The NC Supreme Court race last year will be replayed in almost every close race. Congress will basically be nuked and Trump will issue executive order after executive order to consolidate power. Whether the people will stand idle when that happens is the question.