EDITORIAL: How Trump REALLY COULD steal the election

Trump’s real threat to democracy is subverting the system from within

In the wake of Donald Trump’s relentless—and evidence-free—assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from him, one cannot help but ask the question: Could an American presidential election really be stolen? And if so, how? We’ve become accustomed to Trump's apocalyptic narrative of conspiracies and crooked ballot boxes, but this is not where the real danger lies. Rather, the peril to American democracy stems from subtler, more insidious forces—ones that Trump himself is already actively exploiting.

Let’s begin with the 2020 election itself, where Trump claims to be the victim of history’s most elaborate heist. Here’s the truth: Joe Biden won. He won by over seven million votes. He won the Electoral College with more than 300 votes. In state after state—Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania—the results were certified and recertified. Even Trump's own Department of Justice, under Bill Barr, found no evidence of widespread fraud that could change the result in even a single state.

More than 60 lawsuits challenging Biden’s victory were filed, and more than 60 lawsuits were dismissed. For all his bluster, Trump’s allegations were so pitifully hollow that even the judges he himself appointed rejected them. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court—a conservative-dominated body with three Trump-nominated justices—refused to hear the cases at all, a not-so-subtle message that Trump’s legal arguments weren’t just weak; they were nonexistent. Yet, Trump’s insistence on this fiction persists, a festering lie that has eroded trust in the most fundamental pillar of democracy: elections.

It’s easy to laugh off claims about dead people voting or voting machines secretly swapping Trump votes for Biden. But beneath this farce lurks a more sobering question: Could Trump or another aspiring autocrat actually steal a future election? The unsettling answer is: yes, but not in the way Trump claims.

How Trump Actually Tried to Steal 2020

Though Trump failed to steal the 2020 election, he certainly tried. What did that effort look like? It didn’t involve a legion of fraudulent ballots. It involved Trump attempting to subvert key mechanisms of the electoral process. Take, for instance, his now-infamous call to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, urging him to “find” 11,780 votes—just enough to overturn Biden’s victory in the state. In Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump allies sought to pressure state legislators into decertifying the results, bypassing the will of the voters entirely.

The most audacious ploy came with the so-called "fake electors" scheme, in which Trump loyalists submitted fraudulent slates of electors in battleground states, hoping to sow enough confusion to delay certification on January 6th. That day, of course, ended in violence as Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, driven by a web of lies spun by their leader. This wasn’t a coup attempt in the style of banana republics, but it wasn’t far off. In fact, it may have been the opening act for something far more dangerous.

How an Election Could Be Stolen

Trump’s antics may seem like a circus of incompetence, but they laid bare weaknesses in America’s electoral system. The danger is not that future elections will be stolen through truckloads of counterfeit ballots or hijacked voting machines. The real threat lies in manipulating the levers of power from the inside.

Here are the most plausible ways an election could be stolen:

1. Controlling Key Election Officials: A would-be election thief need not hack voting machines; they simply need to install loyalists in critical positions—secretaries of state, election boards—where they can refuse to certify results they don’t like. Trump is already working on this. In several key states, his allies have been pushing to replace independent election officials with loyal foot soldiers, people who can gum up the works when results don’t go their way.

2. Legislative Shenanigans: Some state legislatures, especially those in battleground states, are already floating the idea of overriding the popular vote entirely. Republican-controlled legislatures in states like Georgia and Arizona could, in theory, use ambiguous laws to invalidate election results or appoint their own slate of electors.

3. The Supreme Court: There’s also the matter of a Supreme Court that could grease the wheels of subversion. Justices have signaled a willingness to entertain the “independent state legislature” theory, a dubious interpretation of the Constitution that would give state legislatures almost unchecked power over election laws. In a country where gerrymandering is already rife, this could effectively give state lawmakers the power to dictate the outcome of national elections.

4. Voter Suppression: Voter suppression is hardly a new tactic, but in an era of razor-thin margins, it’s a particularly potent one. Restricting early voting, closing polling locations, purging voter rolls—these measures disproportionately affect Democratic voters, especially minorities, the poor, and the elderly. The strategy isn’t about convincing people to change their minds; it’s about making it harder for those least likely to vote Republican to cast their ballots at all.

5. Chaos and Disinformation: Trump’s greatest political weapon has always been chaos, and disinformation is the fuel that keeps it burning. By spreading lies about voting procedures, by planting seeds of doubt about the legitimacy of the election itself, a bad actor could delegitimize an entire election without needing a single fraudulent vote. Misinformation, amplified by a compliant media ecosystem, can confuse voters and suppress turnout. The endgame isn’t necessarily to "win" an election, but to make its outcome so contested and chaotic that it becomes easier to subvert.

A Blueprint for 2024?

Trump may have failed in 2020, but he’s refining his tactics for the future. He and his allies are already laying the groundwork for 2024 by positioning loyalists in critical electoral posts, floating legislation that could undermine the vote, and continuing to spread lies about the integrity of elections. This time, he won’t need to resort to a mob on the steps of the Capitol. If the right gears are greased, the system itself could collapse under its own weight.

Despite the horrors of January 6th, 2020 showed us that the American electoral system can, under extreme pressure, hold firm. But those safeguards are under attack. The real danger now is that the next attempted coup won’t come with riots and slogans but through legal maneuvers, legislative chicanery, and bureaucratic subversion. The next election may not be stolen in plain sight—it may be quietly suffocated behind closed doors.

The best defense? A determined electorate, a judiciary willing to enforce the law, and above all, a commitment to preserving democratic norms. But let’s be clear: democracy’s greatest enemy isn’t the dead voting or malfunctioning voting machines. It’s the quiet erosion of trust, the deliberate undermining of institutions, and the cynical manipulation of power.

If America is to avoid the fate of other failed democracies, it must confront this threat with vigilance, and above all, with overwhelming turnout. The 2024 election will likely be a battle not just for political power, but for the very soul of American democracy.