'Code red': NYT editorial board warns that Trump is preparing to rig the Midterms

What Trump’s own words reveal about his intentions for 2026.

Jan 31

The New York Times’ Editorial Board effectively hit the alarm button this weekend and declared that the 2026 midterm elections are now in serious danger, not from voter fraud, but from the president of the United States.

In a stark warning published Saturday, the Times said Americans “cannot be complacent” as Donald Trump and his allies escalate efforts that could undermine the basic mechanics of democratic elections.

The editorial was prompted in part by a recent FBI operation in Georgia, described by the paper as a “swoop,” targeting election infrastructure over baseless allegations tied to Trump’s long-debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

The Times reminded readers of something election experts have been repeating for years, often to a wall of MAGA denial: “Voter fraud is extremely rare,” the editors wrote, noting that election officials across the country “painstakingly update voter rolls, mail information to households, train poll workers, oversee voting and transport ballots with a documented chain of custody.”

In other words, the system works unless someone in power decides to sabotage it. And Trump, the Times argued, has already shown he’s willing to do exactly that.

Since entering politics, Trump has treated elections as legitimate “only if his side wins,” the editors wrote, a pattern that culminated in his attempt to overturn the 2020 results through what they described as a “sprawling conspiracy.”

When courts, state officials, and even Republican administrators refused to go along, Trump escalated, encouraging supporters to march on Congress and later celebrating the January 6 attack. What’s different now, the Times warned, is that Trump is back in power and armed with the lessons he’s learned.

The editorial points to a growing list of actions that, taken together, amount to a sinister playbook. Trump has pushed for extreme gerrymandering outside the normal redistricting cycle, openly discussed weaponizing federal agencies, and — most chillingly — told the Times he regretted not deploying the National Guard to seize voting machines after the 2020 election.

That is not the language of someone committed to democratic restraint. That is the language of someone angry he didn’t go far enough.

The recent FBI activity in Georgia, the Times wrote, fits squarely into that pattern. Agents searched an election center in Atlanta’s metro area over claims experts say have no factual basis, with Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, accompanying them. Analysts cited by the paper warned the move could be used to justify a forced federal takeover of local election operations in one of the country’s most politically consequential states.

Tulsi Gabbard was spotted outside the Fulton County, GA Election Center during the raid.

“To look at this pattern and conclude that the 2026 midterm elections are safe is to leave American democracy exposed,” the editors wrote bluntly.

This isn’t just editorial speculation. Independent watchdogs, legal scholars, and civil-rights groups have raised similar alarms. The Brennan Center for Justice has documented a surge in partisan interference with election administration since 2020, while organizations like the Campaign Legal Center are actively fighting Trump administration demands for voter data and proposed executive orders that would force states to rewrite ID rules and ballot deadlines midstream.

The Times editorial also underscored a reality often missed in casual political discourse: elections don’t have to be “rigged” nationwide to be compromised. In a divided country where control of Congress may hinge on a handful of races, even localized disruptions, such as targeted investigations, intimidation of poll workers, confusion over voter eligibility, could have national consequences.

During a speech earlier this month, Trump said that if Republicans don’t win the Midterms, “I’ll get impeached.”

If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Political scientists have long noted that democratic backsliding in modern states rarely begins with the abolition of elections. It begins with leaders casting doubt on outcomes, pressuring administrators, and selectively deploying law enforcement under the guise of “integrity.”

The Times ended with a call to action: volunteer as poll workers, support election-defense organizations, resist disinformation — but the subtext was unmistakable. The paper that once treated Trump’s norm-shattering as a spectacle is now openly acknowledging that the threat is structural, ongoing, and accelerating.

When the New York Times declares a “code red” for American democracy, it’s a sign that the guardrails Trump already tested once are being leaned on again, this time by a president who knows exactly how close they came to breaking.