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2028 Election

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an 4 26

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as President Donald Trump’s press secretary before getting elected as Arkansas governor, is being slammed by one of her state’s most prominent editors-in-chief — and based on opposition from her fellow Republicans, the criticisms may challenge her rumored presidential ambitions.

“If you’re a red-state governor with an eye on 2028 and a prison you want to build has stalled, what do you say after a disappointing primary election?” wrote Arkansas Advocate editor-in-chief Andrew DeMillo on Sunday. “If you’re Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you return to your greatest hits.”

He added, “The Arkansas governor’s 52-minute State of the State address amounted to fan service highlighting stances that appeal to fellow Republicans. She also steered clear of the only proposal she’s made that’s faced serious legislative resistance.”

The proposal in question is an $825 million prison complex including 3,000 new beds in a rural area with no water infrastructure or paved roads. Despite being a Republican like Trump himself, Sanders’ prison is facing staunch opposition from fellow Republicans who say it is wasteful and inefficient. In response she moved to oust two of them, Bryan King and Ronald Caldwell, in subsequent GOP primaries. Despite Sanders’ considerable political clout, those challenges failed.

“From advocating further income tax cuts to repeating her complaints about ‘woke indoctrination’ in schools, Sanders opted against any sweeping new policy initiatives or any fights within her own party,” DeMillo wrote. “Her message to GOP lawmakers as they kicked off the legislative session was simple: Pass my budget so I can call you back to the Capitol to cut taxes.”

It is likely she will get her wish or at least something closely approximating to it, DeMillo added. Despite the scandal associated with her prison, “Sanders is far from a precarious position politically, with a Legislature that’s approved nearly every one of her agenda items,” DeMillo wrote. “Sanders is in a comfortable position for reelection with millions in the bank and avoided a primary challenger despite divisions emerging in her party.”

He added, “And her majority on the state Board of Corrections appears to be clearing the way for her to end the legal battle with the panel over who runs the state prisons.”

Yet DeMillo concluded that while Sanders has not lost Arkansas, she may have lost the White House.

“Already a national figure from her time as President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sanders is taking the steps you’d expect from someone eyeing a White House bid,” DeMillo observed. “The governor insists that she’s focused on the job as governor. But let’s be clear: governors don’t plan to release books the week after a midterm election and two years before a presidential election just because they like writing.”

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YIKES

an 1 26

Doomsday preppers are often depicted as right-wingers. Some are libertarians, while others are Christian fundamentalists. And their reasons for predicting doom vary, ranging from fears of an economic collapse worse than the Great Depression to predictions of nuclear war.

But Dmitri Mehlhorn, according to The Atlantic's Michael Scherer, is a "doomsday philosopher" and a former Democratic strategist who fears a "political apocalypse" under President Donald Trump.

"Betting money puts the odds of constitutional collapse in the United States at about one in 25," Scherer explains in an article published on January 22. "Anyone can wager three or four cents on Polymarket, Kalshi, or PredictIt that will pay out $1 if Donald Trump wins a third term in the 2028 election — an impossibility, according to the plain text of the 22nd Amendment: 'No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.' Dmitri Mehlhorn, a former Democratic strategist, thinks that the chance of political apocalypse is about 20 times higher — and that Americans need to start preparing now."

Scherer adds, "He recently secured dual citizenship for his family on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and is obsessively thinking through how people should respond if Trump tries to maintain power with the threat of force. He styles himself a doomsday philosopher of this worst-case scenario."

In December 2025, according to Scherer, Mehlhorn visited Manhattan's Soho area to "play a war game of sorts" with "about 15 finance professionals, nonprofit leaders, technology executives, and former Democratic-campaign advisers."

In the game, Scherer reports, the people gathered in Soho faced a fictional scenario in which "President Buzz Windrip" and "his team must increase their own wealth and maintain power or secure legal amnesty through 2030."

Mehlhorn told Scherer that in the scenario, "You have a man who breaks the law, and that man is the strongman. Which bends, the man or the law? That's the question…. If the president has proven in his first term that he will ignore subpoenas and ignore congressional budget authorizations and pardon anybody who also does, then suddenly, there's no power. What are the remaining checks? Every check is gone."

Interviewed by Scherer, Mehlhorn voiced his fears about what could happen in the 2028 presidential election.

"Trump would announce his candidacy for president late, leading the Republican Party to easily nominate him," Scherer explains. "The Supreme Court then would either split on the question of whether this is legal or rule against Trump with no effect. (Vice President) JD Vance has repeatedly endorsed the idea of the president defying Supreme Court rulings. As the votes are being counted, Mehlhorn imagines, Trump and federal law enforcement would declare rampant fraud in urban centers and move to disqualify residents of those districts' votes. In January 2029, Vance would do what (former Vice President) Mike Pence did not do in 2021: use his power to throw the election to Trump."

Scherer continues, "If there is resistance, another pro-Trump mob — including many who have already been pardoned for the January 6, 2021, attack — could provide backup."

Mehlhorn told Scherer, "As president, who stops him? Who prevents that from happening? What person? What combination of people?"

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AN 1 26

Former Vice President Mike Pence offered a grim outlook for his one-time running mate, Donald Trump, should things go poorly for the GOP, per a report from the Daily Beast, echoing the president's own recent predictions.

Pence previously served as vice president during Trump's first term and ran for reelection alongside him in his failed 2020 campaign. His refusal to go along with Trump's plan to overturn the results of that race by not certifying them in Congress led to a severe falling out between the two, with January 6 Capitol rioters infamously calling for Pence to be hanged. Since then, Pence has emerged as a vocal critic of Trump's continued political machinations, decrying him for drifting away from traditional conservative values and Constitutional law.

On Thursday, Pence appeared on CNN and told host Kaitlin Collins that he concurred with Trump's recent prediction that he would be impeached if Democrats take back the House majority in the 2026 midterms, as they are widely expected to do. Pence suggested that, whatever the circumstances, Democrats would "very likely" find some ground on which to launch impeachment proceedings.

“I think it’s very likely,” Pence said. “I mean, they impeached the president for a phone call when we were in office, and I expect it in this highly divided, partisan town.”

Pence referred to Trump's first impeachment from 2020, after he was accused of extorting Ukrainian leaders for dirt on Hunter Biden in exchange for foreign aid. Trump became the first president ever impeached twice in 2021 following his involvement in the events of January 6. Both times, Republicans were able to vote down his conviction in the Senate, preventing him from being removed from office and barred from running in the future.

As Trump has moved more and more in his second term to seize powers delegated to Congress, act without congressional approval and use his office to personally enrich himself, Democrats have raised the prospect of impeachment countless times. Though these threats have been prevented from moving forward due to GOP majorities in the House and Senate, Trump's skyrocketing unpopularity with voters has increased the odds of Democrats retaking the House in 2026, which would clear the way for a third impeachment.

“You gotta win the midterms,” Trump said at a speech on Tuesday marking the fifth anniversary of January 6. “Because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be, I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached.”

Though fewer pundits predict that Democrats will be able to retake the Senate, the idea is gradually becoming more plausible as Trump continues to alienate voters. His potential conviction following impeachment, however, would remain a tall order, as it would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.

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newsom strong 11 25 post prop 50 blowout 2:1

an 11 25

In their latest look at how the 2028 presidential election is shaping up on the Republican side of things, the *Washington Post* analyzes the early field, but says there's room for 'some surprises.'

The standouts, they write, include Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State and one-time Trump foil Marco Rubio.

Because Vance has "done little set himself apart from Trump," they write, he is at the top of the list, according to September YouGov poll.

Rubio, they write, is frequently mentioned as Trump's successor, and even the president sees both Rubio and Vance as his heirs apparent.

"Marco’s great,” Trump said, adding of Vance and Rubio: “I’m not sure if anybody would run against those two. I think if they formed a group, it would be unstoppable.”

In what the Postdescribes as "the middle of the pack," are Trump's son Donald Jr., Ron DeSantis, the lame duck governor of Florida whom Trump publicly humiliated and eviscerated in the ephemeral 2024 Republican primary, and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), another one-time Trump enemy turned rabid loyalist.

Donald Jr., writes the Post, "seems to be making the case that he’s the rightful heir to MAGA, saying recently of his desire to run: “That calling is there. I think my father has truly changed the Republican Party. I think it’s the America First party now, the MAGA party, however you want to look at it.”

As for DeSantis, "His run as governor of Florida ends in 2027, so he will have to build momentum for a presidential run while out of public office," the Post reports.

And though Cruz is now a reliable Trump loyalist, the Post writes, "he has also been differentiating himself in small yet notable ways.

Cruz blasted the Trump administration’s threats to cancel late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over protected speech as "dangerous as hell", has warned against Trump’s tariffs, and recently said he can’t support Trump's allegedly antisemitic pickfor Kuwaiti ambassador.

Then there are the "dark horses," the Post says, including "Trump himself," in reference to his taunts of an illegal third term, and Department of Homeland Security leader Kristi Noem, whom Trump considered as his vice president when she was governor of South Dakota.

Noem, the Post says, has led the mass deportations which have "become one of Trump’s best-known — and controversial — policies, and Noem has owned it."

Another dark horse, the Post says, is health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has convinced Trump to regularly share "unfounded vaccine skepticism," despite recently getting vaxxed himself.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is another dark horse, as is Utah's governor "Spencer Cox or another not-quite-MAGA candidate," the Post says, adding that "Republican strategists expect someone like Cox — or perhaps former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley or even former vice president Mike Pence— to run for president as an alternative to Trumpism."

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maddow 3 scams on election. putin says no mail in votes. texas gerry, census citizen BS

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-putin-voting-machines-mail-ballots-executive-order-rcna225608

Aug. 19, 2025,

By Ryan Teague Beckwith, Newsletter Editor

President Donald Trump is talking about changing voting laws again, citing a recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After a summit in Alaska last week, Trump said Putin talked with him about election integrity. He then posted on Truth Social about plans to change voting machines before next year's midterms and again raised the issue on Monday while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House — ostensibly to talk about peace in Ukraine.

But what exactly did Putin tell Trump, and what is Trump now trying to do? And were either man's claims accurate? Here are some answers.

What are Russian elections like?

Multiple outside groups have labeled Russian elections as illegitimate. In 2023, Russian Election Monitor, a group of European scholars, former and active politicians and public officials, found "a serious deterioration" in voting rights in Russia. The group cited last-minute changes to laws, attempts to complicate election observation, a lack of free debate, pressure on candidates and voters and a lack of independent election commissions. Some parts of Russia use electronic voting systems, which have been found to be vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. The European Parliament condemned Russian elections as "illegitimate and undemocratic."

Why would Putin, of all people, lecture the U.S. on voting?

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We don't know for sure. But as a former KGB agent, Putin was trained on how to emotionally manipulate people he's dealing with. (He famously brought his black Labrador to a meeting with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is afraid of dogs.) Telling Trump that the 2020 election was rigged against him seems like an obvious way to get on his good side.

What did Putin say?

According to Trump, "he said 'your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting.' He said, 'Mail-in voting, every election —no country has mail-in voting. It's impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.' And he said that to me because we talked about 2020. He said, 'You won that election by so much.'"

Is any of that true?

No.

What did Trump say he would do next?

Trump said he was going to "lead a movement" to get rid of mail-in ballots and what he called "Highly 'Inaccurate,' Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election." He said he would sign an executive order to "help bring HONESTY" to the 2026 midterm elections.

What does he mean, exactly?

Honestly, it's hard to say. At one point he said he was required to give his license plate number to vote, which is not true. But in past remarks, Trump has called for nearly all voting to be done on paper ballots, counted by hand, on Election Day, with the winner declared on election night.

There are few problems with those proposals:

How flattery plays a role in Trump’s foreign affairs after Putin summit

06:47

Could Trump really change voting laws by executive order?

The answer here should be a clear no, but we live in unprecedented times. Under the U.S. Constitution, elections are handled at the local levelaccording to state laws, though Congress can set minimum national standards for elections. The federal role typically involves giving guidance to elections officials and offering grants to upgrade equipment.

At a practical level, making the kinds of massive changes to election law that Trump envisions would be expensive and take time to set up, even if every local and state official went along with it. The midterms are in about 14 months, which means there's a very narrow window for any changes to be made, as officials would need to buy, install and test machines and hire and train appropriate staff.

Trump did not say he would ask Congress to pass a law, which would be the only way to appropriate money, so it appears that he may simply try to order the states to make these changes by executive order, which would mean a flood of political pushback and lawsuits that would only shorten the amount of time available. As an example, one reason Louisiana has not replaced its outdated voting machines is that it would cost $105 million.

In his Truth Social post,Trump argued that states are "merely an 'agent' for the Federal Government" in counting votes and "must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them." Suffice it to say that this is not the traditional mainstream view of the U.S. Constitution, checks and balances or federalism.

Are there any problems with U.S. voting that could be addressed?

Sure. State and federal lawmakers could help replace those voting machines in Louisiana and parts of other states that don't have a voter-verified paper trail. More states could join a consortium of 25 states plus D.C. that shares voter registration information to track people who moved. State lawmakers could change laws that prevent officials from prepping early ballots to be counted, which would speed up results on election night.

Any other changes?

A major political figure could stop using his bully pulpit to baselessly attack the integrity of the U.S. voting system.

Ryan Teague Beckwith

Ryan Teague Beckwith is a newsletter editor for MSNBC. He has previously worked for such outlets as Time magazine and Bloomberg News. He teaches journalism at Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies and is the creator of Your First Byline.

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