Trump's election schemes threatened by his own lawyers' incompetence: analysis

President Donald Trump has been gearing up to interfere in the 2026 midterm elections — but he could hit a brick wall, Jim Saksa wrote for the liberal election law group Democracy Docket, because of the ineptitude of his own legal team.

"With Trump’s poll numbers at record lows, democracy advocates and Democrats are preparing for the White House to use a range of tactics to prevent a fair election — from sending federal law enforcement to the polls to seize mail ballots, to declaring a state of emergency to allow for a full takeover of the voting process," said the report. "These nightmare scenarios can’t be ruled out and pose a clear threat to U.S. democracy. But experts say it’s more likely — all but certain, in fact — that Trump will use the DOJ to try to rehash the same kind of legal challenges he made in 2020, which led to more than 60 courtroom losses."

One of the major events that set the tone of the administration's efforts is a seizure of ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, that appears to be yet another attempt to investigate 2020 voter fraud conspiracy theories. County officials are demanding the ballots' return, and alleging the administration lied to a federal court to obtain the warrant.

Loyola Marymount University constitutional law professor Justin Levitt told Democracy Docket the main issue is, “Is DOJ going to allege crazy s---, just like in Fulton County? Absolutely, yes…. That’s the new normal for the Department of Justice.” Their problem, he continued, is “The quantity of litigation isn’t all that frightening when the quality is crap. And the quality is crap.”

This comes at a moment when reporting indicates federal judges are losing patience and trust in DOJ, as they repeatedly uncover attempts to deceive and cover up facts in court filings and arguments.

Levitt warned that even if the legal maneuvers are unsuccessful, they could gin up public unrest: “I have no doubt that you will see aggressive nonsense theories, warmed-over conspiracy, wild shambolic allegations, and you’ll probably see lots of it. You’ll see it before election day. You’ll see it after election day. You’ll see it during certification.”