Trump and his enablers are the real threat to our elections

At 11 am this morning, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin entered the Indian Treaty Room carrying a blue folder with both hands. He walked directly to the podium, nervously adjusted the two microphones again and again, shuffled through his notes, and never once looked up at the journalists seated just a few feet away. Once he was finally ready, he began working his way through prepared remarks, including, “One of the greatest privileges I have is being Secretary Department of Homeland.” He struggled with his own title. It was an awkward and sobering reminder of the people Donald Trump has entrusted with some of the most powerful departments in the federal government.

By the time his 27 minutes were up, Mullin had reminded the room multiple times that his loyalty to Trump was absolute. “When I was sworn in just over a hundred days ago by President Trump... I haven’t quit smiling.” Later, he assured the room there was “no daylight” between himself and the president, even mentioning they had been texting that morning before praising Trump’s “remarkable team.”

But it wasn’t all about Trump. Speaking about people he claimed had violated election laws, Mullin declared, “We will hunt you down. We will find you.” He threatened election officials with “fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time” if, after receiving what he described as new election information from the administration, they failed to act on it. He said that information would be released in 30 days, just before the midterm elections. He also criticized what he called “activist judges,” adding another target to the minds of an already radicalized Trump follower base.

What we watched today was not about securing our elections. It was about rigging them. It is a warning that every American needs to hear. Markwayne told us exactly how they plan to make sure the Trump Administration never loses unchecked power.

He started with a lie. “This isn’t about rehashing the 2020 election,” he said. “This is just exposing what took place and to make sure it never happens again.” That is exactly what it was about. He was told to get up to that podium and make it look legitimate, to dress up a fabricated crisis to look like a national security threat. He said that because that is the only play they have left.

He framed it the way authoritarians always frame it: as something no reasonable person could oppose. “This should be something that every American, regardless if you’re a Republican, you’re a Democrat, you’re an independent, you’re a Libertarian, regardless if you live in a blue state, or you live in a red state, everybody should know that their vote counts.” He was offering a simple solution to a complex problem, except this time it was a problem that doesn’t actually exist. He was trying to make it sound like anyone who questions what the Trump administration is doing does not care about elections, that they are un-American. That is what he was really saying.

And here is the thing that cuts through every single claim he made today. If Democrats could actually rig elections, or if there was some massive voting problem in this country, Donald Trump would have lost. Republicans would not have control of both chambers of Congress. They would not have been able to stack the Supreme Court. That is the proof. That is the only response any of us need when they say these things. The actual, real evidence is right in front of us, in every court case, audit, and investigation that has already been done. This is not a real crisis. This is just another step in their authoritarian takeover. And they are just ramping it up.

Mullin then laid out his centerpiece claim: “Department of Homeland Security, we’ve identified 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in just four states. Mind you, we have 46 other states. And just four states, we’ve identified 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada.”

He opened with Democratic states. The ones Trump needed and lost in 2020. The ones he is most bitter about. And even if the number were true, which it is not, it would not matter. Registration is not the same thing as voting. In states like California, election officials are required to confirm each voter’s registration status and verify their signature before a ballot can be counted. A name appearing on a registration list does not mean that person cast a ballot, and it does not mean an unlawful vote was counted. When researchers have actually investigated how many noncitizens voted, the amount has always been so small it was statistically insignificant. Every illegal vote that occurs should be investigated, and we should form barriers to prevent it. But our actual election integrity is extremely strong. The only real risk to it is people like this man and his boss, the president, trying to take over our country because they know they cannot get enough legitimate votes to hold power.

His own letters to the states acknowledge the numbers are unverified. When Georgia actually checked the names DHS flagged, only 150 out of 2,549 had ever voted in the state. The Bipartisan Policy Center of the Heritage Foundation’s election-fraud database found only 77 instances of noncitizen voting across all U.S. elections between 1999 and 2023. Seventy-seven. In 24 years. David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, attended a White House briefing the day before and said the 250,000 figure was based on comparisons with commercial data, which is less detailed than actual voter records and routinely produces false matches.

Wendy Weiser, vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice, said: “Pay attention to what Mullin did not provide: any evidence to back up his wild numbers or even an explanation as to where those numbers came from. They are almost certainly false or wildly overstated.”

Mullin then added: “We also worked with proactive states to identify 28,000 noncitizens on their voter roles plus 400,000 individuals that are still registered to vote that are deceased.”

Deceased people are not intentionally trying to vote and neither are the people checking their mail as their affairs are wrapped up. People die every single day, and the fact that their names are still on voter rolls does not mean anything. It does not mean they or anyone else would vote. It means they are dead and they cannot notify the voting authority that they are dead. Voter rolls are updated on rolling timelines. This is paperwork, not fraud. And it is shameful that he would use this statistic to make it sound like some deliberate scheme when he has no proof of that. It is exploitative of the reality of people who die and the families they leave behind.

Throughout the press conference, Mullin appeared to use the numbers 250,000 and 278,000 interchangeably for the same claimed group, never once explaining the discrepancy. He could not remember which four states he was talking about and had to check his notes. He said “FOYA” when he meant FOIA. He said “catched” instead of “caught.” He said “he has gave” instead of “he has given.” This is the man who is telling us he is going to secure our elections.

As I watched him, I couldn’t help but think about the legacy he is choosing to leave behind. Markwayne Mullin built a life working for his family’s plumbing business before making his way to Congress. His family should be an American story that represents hard work and opportunity. Instead, he now stands at the head of one of the most powerful departments in the federal government, not because he built a reputation for independent judgment or expertise in homeland security, but because he has demonstrated unwavering loyalty to one man. There is a difference between serving a president and serving power itself. History remembers those who were willing to trade their dignity and American spirit for proximity to power just as clearly as it remembers the people who demanded it.

Then he said something that revealed the strategy behind the entire event. “One thing that I love about numbers and I love about facts is they don’t lie. This isn’t something that I’m trying to tell you to spin a narrative. This is what is going on.”

It is obvious what he is doing here. He is not introducing evidence for the audience to examine. He is asking the audience to accept his conclusions before they have seen the evidence, because there doesn’t appear to be any. Throughout the press conference, he repeatedly insisted, “we know,” and declared that his claims were “not even for debate,” as though saying something often enough transforms it into fact.

That is not how facts work. Facts are established by evidence that can be examined, challenged, and independently verified. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Yet during those 27 minutes, no public evidence was presented to support the sweeping assertions he was making. Instead, Americans were told to trust that the evidence exists and to accept the conclusions. In a democracy, that is backwards. Government officials do not establish truth by declaring it. They establish credibility by showing their evidence and allowing it to withstand public scrutiny.

There is no doubt that we are susceptible to outside influence, just like every country is. Our system is set up so that there are thousands of jurisdictions in control of voting. To say that a foreign adversary could infiltrate one small jurisdiction and somehow affect the entire federal election system is not how this works. But since they do not have proof, they are going with a strongman approach: you are not allowed to question it. That shows how weak their case is and how weak this man is.

Then Mullin moved to the operational threats. “Working with Secretary Lutnik, we are going to make our security enhancements mandatory,” he said. “Meaning that if these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to run federal elections, they’re going to have to implement security issues. Just security issues. We’re not trying to get into anything else, but we’re saying that the machines have to be secured and that your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed.”

This is where the picture became much bigger than Markwayne Mullin. He made it clear that states choosing not to participate in the administration’s new election security program could face consequences. He also indicated that states declining to participate could risk losing access to certain federal election funding.

ABC News reported that DHS has also previously threatened to withhold FEMA counterterrorism grants unless states complied with election security mandates. So this is not just about election reimbursement. They are holding public safety funding over the heads of the states.

Mullin then said something deeply alarming: “Before and after the election, we will scrub all election records looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted yet they were deceased.”

We are less than four months away from the midterm elections, and the federal government wants to come into the states and scrub voter rolls. Who decides how those rolls are scrubbed? Who decides who gets removed and who does not? Where is the oversight? If they are in control of this process, there is no one watching, and they can do whatever they want. They could remove any voters they do not want voting.

Then came the moment in the question-and-answer session that is rightfully drawing the most attention. In response to a question from a Daily Caller reporter, Mullin said:

“I will tell you if the states that choose not to participate with the state program and they choose not to participate in securing the elections, we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states and hold them, the election officials, accountable. If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time.”

This is the kind of rhetoric that has defined fascist and other authoritarian movements throughout history. When governments begin threatening election officials with fines, criminal penalties, or prison for refusing to carry out the ruling party’s preferred policies, they are no longer relying solely on persuasion. They are relying on fear. We have seen this pattern before. The details change. But the tactic remains the same: pressure the people responsible for administering elections until independent judgment gives way to political obedience.

The deeper damage is the part not being talked about. If election officials can be threatened with prosecution for doing their jobs, who is going to want to work the polls? Who is going to volunteer? If government officials can construct a narrative and then threaten the people who refuse to accept it, the entire system of election administration begins to break down. That is how trust in democratic institutions erodes. That is how fear replaces independent judgment. And history has shown us where that road can lead.

He also went after the judiciary. “What’s interesting to me is we’re getting pushback from activist judges,” he said, conflating the SAVE Act, which is a congressional bill, with the SAVE program, which is the DHS immigration database. He said: “This should be that any judge and any god-fearing individual that loves this country should want to make sure that our elections are secure.”

This is one of the most concerning things he said. They are preemptively discrediting the courts. They know they are going to lose. A federal judge has already blocked the expanded SAVE database. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan wrote in her seventy-five-page ruling that “the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote.” Fifteen courts have now blocked the administration’s election demands, including six judges appointed by Donald Trump. This is why they are poisoning the well now, months before the midterms, so that when judges rule against them, they have already told their base those judges are corrupt. They are not just attacking one judge. They are attacking the entire concept of an independent judiciary in preparation for what comes after November.

He also said: “What’s frustrating again in this is that the Biden administration knew this and our intel community knew this. And not only did they withhold it from President Trump in his first term.”

There was no Biden administration during Trump’s first term. The president in 2020 was Donald Trump. He served for four years before the election he lost. If there were any issues with election security during that time, they are on Donald Trump, not on Joe Biden. This administration loves to point to other people. They love their scapegoats. Transgender people. Immigrants. Biden. Obama. It does not have to make sense. It obviously is not true. But they do not care, because they know their base does not care either.

Today forced me to confront the two things I worry about most: the press and our elections. Without a free press, we do not know what is happening. We cannot hold anyone accountable. Without free and fair elections, we lose the one peaceful way we have to change our government.

On days like today, it is easy to let my mind drift to the worst-case scenario. But strangely, those are also the days that give me hope. Because as dark as things can feel, they remind me that we are not at the end of this story. There is still time to resist. There is still time to change course.

Every once in a while, the Trump administration surprises me, and it is often when I least suspect it, because we had a moment when the truth was still able to break through from within.

John Solomon, a conservative media figure who now serves on Trump’s own election task force, was handpicked by the administration to investigate the very claims they are peddling as facts. And on Friday night, after Trump’s primetime address, Solomon said this on camera: “The Intelligence Committee has zero evidence that someone, that a foreign power, flipped the vote in 2020, ‘22 or ‘24.”

When asked specifically whether Venezuela had tampered with U.S. voting machines, a conspiracy theory that election deniers have been spreading for years, Solomon said: “No. The intelligence is very clear. They did it on their own machines.”

The Washington Post reported that even in Thursday’s primetime speech, Trump “never claimed to have any evidence of altered votes or compromised machines.” FactCheck.org confirmed the speech “offered no evidence that widespread fraud had occurred.”

The pushback to both Trump and Mullin came quickly. Governor Gavin Newsom responded to Mullin directly: “California has free, fair, and secure elections and we will fight for them. Try us.” Senator Chuck Schumer said: “They are losing, and they know it. Election officials will not be intimidated.” Senator Raphael Warnock said: “He knows he’s a failed president. He knows that his popularity is faltering. He knows that he is on course to lose in 2026. And instead of doing something for the people, he’s trying to interfere in our elections.” Representative Jerry Nadler said: “The Trump administration’s own review of the 2020 election determined it was safe, a finding reaffirmed by countless audits and court cases. The only person refusing to accept reality is Donald Trump.” Pennsylvania’s Republican Secretary of State Al Schmidt said: “All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania.” Nevada’s Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said: “We can affirm that on its face, we refute these claims. These numbers are wildly speculative at best and the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t shared anything that backs it up.”

This was another week where Trump and the people enabling him showed us just how far they are willing to go to hold onto power. But they also showed us something else. They are not in complete control, or they would not be resorting to these kinds of extreme measures.

We are less than four months away from the midterm elections. The pressure will only build from here, but so will the resistance. We have a very real chance to slow this down and stop the worst of what they are trying to do. November will be here before we know it. Until then, we just have to keep the pressure on, keep speaking the truth, and keep showing up for one another. I know we will. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: These might be the most “Southern California” resistance stickers I have ever seen. Especially the surf one. I was behind this legend on the road today. I hope I see him again so I can thank him for doing his part.

Sources:

Markwayne Mullin holds a press conference on election security: YouTube Video

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/homeland-security-mullin-threaten-state-election-officials-voter-registration-save/

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/most-of-trump-dojs-voter-roll-losses-have-come-from-gop-appointed-judges/

https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/06/22/judge-rules-against-trump-overhaul-save-database-noncitizen-voters/

https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/07/07/trump-department-justice-letter-noncitizens-voter-rolls-election-officials/

https://us.cnn.com/2026/07/17/politics/election-officials-voting-mullin-save

https://www.factcheck.org/2026/07/factchecking-trumps-election-security-speech/

https://newrepublic.com/post/213185/trump-election-fraud-guy-john-solomon-found-no-proof

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-mullin-holds-news-conference-on-election-security-after-trumps-address-to-the-nation

https://abcnews.com/Politics/mullin-threatens-withhold-aid-states-dont-comply-dhs/story?id=134854708

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/tulsi-gabbard-scrutiny-showing-fbi-raid-georgia-election-hub-rcna256525