We’ve talked a lot about what the Trump White House can and will do to subvert the 2026 midterms. The big picture is that with elections being run by states, based on the clear, black-letter law of the U.S. Constitution, what they can do is quite limited. And, as we’ve also noted, you build autocracies when you’re popular (often by goosing the economy in a smart and concerted way), not when you’re swirling the bowl with approval ratings in the mid-30s and falling. The point of returning to these facts is twofold. First is that a key aim of would-be autocrats is to demoralize the opposition, get people to lose hope and think there’s no point in fighting back. It’s important for democracy-defenders not to, with the best intentions, feed into that kind of psyop campaign. It is also to get people looking for the right things and not thinking in overly binary terms — elections vs. no elections, etc. This week we have news that focuses on the abuses of power we’re actually likely to see.
MS NOW broke the story that yesterday FBI agents fanned out across Ohio in pursuing some kind of investigation against a voting rights and voter registration group called Ohio Organizing Collaborative.
I don’t know anything this group specifically. But that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t know about the big voter advocacy groups in most states. Here’s the original MS NOW article. (Here’s a follow-up piece from TPM alum Ryan Reilly of NBC News, which remember is now a separate company.) The investigation apparently includes subpoenas, going to the homes of people associated with the group. They’re scare tactics and fishing expeditions. Much as the retribution efforts against Jim Comey, Letitia James, and the Broadview Six fell apart, this one likely could too. But that is all part of the game: fear and intimidation, forcing people to pay for lawyers rather than focus on voter registration.
We can’t definitively rule out the possibility that there’s something going on with this group that merits an investigation. But we know who the Trump crew is. They’ve told us. We don’t need to pretend that this is a legitimate investigation. It’s key to assume that this is exactly what it looks like: an effort to conjure marginal corrupt games by making people fear being connected or associated with groups like these and generally stymying their work, which is foundational First Amendment and election advocacy work. These investigations are corrupt and anti-constitutional, all abuses of power. And we’re going to see a lot of this because these are the things that the White House can do.
It’s also important to note how these efforts build on the White House’s other corrupt endeavors. When you purge the FBI and drive off the good people, you’re left with a mix of the bad people and those who will go along with corrupt directives because they don’t think they can leave their jobs. So you can do this in the summer of 2026 because you did the purging in 2025.
We’ll keep an eye on this, and you can help us. Are you in Ohio? Do you know more? Are there similar things going on in your state? Tell us.