The Rachel Maddow Show

Episode: Three Ways Trump is Trying to Rig the 2026 Midterm Elections
Host: Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
Date: August 19, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Rachel Maddow delves into escalating domestic and international crises under President Trump’s second term, focusing particularly on his administration’s multi-pronged efforts to undermine the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Against the backdrop of massive protests, both in the U.S. and abroad, and plummeting approval ratings, Maddow documents three strategies Trump is using to tilt the electoral system in his favor while circumscribing American democracy and consolidating power. She features reporting on the ongoing situation in Texas, where Democratic legislators face extraordinary coercion, and brings in historian Garrett Graff to highlight the dangers of these authoritarian tactics.

Key Discussion Points

1. Growing Protests at Home and Abroad

(01:00–09:00)

• Massive Israeli Protests: Maddow opens by contextualizing recent large-scale protests in Israel over the Gaza war, comparing their impact proportionally to potential U.S. protests.
• U.S. Protests Against Trump: She outlines the surge in anti-Trump protests—more than 5 million have protested simultaneously in the U.S.—and the daily demonstrations in D.C. following Trump’s military takeover of the city.
  • Protestor chants include: “Danger, danger. There's a fascist in the White House,” and “Free D.C.”
  • Expanding protests in cities threatened with similar military deployments: Chicago, Oakland, Dallas, Boston, and others.
• Civil Resistance: The escalation of federal force—including National Guard deployments and militarized checkpoints—has intensified public backlash, with rallies and direct action in multiple states.

Notable Quote:

“On the first day that Trump announced that show of force in our nation’s capital, people marched through the streets… chanting, among other things, ‘danger, danger. There's a fascist in the White House.’”
- Rachel Maddow (05:20)

2. Trump’s International Missteps: The Alaska Summit

(09:45–13:00, 24:44–32:35)

• Trump’s Meeting with Putin: Maddow recounts the disastrous summit in Alaska, where Trump reversed U.S. policy to appease Putin, yielding Ukrainian territory without reciprocal concessions, drawing comparisons to 20th-century appeasement diplomacy.
• Allied Pushback: European leaders, including the German Chancellor and President Zelensky, convened at the White House to “backstop” the U.S. and pressure Trump not to further damage Western interests.
• Incoherent Diplomacy: The segment includes an anecdote about secret diplomatic documents being left out in Anchorage, symbolizing administrative chaos.
• Michael McFaul Analysis: Former Ambassador to Russia critiques Trump’s behavior, calling the Alaska summit “one of the most disastrous moments for American diplomacy.”

Notable Quotes:

“We treated this imperial dictator, this indicted war criminal, like he was one of our best allies. And there was no reason to do that.”—Michael McFaul (29:10)
“Critics compared [the summit] to the 1938 conference in Munich when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain surrendered part of Czechoslovakia to Germany’s Adolf Hitler as part of a policy of appeasement.”—Rachel Maddow (12:00)

3. Plummeting Approval Ratings and Public Opinion

(16:00–21:00)

• Poll Numbers: Citing a new Pew poll, Maddow runs through a laundry list of metrics illustrating the public’s lack of confidence in Trump’s handling of international relations (Ukraine, Russia, Iran, China), honesty, effectiveness, and role-model status.
  • Trump’s approval is underwater by 22 points; 47% “strongly disapprove” of his presidency.
  • Disapproval on handling the Epstein files hits 70%.
• Hardening Opposition: Maddow notes the growth of entrenched opposition—“the country… is not just turning against Trump, it’s hardening in its turn against him.”

4. The Texas Crisis: Authoritarian Tactics on the State Level

(21:00–23:06, 34:04–46:48)

• Manipulating Congressional Maps: Trump is pressuring states like Texas to redraw district lines to guarantee Republican congressional dominance.
  • In parallel, Vice President J.D. Vance exerts similar pressure in Indiana and other states (Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida).
• Suppressing Democratic Lawmakers: Texas Democrats returned from out-of-state exile and were immediately faced with a demand—sign consent forms allowing continuous police monitoring and the threat of arrest.
• Political Detainment: State Rep. Nicole Collier is effectively detained for refusing the consent form.
  • “They’re assigning [cops] as minders to monitor the location of these Democrats 24 hours a day so as to be prepared to arrest them at any time.” (21:50)
• Public Locked Out: TX Republicans close legislative galleries, barring public oversight.

Notable Quote:

“I refuse. I just had enough. I’ve had enough of this bullying tactics that they use… This is just more of their exercise of power and authority over our ability to challenge them.”
- Nicole Collier, Texas State Rep. (44:30)

5. Three-Pronged Assault on 2026 Elections

(34:04–41:54)

Maddow highlights the “three lanes” of Trump’s efforts to rig or undermine the legitimacy of the midterms:

A. Gerrymandering Congressional Districts

• Pressuring Republican-controlled legislatures to redraw maps and structurally lock in GOP control (Texas, Indiana, Missouri, NH, SC, FL).

B. Undermining the Census

• Trump calls for a new census, attempting to invalidate existing congressional districts—potentially creating chaos and justifying the cancellation or delay of elections.

C. Restricting Voting Rights and Methods

• Trump (reportedly on Putin’s advice) proposes an executive order banning mail-in voting and voting machines, and floating intense restrictions on in-person voting (armed checkpoints, ICE raids).
  • The tactic: “Make the elections look like elections, but not actually be elections.” (37:30)

Notable Quotes:

“If Trump is essentially taking tactical advice from the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, about how to hold something that looks like an election but isn’t actually an election, as an answer to the existential question for American democracy, this is a little bit on the nose, right?”
- Rachel Maddow (37:08)

“Too often we think of sort of Donald Trump being crazy over here, being crazy over there, and they're not related… I think what we are seeing is this roadmap for how our country loses free and fair elections.”
- Garrett Graff (39:00)

Garrett Graff’s Analysis:

• These changes won’t necessarily abolish elections, but could guarantee minority rule through structural manipulation, suppression, intimidation, and normalization of distrust in results.
• Deployment of thousands of new ICE officers and National Guard troops is discussed as a form of “super empowered professional thuggery” intended to intimidate would-be voters.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Protests:
  “I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win…”
  Chant heard at D.C. rallies against Trump’s military occupation (06:30)
• On Democracy:
  “If we lose the ability to vote our leaders out… public opinion will never matter again.”
  - Rachel Maddow (23:00)
• On Texas Authoritarianism:
  “She is being ‘detained as a political prisoner on the Texas House floor.’”
  - Rachel Maddow quoting TX House Democrats (21:40)
• On International Stage:
  “It was made worse in that there were no results that were good for American national interests or the interests of our allies or President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.”
  - Michael McFaul (29:15)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• US and International Protests Escalate: 01:00–09:00
• Ukraine, Russia, and the Alaska Summit: 09:45–13:00, 24:44–32:35
• Plummeting Trump Approval / Polling Data: 16:00–21:00
• Texas Legislature Crisis: 21:00–23:06, 34:04–46:48
• Garrett Graff Interview & Three-Prong Vote Rigging: 38:31–41:52
• Nicole Collier Interview (TX Dem Detained): 44:10–45:54

Conclusion

Rachel Maddow paints a dire portrait of American democracy under siege—from the streets of D.C. and statehouses in Texas, to the international stage. Through legal manipulation, administrative chaos, violence, and overt suppression, the Trump administration is shown to be actively undermining the foundations of the electoral process ahead of 2026. Maddow concludes with a somber reflection: the public’s lack of confidence will become irrelevant if the right to remove leaders at the ballot box is lost.