How to Stop Trump’s Plan to Steal the 2026 Elections

The David Frum Show

The Atlantic

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the absurd Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump by FIFA. David discusses how the invented prize reflects what FIFA understands about our president—that he’s the kind of leader who can be won over with shiny trinkets and fancy ceremonies. Then, David is joined by Michael Waldman from the Brennan Center for Justice to discuss how the Trump administration might try to undermine or even outright steal the 2026 elections. David and Michael discuss the possible actions Trump could take, along with the systems in place to stop him and what reforms need to happen to the American electoral system. Michael also discusses the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and what Republicans are doing to undermine it. Finally, David closes the episode with a discussion of an article titled “How Responsibility Shapes Career Success for Leaders,” and what a lesson in management tells us about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership and accountability (or lack thereof) in the controversy over the strikes in Caribbean Sea. Sign up for David Frum’s newsletter alert. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:58.4	Hello, and welcome to the David From Show.
1:01.0	I'm David Frum, a staff writer at The Atlantic.
1:06.8	My guest this week will be Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center at the New York University School of Law.
1:11.1	We'll be discussing at the end of the show, not a book this week, but an article,
1:17.5	how responsibility shapes career success for leaders published in 2024. But first, before the discussion and before the article, some thoughts on events of the week. Now, a lot of the
1:22.9	things the Trump administration does are just horrifying, terrible, destructive. Some of them are silly and weird.
1:31.0	And I want to talk this week about one of the silly and weird ones. As you may have observed,
1:35.7	President Trump was just awarded the first ever peace prize by the Football Association, FIFA.
	...

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