Trump's Midterm Threats and Actions . With Mother Jones' Ari Berman.
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Bill reconnects with Ari Berman, National Voting Rights Correspondent for Mother Jones, to discuss potential threats to the fairness and legality of upcoming elections. Berman emphasizes concerns about former President Trump’s potential interference and outlines how the federal government’s recent actions, such as demanding state voter rolls, could suppress voter turnout. The discussion highlights fears of racial gerrymandering, the implications of the Save America Act, and the persistence of unfounded voter fraud claims. They also critique the limited support from Republicans for election integrity and consider the importance of safeguarding democratic processes against federal overreach. Bill recommends Ari’s latest book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People―and the Fight to Resist It. You can get a copy here
Today Bill highlights the work of Mother Jones Magazine. Check it out at MotherJones.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good day, good friends. Good to see you back here on the Bill Press Pod. |
| 0:11.1 | Well, in the United States, it seems, everybody believes in fair and free elections. |
| 0:16.7 | Yeah, everybody except Donald Trump. For the orange man, the only fair and free election is one he wins. |
| 0:24.9 | He still claims he won the popular vote in 2016, which he did not. |
| 0:29.6 | He still claims he won the 2020 presidential election, which he did not. |
| 0:34.2 | He still claims he won Fulton County, Georgia in 2020, which he did not, and he still |
| 0:39.5 | claims American elections are rigged, which they are not. But now, heading into the midterms, |
| 0:47.0 | Trump's trying to rig elections himself by making it easier for Republicans to win on many fronts, |
| 0:54.4 | by limiting polling places, shortening the time for voting, |
| 0:57.6 | getting rid of absentee ballots, requiring a passport or birth certificate to vote, |
| 1:02.3 | posting armed National Guard troops or ICE agents outside every polling place, |
| 1:07.9 | or even it's been rumored declaring a state of emergency and canceling the midterm |
| 1:14.1 | elections. Many of those steps are in fact already underway. That's scary, posing a real |
| 1:21.3 | existential threat to our democracy. Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones magazine, has been tracking |
| 1:30.1 | Trump's efforts to undermine our elections, and he joins us today to tell us just how worried we should be. |
| 1:37.8 | Ari Berman, welcome to the Bill Press Pot. It is so good to reconnect with you. We haven't talked |
| 1:42.4 | in a couple of years. Hey, Bill. Great to talk to you again. Thanks for having me. |
| 1:46.2 | So I want to put this in context. Look, I'm a Democrat. Everybody knows that. My focus is on |
| 1:51.4 | winning back to house and hopefully maybe even getting the Senate this year. But most of the |
| 1:57.0 | friends that I talk to, they say, I've got the wrong focus. It's not about winning |
| 2:01.4 | elections this year. They're concerned that we may not even have an election this year. |
| 2:06.4 | How serious is this threat? Or do you think it's just crazy? |
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