Authoritarianism Doesn’t Care About Your Midterms [FULL]

This Is Bigger Than Losing an Election

Isaiah 10:1–2 (NIV)

“Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed”

For many Americans, the concern around Donald Trump’s leadership isn’t limited to whether Republicans keep or lose control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. What’s driving the intensity of emotion — including terms like terror, fear, and existential threat — goes far deeper than electoral outcomes. This anxiety reflects a broader sense that the rules and norms that have governed American democracy are being undermined in ways that could have lasting consequences.

At its simplest, losing an election — whether by Republicans or Democrats — is a normal and essential part of democratic competition. But what’s happened in the last several years, particularly since the 2020 election and through Trump’s return to the presidency, is perceived by many as a shift away from that tradition toward something far more destabilizing: the erosion of confidence in democratic institutions, norms, and peaceful transfers of power.

Eroding Trust in Elections

A cornerstone of American democracy is the idea that elections are free, fair, and binding. When a major political leader repeatedly casts doubt on the legitimacy of elections without evidence — claiming widespread fraud or calling for federal control over state-run election processes — it doesn’t just energize voters; it undermines trust itself. Recent reports show Trump suggesting Republicans “take over” or “nationalize” elections in key states — a proposal that critics say would violate constitutional norms and open the door to federal interference in local democratic processes.

This isn’t about one party winning or losing; it’s about whether citizens can collectively believe their votes count and are respected. Once that faith erodes, the social contract — the idea that political losers peacefully accept defeat — becomes harder to sustain.

Attacks on Democratic Pillars

Organizations that monitor global human rights and democratic standards have expressed concern not just about election rhetoric but about broader institutional attacks. Recent reports from Human Rights Watch highlight federal actions perceived as weakening democratic institutions, from voting rights to fair legal process.

In other words, the fear stems not just from one set of tactics but from a pattern — a series of efforts and policies that critics say concentrate power and weaken checks and balances. When judges are targeted, independent agencies are restructured, and long-standing traditions of judicial and legislative independence are challenged, the entire democratic ecosystem feels less secure.

Violence, Intimidation, and Threats

Perhaps the most visceral element of this “terror” is the real fear of political violence. Political discourse in the U.S. has grown more polarized and fractious, with violent rhetoric spilling into real threats and attacks. Data on political violence shows increases in threats against election officials and historically high levels of politically motivated harassment and violence in recent years — much of it tied to the broader post-2020 political environment.

When public officials, election workers, and even ordinary citizens fear harassment or violence, the health of civic life is at stake. This isn’t about ballot boxes; it’s about public safety and free participation in civic life without fear.

Identity, Power, and the Meaning of Democracy

At its core, the fear isn’t simply about one party holding legislative power. It’s about what happens when the foundational pillars of democratic life — trust, rule of law, respect for institutions, and peaceful resolution of political disagreements — seem at risk. This anxiety is why many Americans feel the stakes are existential: not whether one group wins an election, but whether the rules of the game remain respected by all players.

The underlying concern is that if one leader or faction can redefine norms to suit its interests, future elections — or even the very idea of majority rule — could become unstable. It’s this prospect that transforms political disagreement into a sense of fear or terror.

More Than Midterms

Republicans losing the midterms would be a significant political event, but it wouldn’t in itself end American democracy. The real reason many people feel the stakes are higher now is that the confidence in democratic norms and institutions — the very scaffolding that supports peaceful political change — feels threatened.

So when the conversation shifts from electoral strategy to existential risk, it’s not simply hyperbole. It reflects a deeper public anxiety about whether the traditions that have stabilized American politics for generations are being eroded — and whether that erosion could have consequences far beyond the next Congress.

As we reflect on the deeper threat facing this nation — a threat that far exceeds the outcome of a single midterm election — it’s worth listening to warnings from voices outside the political arena as well. Analysts, technologists, and civic critics alike are raising alarms about how power can be centralized and exercised in ways that bypass the consent of the governed — not just at the ballot box, but through systems of surveillance, data control, and opaque decision-making that ordinary citizens barely see, much less understand. One such warning asks a stark question: Are we, in the rush to innovate and consolidate power, unwittingly building systems that make modern freedom harder to guard?

Whether that concern focuses on government actors, corporate influence, or the fusion of the two, the lesson is the same: freedom is never won once and for all; it must be recognized, named, and protected every day. Elections matter. Party control matters. But the real heart of democratic life — the rule of law, the dignity of every citizen, and the ethical exercise of authority — does not hinge on a single outcome. It hinges on whether we, as a people, uphold the norms that make democracy livable, trustworthy, and just.

Our opening Scripture in Isaiah warned of the ruin that follows when laws serve the powerful and not the vulnerable. The modern equivalent of that injustice is not only in what politicians do at the ballot box, but in what systems of power do in the shadows — unchecked, unchallenged, and unexamined.

And so we end where the New Testament leads us: not in despair, but in perseverance.

Galatians 6:9 (NIV) reminds us:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

We do not give up when we see threats — visible or hidden. We do not surrender our birthright of justice because the games of politics grow ugly. We stay rooted in truth, committed to peaceful engagement, and determined to protect both the letter and the spirit of our democratic covenant.

Because in the end, the real warning — whether from Scripture or from technologists on the modern stage — is the same: if we allow fear to define us or power to go unexamined, then we lose far more than an election. We lose the sacred trust of a free people.