"Cheat Like Hell": Can Trump Actually Rig the 2026 Midterms?

About this episode

He tried really, really hard in 2020. With his souring presidency on the line, he's intensifying his efforts again. You know what we’re talking about: Trump's election meddling. "After 2020, I think one of the lessons that some of us learned—but unfortunately not everybody—is that our democracy is fragile," says Washington, DC, bureau chief David Corn in the very first episode of our new podcast, Stress Test, a white-knuckle guide to the midterm elections. "Trump came pretty close, even with all the guardrails." And Trump isn't the only one meddling—to which David can personally attest. Shortly after the release of his new book, How Russia Won, the very Russian disinformation operators he wrote about started circling deepfake videos of him, claiming he'd written a very different book: one detailing 300 crimes committed by Democratic candidates. In this episode, David and co-host Garrison Hayes are joined by voting rights correspondent Ari Berman to pull apart the biggest stress test facing the midterms: whether the vote will proceed smoothly, or whether Trump will meddle even more. After all, Trump and his gang are already claiming the election will be "rigged," pushing false vo