"Okay, Trump wants to 'cancel the midterms.'
"How does he get the Virginia state board of elections to cancel the midterms? How does he get the Georgia board of elections to do it? How does he convince Republican House members to quit their jobs and give up their paychecks?
"What does he do about the fact that in most states, midterms and statewide elections are on the same cycle, so 'canceling the elections' might mean that Tennessee doesn't have a governor next year? How does he convince Tennessee Republicans to give up power in their own states?
"ICE can't even deal with irate, middle-aged Midwesterners. How does he occupy hundreds, if not thousands, of polling cites and precincts? Trump v. Illinois clarified that he has no legal authority to unilaterally commandeer National Guards. How does he move forward from there?
"Now, of course, when you point out the practical obstacles to 'canceling the elections,' people move the goal posts to 'voter suppression and various shenanigans.' Yeah, those things exist and they always have. But the other thing is that those things work at the margins.
"You can't actually suppress away a wave of discontent. (Relatedly, I think a lot of you have no idea how large this country is and how small its various military and security forces are relative to its population).
"A lot of you are responding with 'You think guardrails and institutions will hold!' And that is a sign you aren't actually engaging with the words you're reading.
"If I want water from the sink, I have to turn on the faucet. If I want to ride my bike, I have to pedal and engage the gears. There is a mechanism. My point is that there is no mechanism by which elections can be canceled. It's not about norms, it is about how things work."
—New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, on Bluesky
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