Donald Trump is spiraling. With midterms looming, he is reportedly panicking over the possibility of a Republican blowout — and political experts warn that a GOP loss could push the 79-year-old president into what some are calling a “Civil War”-style response — all while he pleads with Republicans to shield him from another impeachment.
Already, Trump has amped up ICE patrols in Democratic-run cities and is flirting with the idea of sending in National Guard troops in defiance of federal courts. Critics see the pattern and are raising alarms. The moves echo the darkest periods of U.S. history, when paramilitary groups and law enforcement were used to intimidate voters and crush civil rights movements.
As the Washington Post reported: “Trump has stepped up ICE patrols across the country and deployed or attempted to deploy National Guard troops in several cities run by Democrats. After the Civil War, paramilitary groups and mobs used violence in the South to prevent Black voters from casting ballots, and a century later law enforcement attacked civil rights protesters as they fought segregation. Now, the president’s critics fear he could try to ramp up deployments and law enforcement operations in Democratic areas in the lead-up to the 2026 election.”
Trump’s threats aren’t just theoretical. Democratic representatives warn he is acting out of revenge against states that vote blue.
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) told Politico: “He’s attacking blue states out of revenge. If that’s in the form of sending in ICE, he sends in ICE. If it’s denying food and education to their children, which, to be clear, are America’s children, he’s gonna do that. What he is doing is seeking revenge at the cost of America’s most vulnerable people, putting those communities at risk.”
Legal precedent exists for states to fight back. States would likely sue over any deployments or attempts to seize voting equipment.
Trump has already faced pushback from the courts. The Supreme Court blocked him from deploying the National Guard in Chicago in December, forcing him to pull troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon. But those setbacks haven’t slowed the president’s escalation in blue states, raising concerns that a midterm loss could provoke an even more extreme crackdown.
In short, Trump is now openly treating federal forces like a political weapon, targeting blue states while begging Republicans to save him from impeachment. For observers, it’s a frightening glimpse of how far a panicked president might go when cornered — and the stakes for the 2026 midterms couldn’t be higher.
