MaddowBlog-Why you should care about Trump gutting the Election Assistance Commission

[LetMyPeopleVote]

For all of the Republicans’ overwrought rhetoric about “election security,” the gutting of the EAC moves the nation in the opposite direction.

For all of the Republicans’ rhetoric about “election security,” Trump keeps undermining the nation’s election security infrastructure.

The gutting of the Election Assistance Commission is indefensible, but it’s also part of an unsubtle and dangerous pattern.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-10T13:02:22.373Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-election-assistance-commission-firings

There was no reason to gut the commission. Donald Trump did it anyway. MS NOW reported:

President Donald Trump fired the remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission on Thursday, a White House official confirmed to MS NOW.

The move effectively leaves the bipartisan agency without any commissioners and unable to carry out its official duties just months before the 2026 midterm elections.

.....The word in that statement that stood out for me was “another” — because while the president’s move against the EAC is significant, it’s important not to lose sight of the broader pattern as Trump targets the midterm elections in breathtaking ways. The New York Times reported last week:

President Trump is trying to use the levers of the federal government, along with personal influence over state and local lawmakers, to reshape the rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections in extraordinary ways.

Many of these efforts have been blocked by courts, stymied by the Constitution or stopped in Congress. But the relentless assault by the president on the electoral process — both administratively and rhetorically — is likely to sow doubt and lay groundwork for extensive challenges to election results.

The lengthy and detailed Times report highlighted what is effectively a “whole of government” initiative, with officials and agencies from across the executive branch — from the Justice Department to the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence agencies to the U.S. Postal Service — launching dozens of overlapping efforts aimed at tipping the electoral scales in the Republican Party’s favor months before a single ballot is cast.

The article added, “The Trump administration has gutted key elements of the nation’s election security infrastructure. Experts warn that the changes could reduce visibility into nationwide cyberattacks and foreign influence campaigns while making it more difficult for state and local election officials to coordinate defensive operations.”