A top Trump ally just gave the game away on elections — and the media ignored it

This column was first published by DCReport.

Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem’s portfolio has nothing to do with elections, but in Arizona last week she spoke words revealing the Trump administration’s bold intent to rig the 2026 and 2028 elections, which if successful means ending our liberties. Noem said:

“When it gets to Election Day, we’ve been proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country.”

Lots of luck trying to find her words on the front page of newspapers or the network news shows, however. The excuses for not reporting this are simple: It’s unclear what she meant. It’s not news because it’s not new, just new phrasing. And since elections are not part of Noem’s portfolio her words aren’t significant.

On Friday, Donald Trump delivered further evidence of his foul intentions in an outrageously inappropriate speech to troops at Fort Bragg, where he appeared beside a GOP candidate for U.S. Senate.

“You have to vote for us,” he declared.

Fortunately, most of the soldiers remained silent, as they are supposed to. The light applause came from civilians who support Trump and his efforts to politicize our military. News coverage of this was greater than of Noem’s remarks, but still far from robust.

But bad news judgment aside, you should be alarmed at what Noem said. Let me explain the reasons.

Noem’s minions and defenders argue that by “right people” she means citizens and nothing more. That defense is beyond weak because non-citizen voting is extremely rare no matter how often Trump and his acolytes spread his lies.

The Heritage Foundation, source of Trump’s Project 2025 wrecking ball playbook, found only 24 instances from 2003 to 2023. That’s 24 votes out of billions for president, Senate and House over two decades. Bupkis.

The Cato Institute, a libertarian promoting organization with a solid reputation for being principled, denounced this lie just this month in clear terms: Trump’s Claims About Noncitizens Voting Are False. We Can Prove It.

Noem’s second point, about electing “the right leaders,” is harder to defend.

In normal times her remark would be treated as just urging votes for her party or her party segment. But that doesn’t work because the Trump administration considers any vote not for him and his chosen candidates to be illegitimate.

Dictator Donald reigns as the president of Red states and the punisher of Blue. He withholds Congressionally appropriated federal funds from Blue states and cities. He sends armed troops and masked ICE agents to occupy Blue zones. Trump and his cabinet constantly refer to “real Americans,” hoping to stigmatize those who stand up for freedom, integrity, and the rule of law as well as the educated and competent.

There’s no whitewashing Noem’s second part. Trump continues to lie that the 2020 election was stolen. His longtime adviser Steve Bannon said ICE agents will “surround” polling places this year. And as this MS Now report shows, Bannon is not alone in wanting ICE to intimidate voters who aren’t part of the MAGA cult.

Muddying clear waters

The most generous interpretation of Noem’s comments would note that she was speaking in Arizona about the proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 22/H.R. 8281). The so-called Save America Act is Trump’s effort to restrict voting to people who support him and limit voting by anyone who favors other candidates for office. But since her position has zip to do with elections why is she speaking on this? And why is she speaking in what defenders have to say are less than clear terms?

The answer: muddying clear waters is a Trumpian conman game, a way to convey messages without being — he thinks — accountable.

Even if you accept that lame excuse, and I don’t, you should be alarmed at Noem’s efforts to divide Americans and pit us against one another. That’s how early-stage dictatorships work, before they get to the inevitable stage of mass purging of loyalists (like Noem) to ensure struct obedience to Dear Leader.

Following the first of many loyalist purges expect mass arrests of critics and opponents, holding people incommunicado without access to the courts (already being done to those swept up by ICE). Eventually despots turn to firing squads or their murderous equivalents, to maintain their illegitimate power. Think about Putin’s agents using African frog poison to kill opposition leader Victor Navalny and the ayatollahs executing and massacring many thousands of dissident Iranians.

So long as Trump remains in power his regime intends to rig future elections. Bannon, Noem, and Trump himself make that obvious. Not acting today to protect your and everyone else’s ballots will mean paying a much greater price tomorrow, assuming that, like me, you want to restore our democracy and live in an actual land of the free and the home of the brave.

• David Cay Johnston co-founded DCReport. He is a bestselling author and investigative journalist who for 13 years reported for the New York Times. Johnston is a specialist in economics and tax issues. He won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize. He is a professor of practice teaching law, public policy, and journalism at Rochester Institute of Technology.