Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy press secretary in President Donald Trump's first administration until resigning in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, warned on Monday that another coup attempt may be on the way. Matthews, who later testified publicly before the House select committee that investigated the riot, told USA Today that Trump is prepared to take extreme action to ensure the midterm elections, set for November 3, go his way.

"The last time he lost an election he incited an insurrection so I don't think that he deserves the benefit of the doubt on anything," Matthews said. "I wouldn't put anything past him in terms of what he will do between now and Election Day to try interfere, and what he will do in the aftermath."

Matthews' warning — that Trump could attempt another January 6th insurrection or some other form of radical election interference — comes as the president takes a series of steps that USA Today characterizes as "extraordinary" and "unprecedented" in an effort to stave off projected Republican midterm losses. These have so far included taxpayer-funded, campaign-style ads promoting Trump, government checks for targeted groups, federal agents combing through voter rolls, and a promise to send every adult a check for $5,000 if the GOP retains both chambers of Congress. January 6 refers to the 2021 attack in which a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

"The president's approach represents a significant departure from the norms around elections… one that experts worry is undermining the democratic system," USA Today explains. "Prominent Trump supporters have floated everything from sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the polls to declaring a national security emergency in the final weeks of the election, as the president continues to stoke unfounded concerns about widespread fraud. Trump didn't rule out either scenario in a Sept. 28 interview with Time magazine, or the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the military on U.S. soil to suppress civil disturbances."

Fears that Trump could take drastic anti-democratic action have been compounded by his apparent growing desperation to retain Republican congressional majorities. "We have to turn this around," Trump said last week. "For some reason presidents, Democrat or Republican, they just don't win the midterms. I don't know why."

While Trump is correct that midterm elections often see voters push back against the party in power, he did not mention how his own policies have contributed to what polls indicate could be historic losses for Republicans. As USA Today notes, "Trump has added to the GOP's midterm woes with an unpopular war in Iran that has spiked energy prices and contributed to an overall increase in inflation as voters indicate cost of living is a top concern. His approval rating — which has hit a record low in recent polls — is threatening to drag down GOP candidates."

Against that backdrop, Trump has sought to resurrect his 2020 voter fraud claims while pushing his own electorate to take illegal action. "Cheat like hell," he told voters at the Republican Midterm Convention last month, couching the demand by adding, "like they do," in reference to his election denial conspiracies.

According to USA Today, "Democrats and voting rights groups say Trump is the one trying to 'rig' the election." Most of his efforts have been blocked in court. Steven Levitsky, a Harvard University government professor and co-author of "How Democracies Die," said, "Trump has emptied out the tool shed looking for tools to manipulate the election."

And as USA Today reports, with many of the president's allies calling for martial law and the posting of federal agents at polling places, Trump has done little to quell concerns that he could take such action. "I don't rule anything out or in. We'll see," Trump said in a recent interview when asked about declaring a national emergency, adding that he has never invoked the Insurrection Act but "I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes." The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush deployed troops to Los Angeles amid the riots that followed the acquittal of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King.

Source: Alternet