Outrage times Three

In well-run football and basketball games, no one pays any mind to the referees; in well-run baseball games, no one pays any mind to the umpires. In all three sports they are simply the oil that allows the games to proceed smoothly.

If you want to dispute those smoothly operating games, however, start a non-stop campaign of fostering distrust in that oil. You’ll reach a point at which potential and even actual fans will become suspicious of the sports themselves. (Think of the old, cynical joke, “I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out.”)

Obviously, that has been the MAGA strategy regarding our elections. Not only do Republicans from President Trump on down foster this distrust in our elections, but Trump still cannot let go of his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. Summarized in the New York Times, this is the Trump statement making us nervous this week: “Trump Says He Will Accept the 2026 Midterm Results ‘If the Elections Are Honest.’”

In the New Yorker, Susan B. Glasser’s “Letter from Trump’s Washington” this week is titled, “Donald Trump Already Knows the 2026 Election is ‘Rigged.’”

Since Trump had no problem with the results of the 2024 presidential election (even if he typically vastly exaggerated his accomplishment), the worrying tacit subtext of this statement is that any apparent Democratic victory itself constitutes compelling evidence that the election was rigged. Its premise is that there is no way a Democrat can win a fair and honest election.

This is a version of the logical fallacy of begging the question. Though many people, and unfortunately many journalists, use the phrase to mean something like, “That raises the question,” this is incorrect usage. Rather, to beg the question means to assume as true what you’re trying to prove as true. A classic example is when someone responds to the question, “How do you know that God exists?” with the answer, “Because God told me.”

So, for Trump and the MAGA movement, how do they know that the election was rigged? Because Democrats won it. If the Republicans win, then that proves the election was honest. Heads they win; tails the Democrats lose.

This is political outrage.

Thus, MAGA tough guy Steve Bannon tells his “War Room” podcast viewers that “You’re damn right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November.” He tells his enemies, “We’re not gonna sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”

The problem, of course, is that Donald Trump’s understanding of and allegiance to the Constitution continue to be as wispy as can be. We recall his answer to NBC’s Kristen Welker’s question in May 2025 as to whether he is obligated as president to uphold the Constitution: “I don’t know.”

And we recall that he said in 2019, “And then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.”

This is the background for his statement this week, per the New York Times, “that he believed the federal government should ‘get involved’ in elections that are riddled with ‘corruption,’ reiterating his position that the federal government should usurp state laws by exerting control over local elections.” Talking to Dan Bongino, “Mr. Trump called for Republican officials to ‘take over’ voting procedures in 15 states,” adding, “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

Now this is clearly a man who, despite swearing this oath of office—”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”—has no understanding of the Constitution he vows to preserve, protect, and defend.

Remember what used to be the traditional Republican emphasis on the principle of federalism, the division of powers between the states and the federal government? It’s an admirable principle of fundamental Constitutional significance. Yet as long as Republicans control the federal government, that principle apparently doesn’t matter for Mr. Trump. Per The Hill this week, he stated: “’Because if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections,’ the president continued. ‘I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do ’em anyway.’”

This is Constitutional outrage.

Uh, remember Section 4 of Article I? “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.” Even a few Republicans—not many, but at least a few—pushed back against this; see here and here and here.

Yet—hey—when you possess power, why should principles and rules matter? They’re for suckers, aren’t they?

And then there’s this human outrage that puts these bogus electoral claims in the shadow: one of the oldest racist tropes in the book. I will not quote it, but here’s a link to it.

But, as we used to say in Top 40 radio, “The hits just keep on coming!”

We just cannot allow the normalization of outrage, or else we’re all in deep trouble.

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