If you want to know what Republicans are planning for the midterm elections, you should be paying close attention to Steve Bannon. He isn’t your regular, everyday right-wing conspiracy theorist and propagandist. He’s the smartest strategist in the MAGA movement, and most importantly, he is the Trump whisperer when it comes to election denialism.

It was Bannon’s hand pulling the strings back in 2016, sending Trump to the White House while installing himself as chief strategist. On Jan. 5, 2021, he told the world that “all hell will break loose tomorrow.” And on Jan. 6, it did.

While he may not be in the Trump White House right now, don’t be mistaken: Bannon is the single most influential person in the MAGA movement. What Steve Bannon says goes.

So, when he stood behind a podium today, we all needed to listen: “We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November. We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again… We will never again allow an election to be stolen.”

Bannon’s remarks weren’t pulled out of thin air, and the timing is no coincidence. It echoes what Trump said yesterday, when he doubled down in the Oval Office about his plan to take control of elections.

Calling states an “agent” of the government, he said, “When you see some of these states, about how horribly they run their elections, what a disgrace it is, I think the federal government [should get involved].”

This is not the first time Trump has said this. Last August, he wrote the same thing on social media: “The States, are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them … to do.”

Bannon’s remarks also follow Trump’s recent declaration that Republicans should “take over” elections and “ought to nationalize the voting.” House Speaker Mike Johnson also falsely claimed that elections were “fraudulent.”

Johnson, with a long history of election denialism, went further: “We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on Election Day in the last election cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost… It looks on its face to be fraudulent.” In true election denier fashion, he added: “Can I prove that? No.”

The implications seem clear: Nine months out from the midterm elections, we face a coordinated effort by Trump, his administration, congressional Republicans and MAGA leaders to normalize a federal takeover of elections, enforced by ICE and federal agents.

Many election observers have been sounding this alarm for months. Trump will use federal paramilitary forces to block voting access. After that, Trump may use the Department of Justice to seize ballots and take over vote counting.

Sending in ICE and federal agents to patrol elections isn’t just about immigration. We know that ICE won’t hesitate to go after American citizens, and just their presence alone will prevent people from going to the polls.

Federal officers can block roads, making it more difficult to get to your local polling location. They can use intimidation tactics to scare people who are trying to vote for Democrats. They may use violence against those who are campaigning, knocking on doors and doing same-day voter registration.

All of this, of course, is unconstitutional and illegal. However, Trump has no respect for the Constitution and no regard for the rule of law. He will eagerly deploy this plan if it helps him secure a Republican victory. If Democrats win the majority, Trump’s authoritarian plan will be foiled — and he knows that.

Voter suppression isn’t always done quietly through laws and the courts. Trump has figured out that he can normalize voter intimidation and election subversion by talking about it regularly in the open.

We cannot let him. We must not allow Trump and Bannon’s threats to become normalized. We must sound the alarm and insist that our leaders resist Trump’s efforts to take over elections and use federal officers to restrict voting and intimidate U.S. citizens from voting.

Most importantly, we cannot allow ourselves to live in denial about what is happening to our democracy. Republicans are planning to steal the midterms. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Governor Abigail Spanberger — a former federal law enforcement officer — today issued an executive order establishing state law enforcement policy based on “principles and policies that have long served as the north star for Virginia law enforcement.”

1. Law enforcement exists to preserve human life, protect people who are vulnerable, and uphold the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of Virginia.
2. Public trust is a prerequisite to effective policing and should be fostered through professionalism, transparency, accountability, and consistent engagement.
3. Virginia law enforcement does not engage in fear-based policing, enforcement theater, or actions that create barriers to people seeking assistance in their time of need.
4. Virginia law enforcement efforts focus on upholding the rule of law, investigating and stopping criminal conduct, and protecting public safety, not the administrative enforcement of civil status.
5. Investment in training, recruitment, and retention of top-tier public safety professionals ensures that Virginia law enforcement is supported by clear standards and sound training necessary to serve safely and effectively with the public’s trust.
6. Collaborative partnerships among local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement, residents, educators, faith and civic leaders, businesses, and local governments are essential for safe communities, a strong economy, and positive educational outcomes.

Governor Spanberger’s executive order directs state law enforcement agencies to review all policies, training, and practices to confirm alignment with these standards. The Governor made the announcement today at a conference of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police in Henrico County.

“As a former federal law enforcement officer and the daughter of a career law enforcement officer, I know that effective policing is built on trust. Like so many of Virginia’s law enforcement officers, I have serious concerns that chaotic federal law enforcement actions across the country are eroding years of trust built by our officers within the communities they serve,” said Governor Abigail Spanberger. “When state and local law enforcement are pulled away from investigating crimes and upholding our Virginia laws to do the job of federal agents, it weakens their ability to deepen trust within their communities. This contributes to a culture of fear and distrust that makes it harder for officers to do their jobs.”

Governor Spanberger continued, “Today, Virginia is taking important steps to both reaffirm the core responsibilities of our officers and help build public trust in Virginians who wear the badge.”

Click here to read the full text of Governor Spanberger’s executive order.

Through an additional executive directive, Governor Spanberger today directed Virginia’s state law enforcement agencies and divisions — Virginia State Police, Virginia Department of Corrections, Virginia Conservation Police, and Virginia Marine Police — to terminate all existing 287(g) agreements with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE). These agreements placed Virginia law enforcement officers under federal control and supervision to conduct civil immigration enforcement.

Governor Spanberger said her administration has been closely reviewing agreements state law enforcement agencies were required to sign in 2025. These agreements forced Virginia law enforcement agencies to hand over their men and women to be supervised by ICE.

“At my direction, the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources engaged with stakeholders to identify and understand agreements previously entered into under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. These Agreements improperly ceded discretion and authority over Virginia law enforcement to federal authorities. I have full confidence that Virginia law enforcement agents are keeping Virginia safer when exercising their authority under Virginia law. Virginia always remains ready to enforce the law, and Virginia law enforcement will continue to exercise available authority under a valid judicial warrant.”

BACKGROUND

On her first day as Governor, Governor Spanberger rescinded Executive Order 47 (2025), which forced state law enforcement — and encouraged local police departments and sheriff’s offices — to deputize their officers to act as ICE agents. Governor Spanberger removed the directive that Virginia law enforcement agencies divert focus from their core responsibilities — investigating crimes, enforcing state and local laws, and keeping Virginians safe.

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RICHMOND, VA — Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi released the following statement in support of Governor Spanberger’s Executive Order No. 12, rescinding prior Section 287(g) agreements that directed cooperation of Virginia State Police and the Commonwealth’s agencies with federal immigration authorities:

“This action restores clarity and accountability to the role of state and local law enforcement and ensures their focus remains on public safety, justice, and community trust. Keeping Virginia safe means allowing law enforcement to focus on protecting communities and families.

“By ending agreements that cede discretion to the federal government, this directive reaffirms Virginia’s constitutional values and the integrity of our public safety institutions. I fully support this decisive step by Governor Spanberger’s Administration to ensure our agencies operate justly, lawfully, and in service of all Virginians.”

Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, was a British intelligence professional. He knew the warning signs of enemy action. Fleming told beginning intelligence officers that if they observe something “Once is happenstance; twice is coincidence; three times is enemy action.”

Trump has told us what he plans to do in the 2026 and 2028 elections 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . . god-only-knows how many times. This is not happenstance, it is not coincidence — this clearly is enemy action and Trump is the enemy.

Trump has harped on two themes:
1. “There are 15 places.” He often mentions one or more of Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, or other Democratic regions that often are majority minority.
2. He has said time and again he should have “sent the military” to seize ballot boxes in 2020.

These two frequent rants by Trump reveal his plan to steal the 2026 and 2028 elections.

15 PLACES.
Trump, Miller, and Bondi already have picked out 15 locales, likely 15 major, mostly-Black, solidly Democratic cities. We all know these cities include Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis, LA, NYC, Philadelphia — you add the rest.

SEIZE THE BALLOT BOXES.
I served 12 years as one of three members of the Electoral Board in a rural Virginia County. Our procedure when the polls close is the same thing that is done in every precinct in the country:

— during the day as people vote, the voting machines accept ballots, read the voters’ choices, records those choices,  and drops the ballots into an internal hopper.

— the machines count the number of ballots cast and produce a tally of number of votes for each candidate. Depending on the machine, the number of votes cast is displayed on a publicly visible counter while the vote tally is printed on a tape (similar to an old adding machine tape) that contains precinct name, date, time machine turned on, time turned off, number of votes for each candidate, etc., etc. — the people working at the polls can print as many copies of the tally as needed but only after the polls close.

— ballots drop into a hopper inside the machine. At the end of the day, officers of election close the polls (which means the machines will take no more ballots), look at the public counter, open the hopper, at least two officers of election (poll workers) remove the marked ballots, place them in special containers, seal the containers with seals indicating # of ballots (get from the public counter), date, time, etc., etc., then print and sign their name attesting that they did it right.

— unused ballots are sealed in separate containers. The precinct knows how many ballots were issued, how many were used, so simple math tells you how many unused you have. The containers of unused ballots are sealed same as used ballot containers.

— all this stuff goes to the registrar’s office where it is locked into a vault then removed to the Circuit Court vault the next day where it is stored for the required time (22 months in the case of federal elections) — in our county, sheriff’s deputies accompanied the material from the poll to the registrar’s office and observed it being locked. The next day, deputies escorted the ballots, etc., to the Clerk of the Court.

I guarantee you Trump will order some kind of federal force — ICE, active duty military, federalized National Guard, or a mixture — into the 15 cities where they will seize everything coming in from the precincts — they may seize it at the precincts — and either the military or a gaggle of Trump-appointed thugs will count the ballots, add the tallies, or somehow see to it that Trump wins.

And that folks, is what’s coming. Count on it.

How to stop it?
FIRST: The states must recognize Trump is SERIOUS.
SECOND: EVERYONE must recognize what I have described above is the plan.
THIRD: The states must decide what force they will use to stop it. And the only way to stop it will be with force — local cops, state police, National Guard. And the state forces must be ready to shoot.

 

 

Texas — a man in a red hat fights protesting kids

Kids win

The clip making the rounds in right wing circles is missing the beginning, likely to make the kids look bad — this clip has more

from Somali snaps: https://t.co/d3f4EW8n9n pic.twitter.com/RrDnQIKfma

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) February 3, 2026

The best part is when the girl wearing a “Choose Kindness” beats the shit out of this MAGAt asshole.

 

Background:  In Kyle, TX, kids walked out of school in a planned demonstration to protest ICE actions in Minneapolis.  The asshole in the MAGA hat pushed a few of them, grabbed a girl’s hair, and it didn’t go well for him.

 

 

District Federal Judge blocks order ending TPS status granted to Haitians (TPS:  Temporary Protected Status)

DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: ‘A smear campaign’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/02/portland-venezuelans-shot-border-patrol-court

DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: ‘A smear campaign’

Immigration officials said agent shot two ‘vicious gang members’ in Portland, but records obtained by the Guardian reveal US prosecutor contradicted claims

Mon 2 Feb 2026 19.09 EST

Immediately after a US border patrol agent shot two people in Oregon last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the targets were “vicious” gang members connected to a prior shooting and alleged they had “attempted to run over” officers with their vehicle.

In the weeks since, key parts of the federal government’s narrative have fallen apart.

…

But court records obtained by the Guardian reveal a Department of Justice prosecutor later directly contradicted DHS’ Tren de Aragua statements in court, telling a judge, “We’re not suggesting … [Niño-Moncada] is a gang member.” An FBI affidavit issued following the incident also suggests that in the previous shooting cited by DHS, Zambrano-Contreras was not a suspect, but rather a reported victim of a sexual assault and robbery. Neither Niño-Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras have prior criminal convictions, their lawyers have said.

The British newspaper Daily Mail is out with a deeply researched investigative report, the result of a long collaboration between columnists Glen Owen and Dan Hodges, along with Mark Hookham (Assistant Editor Investigations), and Daisy Graham-Brown (Investigative Reporter).

It’s shocking in its detail and its implication that Vladimir Putin has basically owned Donald Trump for years, even before Trump ran for president in 2016.

They note of last week’s partial (about 50 percent) Epstein document release:

Essentially, they’re arguing that Epstein was running an operation on behalf of the KGB/Putin that lured wealthy and powerful men to Epstein’s New York and Palm Beach mansions and his island where they were surreptitiously filmed having sex with underage girls.

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-russia-2675069424/

Secretary of Homeland Security Krist “I Shoot Puppies” Noem finally admitted it:  America is a WHITE country and we will get all you little dark-skinned people out of here!”

 

This was less than a month at the after the Trump administration had announced they were revoking the legal status of immigrants from Haiti to this country. That’s more than 300 ,000 people from Haiti who live and work in this country legally here under a legal designation called temporary protected status. The Trump administration announced they were going to revoke that legal status, and it was going to be effective at midnight Tuesday this week.

And just think about the practical impact of that. This is a huge number of people. We’re talking about more than 300,000 people who are here in this country…

LEGALLY, BUT AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT, THEY WERE SUDDENLY AND IMMEDIATELY GOING TO BECOME ILLEGAL. THEY WERE GOING TO BECOME THEREFORE IN THE EYES OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, IN THE EYES OF ICE THEY WERE GOING TO BECOME IMMEDIATELY
ELIGIBLE FOR ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT.
ANS DEPORTATION BY ICE (VIOLENTLY AND WITHOUT REGARD FOR THEIR RIGHTS LIKE THEY WERE DANGEROUS ANIMALS INSTEAD OF HUMAN BEINGS).

The sudden ending of that temporary protected status for more than 300 ,000 people was challenged in the courts
and in a buzzer beater, the judge in the case just headed it off just one day before the deadline. The judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from doing what they wanted to do. People from Haiti who are here under TPS will be able to continue to live and work in this country while the case is being fully litigated.

But I want you to know, the reason I think this is worth knowing about is because of the language of the ruling. In the ruling on this case, the judge just absolutely excoriates the Trump administration. This is from the ruling, quote,

“President Trump has referred to Haiti as a bleephole country, suggested Haitians probably have AIDS and complained that Haitian immigration is, quote, like a death wish for our country. He has also promoted the false conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were eating the pets of the people of Springfield, Ohio. He stated, quote, Why is it we only take people from bleephole countries, right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden? Just a few. Let us have a few from Denmark. It is not a coincidence, the judge says, that Haiti’s population is 95 % black while Norway’s is over 90% white.”

“Secretary Noem complains of strains, unlawful immigrants place on our immigration enforcement system. Her answer, turn 352 ,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed, lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our health care system. Secretary Noem’s answer, turn the insured into the uninsured.This approach is many things. In the public interest is not one of them.”

Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to non-white immigrants. The judge says, quote, this seems substantially likely.

 

Four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in their fledgling cryptocurrency venture for half a billion dollars, according to company documents and people familiar with the matter. The buyers would pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities.

The deal with World Liberty Financial, which hasn’t previously been reported, was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son. At least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who weeks earlier had been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East, the documents said.

The investment was backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi royal who has been pushing the U.S. for access to tightly guarded artificial intelligence chips, according to people familiar with the matter. Tahnoon—sometimes referred to as the “spy sheikh”—is brother to the United Arab Emirates’ president, the government’s national security adviser, as well as the leader of the oil-rich country’s largest wealth fund. He oversees a more than $1.3 trillion empire funded by his personal fortune and state money that spans from fish farms to AI to surveillance, making him one of the most powerful single investors in the world.

The deal marked something unprecedented in American politics: a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming U.S. president’s company.

Under the Biden administration, Tahnoon’s efforts to get AI hardware had been largely stymied over fears that the sensitive technology could be diverted to China. Of particular concern was one of Tahnoon’s own companies, the AI firm G42, which had stoked alarm among intelligence officials and lawmakers over its close ties to the sanctioned tech giant Huawei and other Chinese firms.