This week’s Washington Week with The Atlantic hailed from Austin, Texas, the liberal heart of the state, before a live studio audience with presumably Democratic sympathies (much like the show’s television audience). : The positive prospects of the state’s Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Texas State Rep. James Talarico, neck and neck in polls with the Republican candidate, Attorney General Ken Paxton.
All five pundits on stage were from The Atlantic. Their top editor and moderator Jeffrey Goldberg set the ominous tone in his introduction:
Jeffrey Goldberg: The biggest questions are on the table tonight. Is there a blue wave coming? What would the Democrats do if they managed to take control of one or both chambers of Congress? And how will Donald Trump rule in the last two years of his presidency should he find himself living down the street from a Democratic-controlled Capitol? There's an even more immediate question before the country. Will Trump or his supporters challenge the election results in conventional or unconventionally dangerous ways should they lose the House or the Senate?
Goldberg asked the panel if they should worry about Trump conducting midterm “shenanigans,” saying “we've gotten many signs that when Trump doesn't like the outcome of an election, he says so and also tries to manipulate the systems to get the outcome he wants.” His Atlantic colleague, White House reporter Ashley Parker (and former White House correspondent for the Washington Post), responded with a “chilling” hypothetical.
Ashley Parker: ….I would add there's the actual crisis of, you know, the people around the president, as we, my colleagues, at The Atlantic reported trying to get him to declare martial law, right? Like there's the crisis of real shenanigans, and shenanigans is not a strong enough word. But then there is the crisis of confidence in Trump –
Would Trump’s election enforcement goons would resort to shooting brown-skinned citizens who dare show up to vote? Parker envisioned ICE raids and worse at polling places.
The Atlantic's Ashley Parker on PBS: "...just the talk of ICE officials showing up at the polls coupled with the arrests and some of the killings...can have a chilling effect of a legal citizen who has brown skin," afraid to "get hassled by ICE and get shot in a parking lot..." https://t.co/Cl64OplTNj
— Clay Waters 🇮🇱 (@claywaters44) October 19, 2026
Parker: But -- and then there's the crisis of confidence and trust in institutions, which have already been eroded when you have a president who doesn't accept the results of a free and fair election in 2020.
And, you know, talking to Democrats, they're terrified. ‘Are ICE officials going to show up at the polls?’ You know, we don't know what's going to happen. But just, point out, even just the talk of ICE officials showing up at the polls coupled with the arrests and some of the killings that is happening with ICE officials can have a chilling effect of a legal citizen who has brown skin saying, you know what, it's not worth it for me, right? I'm not going to take time off of my job to show up and maybe get hassled by ICE and get shot in a parking lot when I'm a citizen.
Goldberg: Right.
