Amid a constant MS NOW obsession with court cases involving a Trump executive order on mail-in ballots, Wednesday’s The Weeknight continued the progressive cable network’s fearmongering over the midterm elections. MS NOW contributor and professor Jason Johnson worried about being placed in a gulag and labeled the Trump movement as “just an authoritarian movement.”
Later, former Biden advisor Symone Sanders-Townsend responded to Johnson’s claims of Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp being a “historic cheater” and said, “authoritarians love a fake election."
Johnson first stated he was not a lawyer before saying, “The reality is, if we're looking back on this 30 years from now, when we're hopefully not in a gulag, people are going to say this is ridiculous. All of this language is ridiculous. This is just an authoritarian movement."
On ‘The Weeknight,’ amid more election fearmongering, MS NOW contributor Jason Johnson claimed, “...30 years from now, when we're hopefully not in a gulag, people are going to say, 'This is ridiculous.' All of this language is ridiculous. This is just an authoritarian movement.” pic.twitter.com/BfGxTnEkkg
— Nick (@nspin310) August 27, 2026
Johnson, likely never to be placed in a gulag, continued: “As you mentioned, it has nothing to do with competence, right? Like, this is a government that can't keep soldiers from jumping off boats, can't keep us from poop lettuce and rotten eggs. Right? I really doubt they have an effective, reasonable way of organizing how an election is supposed to work.”
He went on and claimed the Supreme Court was “captured”: “So, while the highfalutin legal shenanigans go on with our captured Supreme Court, right, people on the ground are still prepared to express themselves. We just hope that by the time election day comes, most of this is ineffective.”
Later, Johnson, in his own moment of election denial, claimed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) was a “historic cheater” and added, “I think when you are secretary of state, and you're also managing your own election, I suspect that you probably didn't follow all ethical rules.”
Host… pic.twitter.com/PRtakYRxWU— Nick (@nspin310) August 27, 2026
Later in the show, former RNC chair turned MS NOW host Michael Steele turned to Johnson once again to discuss Republican claims of election fraud. Steele praised Johnson in his framing and said, “So, Doctor Johnson, you are a smart, erudite young man. You understand how these things work. You teach young minds and inform them of truth, right? Help people understand what that truth says.”
Johnson, the “erudite young man,” followed with more claims of the Supreme Court hurting elections before he falsely claimed Georgia governor Brian Kemp was “a historic cheater” and implied he stole his gubernatorial election, a claim former Georgia Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams loved to make:
In addition, remember, you will also have Governors like Brian Kemp who is, you know, a historic cheater. And I'm sorry, I'm going to say that out loud. I think when you are secretary of state, and you're also managing your own election, I suspect that you probably didn't follow all ethical rules, and there are plenty of questions about how that went down.
Johnson connected this to Democrat fears of ICE intimidation: “And you have governors saying, ‘By the way, I'm going to bring in ICE to intimidate and anger people,’ it will be difficult for certain people in certain places to come out to vote. And that is the goal."
He then said the election would not be cancelled, but it would just be “hard as hell.” Sanders responded, “Authoritarians love a fake election.”
MS NOW’s election lead-up coverage has continued to be a daily instillation of fear for its viewers, and will seemingly continue to be throughout the election cycle.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s The Weeknight
August 27, 2026
7:09:01 PM Eastern
(...)
JASON JOHNSON: I'm going to say, again, as all of you all have said, I'm not a lawyer. I don't play one on TV.
The reality is, if we're looking back on this 30 years from now, when we're hopefully not in a gulag, people are going to say this is ridiculous. All of this language is ridiculous. This is just an authoritarian movement.
As you mentioned, it has nothing to do with competence, right? Like, this is a government that can't keep soldiers from jumping off boats, can't keep us from poop lettuce and rotten eggs. Right? I really doubt they have an effective, reasonable way of organizing how an election is supposed to work.
The goal of this, as Michael said, is not just to erode democracy, but to confuse people, to waste the time of important legal organizations, and to frustrate organizers and activists on the ground. The only remotely positive thing about this is that every organizer I know, including some I’m going to be meeting with after tonight's show, they expected all this.
MICHAEL STEELE: Right. That’s true.
JOHNSON: Everybody who's actually working on the ground in North Carolina or in Ohio, they all knew this. They have gamed this thing out so far that this was anticipated. So, while the highfalutin legal shenanigans go on with our captured Supreme Court, right, people on the ground are still prepared to express themselves. We just hope that by the time election day comes, most of this is ineffective.
(...)
7:12:17 PM Eastern
STEELE: Let me just note to you, the Brookings Institution from 2025: “We find an average total mail voting fraud percentage across the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 election general elections.”
Right? Y'all do the math. How many years that is, at 0.000043 percent? Y'all know how many zeros before that four-three percent. You know what that means? Do you know what that looks like? So, Doctor Johnson, you are a smart, erudite young man.
[Laughter]
You understand how these things work. You teach young minds and inform them of truth, right?
JOHNSON: Yes.
STEELE: Help people understand what that truth says.
JOHNSON: The truth is - and we saw this this summer with all of the sort of redistricting. You saw states throw out 40,000 votes in different places. People have already voted, and they're like, ‘Yeah, we don't care,’ because the Supreme Court just gave us what we wanted. The same thing is going to happen here, right?
You will have instances where one state implements it this way, another state implements it this way. If we don't like your vote – I think it's fascinating that the same people who were angry about the Obamacare website 14 years ago want us all to get into a mail portal to put in our information. This is insanity.
ELISE JORDAN: Hey, this is my point! I’m consistent.
JOHNSON: Yeah, this is absolute insanity. But that's the point. Like they're lying. It's disingenuous and bad faith. So, that's what's going to end up happening. You're going to have a lot of confusion at different states and different state levels.
In addition, remember, you will also have Governors like Brian Kemp who is, you know, a historic cheater. And I'm sorry, I'm going to say that out loud. I think when you are secretary of state, and you're also managing your own election, I suspect that you probably didn't follow all ethical rules and there are plenty of questions about how that went down.
You've already got governors like him saying, and I'm going to bring in ICE. So, if you have a combination of federal-level threats about whether or not you're even going to get a ballot, and we've seen states where ballots are difficult to get access to. And you have governors saying, ‘By the way, I'm going to bring in ICE to intimidate and anger people,’ it will be difficult for certain people in certain places to come out to vote. And that is the goal.
Look, the Democrats could still win the House. They still - I doubt it - they still could end up winning the Senate. The goal is not to. And this is what I always think is silly when people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, they're going to cancel the 2026 midterms.’ They're not going to cancel the midterms. They're just going to try to make it as hard as hell.
SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Authoritarians love a fake election.
JOHNSON: Exactly. They love a fake election, and that’s the goal.
(...)
