Trump Is Stocking His Election Oversight Team With 2020 Deniers. Fear 2026.

If you’re not already worried about the 2026 Election - you definitely should be.

Trump’s out here building his second administration like he’s assembling the Avengers of election denial. The man who spent four years claiming he won an election he clearly lost is now putting those same conspiracy theorists in charge of protecting our elections. If that doesn’t make your brain short-circuit, you’re not paying attention.

Take Heather Honey. This Pennsylvania private investigator with zero experience in federal government or election administration is now the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity at the Department of Homeland Security. Her main qualification? Shes been Trump’s girl since day one of the Big Lie, producing flawed research that Trump literally cited on January 6th before his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Honeys claim to fame was alleging Pennsylvania had more votes than voters in 2020 - a statement the Pennsylvania Department of State thoroughly debunked. Her methodology was so garbage that even Republican election officials called it out. But facts don’t matter when you’re auditioning for Trump’s loyalty club.

Back in March, before she got this cushy government job, Honey was on a call with right-wing activists floating the idea that Trump could declare a national emergency based on an actual investigation of the 2020 election. According to the New York Times recording of that call, she said this would give the administration some additional powers that don’t exist right now and that we can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things.

So, this woman now overseeing election integrity for the federal government was brainstorming ways for Trump to bypass Congress and seize control of state-run elections. She did add that she wasn’t sure if the people around the president would let him test that theory - which is about as reassuring as your pilot saying they’re pretty sure the plane has enough fuel.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Trump is systematically dismantling the very systems designed to protect elections. He gutted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - the folks who called the 2020 election the most secure in American history. Seventeen election security staff got put on administrative leave. More than 130 probationary employees got fired - a judge later ordered them reinstated - and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency fired more than a hundred others.

The Trump administration is now investigating Chris Krebs, the former CISA director Trump himself appointed, because Krebs had the audacity to say there was no evidence the 2020 election was compromised. They’ve ordered an investigation of ActBlue, the Democrats’ fundraising platform - and critics warn voter registration groups could be next. Trump pardoned nearly everyone charged with crimes from January 6th. The message is crystal clear: loyalty to Trump’s election lies is the only currency that matters.

Meanwhile, Honey has led at least three organizations devoted to election integrity - which in this context means making it harder for people to vote and easier to challenge results Republicans don’t like. Members of her Pennsylvania Fair Elections group have challenged thousands of voters eligibility. She helped successfully pressure multiple Republican-led states to pull out of a bipartisan data-sharing partnership that actually made voting more secure.

And she’s not alone. Trump’s packed his administration with election deniers like they’re going out of style. Kash Patel has openly said he’d “come after the people in the media” who he claims “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.” His Justice Department Civil Rights Division head, Harmeet Dhillon, was a legal adviser to Trump’s 2020 campaign while it pushed its voter fraud claims. Marci McCarthy - who pushed debunked claims about voting machines in Georgia - is now CISAs director of public affairs.

State election officials are rightfully freaking out. Arizonas Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called Honeys appointment deeply troubling given her well-documented history of spreading election lies that have been debunked in court. Even Republican officials like former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer - who dealt with dozens of public records requests from Honey that ate up scores of hours of staff time - said he was surprised she was in a position of such authority and responsibility and called her not a serious auditor.

I wish for once someone would just say someones appointment was FULLY FUCKED UP! rather than deeply troubling.

The WSJ reported Trump’s tapped former campaign lawyer Kurt Olsen as a special government employee to reinvestigate 2020 - and Olsen is now asking intelligence agencies for information about the election, including voting machines. The Department of Homeland Security has threatened to cut about $28 million in grants to states for terrorism and disaster prep if they don’t change voting rules to match Trump’s priorities.

The playbook is straight out of Project 2025, that 900-page Heritage Foundation blueprint that Trump swore he knew nothing about but is now implementing like it’s his bible. Place loyalists throughout government. Gut independent agencies. Threaten anyone who stood up to you. Create enough chaos and doubt that people stop trusting the system entirely.

What Trump and his election denier army are doing isn’t about securing elections or preventing fraud - something that study after study shows is practically nonexistent in American elections. This is about laying the groundwork to challenge any election result they don’t like. Its about intimidating state officials, voter registration groups, and anyone who might stand in the way. Its about normalizing the idea that a president can declare an emergency and seize control of elections if they decide they don’t like the outcome.

The fact that were even having this conversation is bonkers. We used to mock authoritarian regimes that rigged their elections and jailed political opponents. Now we’ve got a president doing it in slow motion while half the country cheers him on or looks the other way.

Heather Honey suggested that maybe the people around Trump wouldn’t let him test his national emergency theory. But looking at who Trump’s surrounded himself with - people whove spent years pushing the same lies he has - who exactly is going to stop him? His Attorney General who won’t say he lost in 2020? His FBI director, who Trump says is already “working on” 2020? His Homeland Security appointees who think the 2020 election was stolen?Trump’s installing people whove proven they’re willing to burn down the whole thing rather than admit their guy lost. State election officials are already reporting that they’re confused, anxious, and losing trust in federal partners who used to help secure elections but now spread the same conspiracy theories that fuel violence and chaos.

This is what happens when you let people face zero consequences for trying to overturn an election. You don’t get a return to normal. You get them back in power, more emboldened, with a detailed plan to make sure next time they don’t fail.

Correction, September 28th, 2026: This essay first said Kash Patel vowed to come after people who helped Biden win and wants to prosecute election workers - what he said was that he’d come after people in the media who he claims helped rig the election. It also called Harmeet Dhillon a loud proponent of 2020 election conspiracy theories - she was a legal adviser to Trump’s 2020 campaign. It also said the WSJ reported Trump himself was asking intelligence agencies about 2020 - it reported that Kurt Olsen was. It also said DOGE fired another 130 people - more than 130 probationary staff were fired and later ordered reinstated, and DOGE fired more than a hundred others. And it said Stephen Richer was shocked - he said he was surprised - and it misspelled Marci McCarthy’s name.

Update, September 28th, 2026: A few lines now stick closer to the record on the ActBlue investigation, the worry that voter registration groups could be next, and the election groups Heather Honey has led.