{"id":46582,"date":"2026-02-07T12:37:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46582"},"modified":"2026-02-07T12:37:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:37:52","slug":"gallego-says-grind-the-country-to-a-halt-with-national-strike-if-trump-tries-to-rig-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/gallego-says-grind-the-country-to-a-halt-with-national-strike-if-trump-tries-to-rig-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"Gallego Says \u2018Grind the Country to a Halt\u2019 With National Strike If Trump Tries to Rig Midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Gallego<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of protesters gather and march to demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Jen Golbeck\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 06, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A centrist Democratic US senator is now talking about taking drastic measures to protect democracy<\/a> from President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with the Court of History podcast on Thursday, Sen. Ruben Gallego<\/a> (D-Ariz.) outlined<\/a> a plan to stop Trump in case he tries to follow through on his threat<\/a> to \u201cnationalize the vote\u201d ahead of the 2026 midterm elections<\/a> or if he tried to enact ally Steve Bannon\u2019s proposal<\/a> to \u201csurround the polls\u201d with US Immigration<\/a> and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-RETURN\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fearing Midterm Loss, Trump Once Again Says \u2018We Shouldn\u2019t Even Have an Election\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"RENO,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Beyond Crazy\u2019: FBI Summons State Election Officials to Secretive Meeting After Trump Threat to \u2018Nationalize\u2019 Midterms<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to prepare for the outmost scenario, the worst scenario,\u201d said Gallego, \u201cwhich is they try to either capture the ballot box as ballots are being counted, they try to stop the count, they try to surround polling places, whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting more specific, Gallego said that something like a general strike along the lines of the one that took place in Minneapolis last month to protest<\/a> ICE deployment in the city would be justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we have an ultimate response to that which, I believe, has to be a true national strike,\u201d he said, \u201cin the sense that, if they do this, if they try to overthrow our democracy, if you are allied with democracy, do not go to work. If you\u2019re a pilot, do not show up. If you drive a train, do not show up. If you\u2019re a teacher, do not show up. We grind the country to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallego acknowledged the damage that this would do to the US economy, but said that \u201cif we have to destroy the stock market to save democracy, we need to accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said such an action would send an unmistakeable message to the billionaires who have given Trump their full-throated backing during his second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe richest and the most powerful people in the world and in this country need to understand that that is a real possibility,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cThere is no economic stability without democratic stability. If you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallego isn\u2019t alone in saying that concrete steps may have to be taken to protect US democracy from the president this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elections expert Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, said<\/a> in an interview published by the New Republic<\/em> on Friday that both state and city governments, as well as individual citizens, may be needed to ensure the integrity of the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think states and local governments need to be prepared for this,\u201d he said. \u201cI would suggest trying to get injunctions against the federal government to keep them away. I would suggest that lawyers for voting rights<\/a> groups and Democrats be prepared to go to court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failing that, he said that citizens must be prepared to get involved on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, it may take people in the streets protecting the offices where ballots are being tabulated,\u201d he said. \u201cTo take the Brooks Brothers riot\u2014from the 2000 disputed election where some people were trying to storm an office where they were recounting ballots in\u00a0Bush v. Gore<\/em>\u2014that would look very tame compared to what, you know, we might see in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands of protesters gather and march to demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). \u00a0(Photo by Jen Golbeck\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images) \u201cIf you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability.\u201d Brad Reed Feb 06, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) A centrist Democratic US senator is now talking… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46583,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46582\/revisions\/46583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}