Bill Dalton: The next revolution?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

For some historians, the American Revolution didn’t really begin with the “shot heard ‘round the world” at Lexington and Concord in 1775, but two years earlier with the Boston Tea Party — an act of rebellion against the monarchy.

Voters might start preparing for the next American Revolution, which could come as early as November if “his majesty” Donald J. Trump dumps ballot boxes into the Potomac.

You may remember from history class that after the Sons of Liberty threw tea into Boston Harbor, the Parliament of Great Britain passed the “Intolerable Acts,” which ended self-government in Massachusetts.

Since Trump assumed the Oval Office “throne” a second time, he’s committed innumerable intolerable acts. But the biggest one he may be planning — upending the midterm elections — could be the last straw for many citizens.

That's because Trump still won’t rule out declaring a national emergency and seizing ballot boxes in November, something he hinted at again during a recent appearance with far-right radio host Wayne Allyn Root.

Miles Taylor, a former Trump Administration official turned Trump critic, is predicting what he could do next. In a recent interview with AlterNet, Taylor said:

“If you overlay the refusers (the states that declined to hand over their voter rolls to Trump’s DOJ) with this fall’s top battleground races, then 13 light up as high risk: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin,” said Taylor, a former Homeland Security adviser. “These states are home to some of the most important House and Senate toss-up races. Depending on how the results look after Election Day, the Fulton scheme (seizing voting records) could hypothetically be carried out in any of them.”

Taylor noted that even battleground states that cooperated with the Department of Justice’s voter roll demands could be targeted, including Ohio, Texas, Iowa, Florida, Nebraska and North Carolina.Taylor acknowledged such intolerable acts probably won’t hold up in court, but he argues Trump doesn’t really care. All Trump wants to do is sow doubt in the election results so that, when the next Congress is seated in early 2027, Speaker Mike Johnson won’t simply hand over power to newly elected Democrats.

Excuse me? Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware they don’t ultimately decide who holds a seat in Congress — Congress does.

New York Times columnist David French, a former military lawyer, recently reminded everyone that Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution reads: “Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.” He points out that, “In plain English, this means that the House and Senate make their own decisions regarding who belongs in each chamber of Congress, and those decisions are not reviewable by any other branch of government, including the courts.”

That’s something your history teacher probably neglected to mention. The House majority has the final say over who gets seated if there are contested returns or suspected fraud. In such cases, the House follows its own rules and procedures to resolve the dispute. It’s happened before, long ago.Even our brilliant Founding Fathers didn't anticipate the cowardice of a Mike Johnson or the corruption of a Donald Trump. They assumed elected officials would respect the will of the people.

But they don’t have to if Johnson and fellow Republicans question the validity of the election results — which Trump undoubtedly will do if too many Democrats win. And that’s looking likely, given his sinking popularity in the polls, the rising cost of living and his bungled war with Iran.

Of course, there are legal steps election officials can take to stop the FBI from seizing ballots cast in states whose results Trump wants to contest, but none of those challenges is guaranteed to succeed before this U.S. Supreme Court.

If they don’t, that could present Americans with a dangerous dilemma: If the party in power is voted out — but refuses to leave Congress — what do we do?

History tells us what happened in Boston and Lexington, and what almost happened on Jan. 6.

On the 250th anniversary of our first Revolution, what will history tell future generations about 2026?

— Bill Dalton is a former reporter and editor for The Kansas City Star and worked for several Michigan newspapers. He spends summers on the family farm near Fennville. His novel “The Bank Game” is available from Amazon along with “Dalton’s Bend.”

How to submit an opinion

Ottawa News Network accepts columns and letters to the editor from everyone. Letters should be about 300 words and columns should not exceed 1,000 words. ONN reserves the right to fact-check submissions as well as edit for length, clarity and grammar. Please send submissions to newsroom@ottawanewsnetwork.org.