Gallego Says ‘Grind the Country to a Halt’ With National Strike If Trump Tries to Rig Midterms

A centrist Democratic US senator is now talking about taking drastic measures to protect democracy from President Donald Trump.

Speaking with the Court of History podcast on Thursday, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) outlined a plan to stop Trump in case he tries to follow through on his threat to "nationalize the vote" ahead of the 2026 midterm elections or if he tried to enact ally Steve Bannon's proposal to "surround the polls" with US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents.

"We have to prepare for the outmost scenario, the worst scenario," said Gallego, "which 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."

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 ICE deployment in the city would be justified.

"We need to make sure that we have an ultimate response to that which, I believe, has to be a true national strike," he said, "in 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’re a pilot, do not show up. If you drive a train, do not show up. If you’re a teacher, do not show up. We grind the country to a halt."

Gallego acknowledged the damage that this would do to the US economy, but said that "if we have to destroy the stock market to save democracy, we need to accept that."

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.

"The richest and the most powerful people in the world and in this country need to understand that that is a real possibility," he emphasized. "There is no economic stability without democratic stability. If you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability."

Gallego isn't alone in saying that concrete steps may have to be taken to protect US democracy from the president this year.

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

"I think states and local governments need to be prepared for this," he said. "I would suggest trying to get injunctions against the federal government to keep them away. I would suggest that lawyers for voting rights groups and Democrats be prepared to go to court."

Failing that, he said that citizens must be prepared to get involved on the ground.

"I mean, it may take people in the streets protecting the offices where ballots are being tabulated," he said. "To take the Brooks Brothers riot—from the 2000 disputed election where some people were trying to storm an office where they were recounting ballots in Bush v. Gore—that would look very tame compared to what, you know, we might see in 2026."