Tanya Mosley

In this made-up scenario, you say ICE agents are at polling places, Marines have seized voting machines, and the invocation of martial law has happened.

How realistic is this scenario, and why did you choose particularly Maricopa County as a place for it?

Talk to us about the realities for election officials all the way down to poll workers.

I mean, they've had a hard time the last few elections.

You tell stories about them getting death threats, having to get restraining orders.

You actually spoke with a former Maricopa County recorder, and they told you that standing up to Trump was incredibly lonely and that very few people will have your back, especially if you're Republican.

That particular recorder, Stephen Richer, he lost his primary to a MAGA candidate recently.

What does that tell us about the incentive structure for Republicans who might want to defend election integrity?

Thinking about Trump's power over the media, you, in your Maricopa scenario, where you project what could happen next year during the midterms, you describe how conservative outlets would likely be running wall-to-wall coverage, alleging fraud, offering tales of immigrants being bused to voting locations.

And this part of that scenario is not speculation because we actually saw versions of that in 2020.

Trump, though, now has even more control over the information ecosystem.

Can you talk a little bit about what's different this time, about how quickly false narratives can spread?

We know that President Trump has asserted power over elections through executive orders demanding proof of citizenship to vote, which is already required, insisting that only ballots received by Election Day be counted, regardless of state law.

Federal judges have blocked these orders.

One judge even said that the Constitution doesn't grant the president any specific powers over elections.

But you write in your piece that that may not matter.

Can you break that down?

You've suggested that North Carolina in particular is kind of like the canary in the election coal mine.

Can you explain that?

You know, what's so interesting as well is that at the same time, the governor in North Carolina is a Democrat.