It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. 'Shorter America' is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
By Emma Shortis
Fri 6 Feb 2026 10.23 AEDT
The White House/Flickr
What would a week in American politics be without another threat to the democratic process? Trump keeps on floating those trial balloons – this time, about “nationalizing” elections. As democracy teeters, and the nuclear threat escalates, and more and more egregious allegations of pedophilia at the highest levels of power come to light – don’t forget to smile, ladies.
Republicans are clearly worried about the November midterm elections. And they should be. In what we might describe as a “normal” electoral cycle, at current polling rates, Republicans would be on track for an absolutely catastrophic wipeout.
But the thing about that is, we aren’t exactly in ‘normal’ times, are we? Trump has been publicly musing about severely constraining and undermining the democratic process for a long time now. This week he suggested Republicans should “take over” elections.
Trump’s victory in 2024 was a generational one for the American right.
They have the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. They won’t give that up without a fight. But how dirty that fight gets remains to be seen. As I wrote last week, Trump’s power isn’t absolute – there are weak spots, and the logistical challenge of cancelling or rigging elections aren’t to be underestimated.
But there are plenty of threads for him to pull. As this piece in Politico outlines:
“Increasingly violent threats toward and harassment of public officials — from county clerks up to the president — are driving more and more of those figures out of their jobs, a particular concern among local election officials, who have struggled with attrition for years.”
Alongside very real concerns about the integrity of elections, it’s not even clear that Democrats can get their act together enough to actually, you know, win.
On that, I thought this piece in the Boston Review, on the perils of centrism, was superb.
I wrote last week about the Doomsday Clock being closer to midnight than ever before. One of the many reasons the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists made that decision was because of a significantdeterioration in nuclear non-proliferation. That got slightly worse this week, with the expiry of the NewSTART Treaty between the US and Russia. If that sounds bad, it’s because it is. As Tilman Ruff writes over at The Conversation: “The demise of the treaty will bring a definitive and alarming end to nuclear restraint between the two powers. It may very well accelerate the global nuclear arms race, too.”
And speaking of non-starters on nukes, the Congressional Research Service – which provides independent policy and legal analysis to the US Congress – has released a new report on the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal. In the Guardian, Ben Doherty has some sobering analysis of what that means for Australia (as if we needed a reminder of just how badly we are being dudded).
I can’t not mention Epstein, of course. I am reluctant to wade in, mostly because too many non-experts in sexual and gendered violence are straying well outside their lane.
Which is not to say that it shouldn’t be the focus of a great deal of attention – it absolutely should. I’ve linked to this Jeet Heer piece on Epstein’s role in foreign policy before, and it’s worth revisiting now – especially as it looks increasingly like it was all even more insidious than it first seemed.
And it’s hard to go past this disgusting Trump moment, in a sea of constant disgust.
Don’t forget to smile, ladies. While you’re burning it all down, obviously. x
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