William Kilpatrick is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.  His books include Christianity, Islam, and Atheism: The Struggle for the Soul of the West (Ignatius Press), What Catholics Need to Know About Islam (Sophia Press), and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad.

The midterm elections are just over 3 months away.  It’s expected that they will be contentious.  But chances are they’ll be much more contentious than most expect.

Why?  Because Democrats are in danger of losing control of the House.  And it’s not likely that they’ll take it lying down.

How much power do they stand to lose?  Quite a bit. In the first place, Kevin McCarthy could become Speaker of the House, which would put him second in line for the presidency should Joe Biden be unable to finish his term.

Which brings to mind the next thing that the Democrats fear—namely, that Republicans will launch an impeachment investigation against the President. It’s also likely that, once in power, the Republican majority would initiate other investigations into Democrat malfeasance.

In addition, Republicans will take charge of committees, attempt to strip House Democrats from certain sensitive committees (e. g., Eric Swalwell’s assignment to the Intelligence and Homeland Security committees), and introduce bills that would nullify Democrat legislation. In short, a Republican majority in the House could make life miserable for the Dems.

With so much to lose, Democrats would not merely be contentious, they would be tempted to hit the war-path.

What might we expect? One likely possibility is that the Democrats might try to preempt the Republicans by forcing Biden out of office before the midterms—possibly by invoking the 25^th Amendment. As Wayne Allyn Root points out, this would allow the Democrats to “blame this whole economic disaster on him [Biden]—thereby deflecting blame from the Democrat Congress.”

Of course, the other advantage of ditching Biden before the midterms is that Democrats will be able to avoid the ordeal of an impeachment investigation—an investigation that would not only damage Biden, but also the whole Democratic establishment.

 Another possibility to consider is that Democrats, relying mainly on proxies, might try to throw a monkey wrench into the election process.

How might this be accomplished?  As we have seen in recent years, there are plenty of people on the left—Antifa, BLM, pro-abortion fanatics—who are ready to protest on cue against whatever needs to be protested.  A number of large and violent protests at polling stations in major cities (especially in swing states) might give the Democrats the excuse they need to ‘tilt’ the elections.

Violent protests leading up to the election and spread out over a few weeks would serve to keep people away from the polls. Meanwhile, as the polling places become increasingly dangerous, the usual suspects in the party and in the media will be urging voters to use mail-in ballots.  Of course, they’ll need a catchy slogan to go with the public service ads.  I suggest, “Mail it in and Save your Skin.”

The more mail-in ballots, the more opportunity for fraud.  For some visual-evidence of mail-in meddling, see Dinesh D’Souza’s revealing documentary, 2,000 Mules.

  To some, this will seem like an overly paranoid view of Democrats.  So, to be clear, I’m not saying that Democrat leaders are going to plan and organize protests, or that party members plan to intimidate voters outside of polling places. Violence-prone groups such as Antifa and BLM don’t need any encouragement to riot. Undoubtedly, they are already making plans.

 They are probably confident that they can get away with a lot. As the English proverb reminds us, “a nod is as good as a wink.”  And I do think it’s fair to say that Democrat leaders have winked and nodded at a lot of intimidating behavior over the last few years.  Democrat mayors, governors, and attorney generals did very little to stop the violent nationwide protest rallies and riots that enveloped hundreds of cities in the wake of the death of George Floyd, and they did next to nothing to prosecute the guilty parties.

Likewise, Senator Chuck Schumer didn’t personally picket Justice Bret Kavanaugh’s residence, but he did stand on the steps of the Supreme Court two years ago shouting “Kavanaugh… you will pay.”  Was that mere rhetoric or was it an incitement to violence? Moreover, Democrat leaders now seem highly reluctant to provide protection to the six conservative Supreme Court justices and their families– despite threats of death and an assassination attempt.  Their inaction looks very much like a tacit approval of the intimidation.

I don’t think that Democrat party bosses will stop at nothing, but I do think we’ll be surprised (as we usually are) at just how far they will go.

Having said that, here are a couple of other surprises we should be ready for.  One possibility is another overblown Covid scare–the announcement of a new and highly contagious variant of the coronavirus. Or, since that gambit is wearing thin, we could see the “emergence” of a new and totally different kind of virus—something that will be advertised as many times more deadly than Covid.  In any event, this new epidemic would provide an excuse for more masking, more lockdowns, and the closing of “super-spreader” locations such as polling sites. Once again, we should expect loud demands for mail-in ballots, despite their tamper-prone reputation.

One other possible tactic is one that we’re all familiar with—the “October surprise.”  Almost every politician has a skeleton or two in the closet and—even if they don’t—it can be made to look as though they do.  With the help of the media, it’s easy to create suspicions in the minds of voters.  So, every voting season, sometime in October, we are shocked to hear that candidate X stands accused of larceny or bigamy or DUI (or,possibly, running in the corridor in junior high).  It’s an old ploy, but an effective one. You can bet that, come election time, scandals will be sprouting all over.

The polls suggest that the House election will be a landslide win for the GOP.  But Republicans should not count on a red wave to wash away the blue menace. Judging by events of recent years, they can’t afford to take anything for granted.