In plain English :here is a connection with Trump's threats to vote integrity and kitchen table issues

 

Why does Trump seem not to care about either democracy or the anger many feel about his policies causing them economic pain? In plain English: here are connections between Trump's subversion of vote integrity and kitchen table issues. For many voters, political science terms like autocracy vs. democracy are a bit abstract and separate issues from the cost of gas, groceries, and health care. Here is the connection: Trump's lack of abiding by norms and laws protecting the will of the people expressed in the ballot box makes it possible for Trump to think he can ignore voters' anger over the cost of living.

1. Trump seems to think that he is so powerful and in control of all of the courts, law enforcement, and the military that he can control the outcome of the 2026 midterms, some fear, by seizing ballots and creating such chaos in the courts that he can overturn the results in key contests of the midterms. Therefore, he can ignore the anger of those who feel he betrayed them by failing to reduce the cost of living as he promised.

2. The other factor is that he is a lame duck. He also knows he will still be president for at least two more years regardless of the midterm results, so he can still wield his veto pen and keep accumulating wealth for himself and his family, and build monuments to himself. The vote of the people and Congress turning blue will not affect him, and he has two more years in office to pad his retirement funds or even hold on longer than the Constitution allows him.

Here is how Trump has openly signaled how he will try to control the outcome of the midterms using the power he has:

Repeatedly alleging widespread, systematic fraud in U.S. elections to erode public confidence in electoral outcomes before votes are even cast. The big lie is still alive, and after 6 years of trying to find it, no evidence of this theory has emerged. Destroying public trust in elections is key to rationalizing his power grab that ignores election outcomes.
Pressuring local, state, and national election administrators to destabilize trust and subvert the administrative processes.. The greatest fear recenlty expressed is that he will use his paramilitary forces like ICE or the FBI to seize the actual ballots in key swing districts. He praises the icon of a criminally convicted Colorado county clerk, Tina Peters, for doing something similar as the ideal example of how an election administrator should behave. His message could not be clearer.
He frequently attacks mail-in ballots, drop boxes, and early voting systems to make it more difficult for voters to cast votes against him. He targets voters who use these systems he believes will oppose his loyal candidates. He advocates in-person voting, where his agents can intimidate targeted voters, and backs legislation with unattainable barriers to prove citizenship.
Questioning and challenging the constitutional and legal mechanisms of vote counting and resulting certification. The fear that Trump may try another January 6 is not fantasy. When it comes to actually seating the winners of the midterms to which he objects. Violence was tried then, and he has a history of advocating the use of violence, from shooting demonstrators who object to his tactics in the legs to pardoning convicted violent seditionists.