Ty Cobb says Trump plans to steal midterms where possible
Left 50%
Center 0%
Right 50%
1 left · 0 center · 1 right
What happened
On Thursday, former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb appeared on MS NOW’s “State of Play,” hosted by Peter Alexander. Cobb said President Trump intends “to steal these elections where possible” in the 2026 midterms and that non-citizen voting “is not a real scenario.” He said a Heritage Foundation review found between 77 and 95 incidents of non-citizen voting over a 20-year period in the early 2000s, and that Trump, Stephen Miller, Todd Blanche, and DHS officials are investigating state voter rolls to accumulate numbers “that will be fraudulent of course, suggesting that non-citizens are voting.” Cobb said it is “very difficult” for courts to respond in time if the president declared a national emergency and invoked the Insurrection Act regarding troops at polling places, which he said “is definitely what he intends,” and called the effort “the only way that they can retain power” against a “blue wave in November.” He also discussed reports of GOP lawmakers declining to attend a Republican National Committee event.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage of Cobb's MS NOW interview never reports his claim that non-citizen voting is not a real problem, so readers never see the pretext he said would justify federal emergency action. On that appearance, The Hill reports only a warning about Trump and the 2026 midterms and GOP lawmakers skipping an RNC event. Right-leaning coverage is more complete on the voting remarks: Breitbart headlines Cobb calling non-citizen voting "not a real scenario" and carries his charge that voter-roll investigations will manufacture a case for an emergency.
Left-leaning coverage leads with election theft and with Republicans skipping a party event. Right-leaning coverage leads with the voting denial, then with Cobb's warning that a national emergency and the Insurrection Act could put troops at polling places.
What non-citizen voting figures have federal investigators actually released?
Bottom line
You would not learn from The Hill that Cobb cited 77 Heritage Foundation cases of non-citizen voting. That figure is the spine of the Breitbart account.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Cobb said non-citizens voting is not a real scenario
- The Heritage Foundation found between 77 and 95 incidents of non-citizen voting over a 20-year period in the early 2000s
- Cobb said Trump, Stephen Miller, Todd Blanche, and DHS officials are investigating state voter rolls to accumulate counts of non-citizen voting
- Cobb said Trump would attempt to steal the 2026 midterm elections where possible
- Cobb said a manufactured non-citizen voting number would be used to support a national emergency
The Left View
The Hill framed the interview as Cobb warning that Trump intends to “steal” the 2026 midterms “where possible,” and tied those remarks to reports of GOP lawmakers skipping an RNC event and to concerns about Trump’s political brand nearly two years into his second term.
The Right View
Breitbart led with Cobb’s claim that non-citizen voting “is not a real scenario,” quoting his Heritage Foundation figures and his assertion that voter-roll investigations are meant to produce a “fraudulent number” to “legitimize” an emergency and prevent a “blue wave in November.”
Our Take (balanced)
The left-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is Cobb’s insider warning of an intent to “steal these elections where possible,” with his account of voter-roll investigations and possible Insurrection Act use as the cited mechanism. The right-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is his contention that non-citizen voting “is not a real scenario,” resting on the Heritage Foundation’s 77–95 incidents over 20 years. The central unresolved tension is whether those investigations are documenting an actual non-citizen voting problem or assembling a pretext for emergency intervention in the midterms.
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