Protect Democracy released an updated report on July 16, 2026, detailing how the Trump administration's plan to interfere in the 2026 midterms has accelerated. The report, titled "Deceive, Disrupt, Deny in Full Effect," tracks four months of developments against predictions made in the earlier "Executive Override" report. It highlights weaponized intelligence releases and growing distrust of voting systems as key tactics.

The update finds that the strategy has accelerated since March, with the machinery of doubt now visible across multiple agencies. The report retraces the administration's actions and outlines expected moves leading into November. Key examples include a proposed Postal Service rule that would make the agency the gatekeeper of mail voting, a role two federal courts have already blocked. The FBI also raided the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the state's leading voter-registration group, an action predicted in the March report.

Bill Pulte, installed as acting Director of National Intelligence despite a record of partisan retribution, has begun purging experienced staff from his office. The administration has lost all 15 federal court attempts to obtain state voter-roll data. Bipartisan majorities in Congress have blocked the SAVE Act, a proposed $1.8 billion fund for January 6 defendants, and Pulte's formal DNI nomination.

The report notes that the strategy does not depend on winning in court; doubt itself is the goal, and court losses are being recast to further the administration's aim of contesting unfavorable results. A new chapter examines how recent Supreme Court decisions have accelerated, rather than checked, the strategy.

Resistance to the strategy is documented in the update. After New Hampshire passed a law stripping sworn affidavits for student voter registration, the New Hampshire Youth Movement sued, and in May 2026, a federal court struck down the law. In Minnesota, after the DOJ indicted 15 anti-ICE protesters, roughly 50 labor and faith groups jointly condemned the prosecutions as political intimidation. A growing coalition of federal workers is organizing across agencies to refuse compliance with orders they consider illegal.

The report closes with steps for the fall: verify voter registration, volunteer as a poll worker or ballot-curing volunteer, serve as a poll observer, and prepare to support the certification process. Protect Democracy is tracking these priorities at protectdemocracy.org.

Consumers trading in for new-vehicle purchases continue to carry record amounts of negative equity on their existing loans, leading to higher monthly payments and interest costs, according to the latest vehicle transaction data from Edmunds. The Q2 2026 data reveals that 29.6% of trade-ins toward new-vehicle purchases had negative equity, a slight decrease from the 30.9% share recorded in Q1 but an increase from 26.6% in Q2 2025. This figure represents the highest Q2 mark since 2020, when 37.2% of trade-ins were underwater.

The average amount owed on upside-down loans hit a record high for a Q2 at $6,884, compared to $7,183 last quarter and $6,754 in Q2 2025. This climbing negative equity is leading to record average monthly payments and interest costs. The average monthly payment for a new-vehicle loan with negative equity on the trade-in reached $944 in Q2, the highest figure Edmunds has on record and $167 more than the industry average of $777 in Q2. Buyers rolling negative equity into a new loan are projected to pay an average of $16,270 in interest over the life of that loan, another all-time high and nearly $6,500 more than the $9,811 paid by the average new-vehicle buyer in Q2 this year.

The average trade-in age of vehicles with negative equity reached a Q2 record of 4.0 years this past quarter, up from 3.8 years in Q2 2025 though down from 4.3 years last quarter. Edmunds analysts note this aligns with vehicle purchases made in 2022, a period characterized by limited inventory, minimal incentives, and transactions at or above MSRP, which set the stage for current long-term negative equity positions.

"Consumers are incurring more debt than ever when trading in vehicles that are underwater," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds' head of insights. "Buyers who financed at 2022's peak prices are starting to come back to trade in, and they're bringing thousands of dollars in old debt with them. With interest rates still elevated, this is creating a costly snowball effect for consumers. As buyers roll over their negative equity, their new loan principals swell. Relying on longer loan terms as a coping mechanism to keep monthly payments down only causes total interest charges to be higher in the long run."

Edmunds analysts conducted an analysis of the models holding the highest volumes of negative equity trade-ins in Q2 2026. Their findings reveal that even highly regarded vehicles known for holding their resale value are not immune to financing challenges. The list features popular trucks and SUVs, alongside traditional residual winners.

"It's easy to assume negative equity is just a story about vehicles that depreciate quickly, but some of the biggest dollar losses we're seeing are on trucks and sedans that traditionally hold their value better than most," said Ivan Drury, Edmunds' director of insights. "When historically safe residual value bets are showing up underwater, it’s clear this is a financing problem, not always a vehicle choice problem. These examples are a harsh reminder that a great vehicle choice can still be completely undermined by a punishing loan structure."

Edmunds Q2 Negative Equity Data