For months, fears have been swirling that Donald Trump is planning to undermine or even disrupt the midterm elections.

Trump is clearly rattled. The Republicans face significant losses, with polling pointing to their losing the House, and possibly even the Senate. And the President is not even trying to hide his attempts to – as he put it – “take over” the midterms to prevent his party losing.

The President is once again leaning on tactics that risk suppressing the vote, particularly among Black voters and minority ethnic groups. It is a familiar pattern. It is also a deliberate one. His approach to political power has always involved narrowing the electorate rather than expanding it, and the months leading into the midterms show that clearly.

I have spent much of my career working with candidates who believe the opposite. As White House press secretary especially, I saw how they work to expand the vote. They work to make it easier for people to participate. They invest in communities that have been ignored or dismissed. They build systems that welcome voters rather than shut them out. I have seen what it looks like when leaders choose inclusion. I have also seen what it looks like when leaders choose exclusion. Trump has chosen exclusion again.

His attempt to restrict mail-in voting is one example. The courts blocked it, but the intention was unmistakable. Mail-in voting is essential for voters who face structural barriers to in-person voting, including Black voters, disabled voters, seniors, our military members serving overseas and working-class communities with inflexible schedules. Trying to limit it is not about integrity. It is about making participation harder for the people who rely on it most. And especially harder for those who might be inclined to vote Democrat.

The same logic appears in the fight over district lines. Gerrymandering has long been one of the most effective ways to dilute Black political power. This year, in what was a major win for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court voided a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that had aimed to prevent dilution of minority voting. Trump’s weakening of this important civil rights legislation, giving states more latitude to fracture Black communities, is no accident. It is a choice. When you break apart communities, you break apart their influence. And when you do that, you change who gets represented and who gets ignored.

Legislation like the so-called Save America Act – which would require people to show ID and proof of citizenship to vote – follows the same pattern. It presents itself as administrative reform. In practise, it creates new hurdles for minority voters who already face disproportionate scrutiny at the ballot box. These hurdles are not theoretical. Many Black and minority ethnic voters have less access to the underlying documents needed to meet these requirements. They are more likely to face bureaucratic delays when trying to obtain identification. They are more likely to have their citizenship questioned or challenged even when they have lived in the same community for generations. They are more likely to encounter officials who apply these rules unevenly or with bias. These measures are not neutral and they are not harmless. They are designed to make voting more difficult for the communities that have historically been pushed to the margins.

The consequences are especially visible in states like Michigan, where Black voters are central to the political landscape. When turnout drops even slightly, the effect is immediate. And when voters feel disengaged or disillusioned, restrictive policies do exactly what they are intended to do. They depress participation. Michigan shows that voter suppression is not always a single dramatic act. Sometimes it is a series of smaller barriers that collectively weaken the voice of an entire community.

I think often about the history that brought us to this moment. The civil rights movement was a fight for dignity, equality, and full participation in American life. Voting rights were central to that struggle. Black Americans marched, organised, and risked their lives to secure the right to cast a ballot without fear or obstruction. Dr Martin Luther King Jr understood that political power was essential to civil rights, and he worked directly with President Lyndon Johnson to advance voting protections that would make the promise of democracy more real.

When I served at the White House, I would walk through the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and pass Room 180. It is the room where Dr King met vice president Hubert Humphrey on 9 February, 1965, to discuss voting rights legislation. After that meeting, Humphrey escorted Dr King to the West Wing for an impromptu conversation with President Johnson to push those protections forward. Black and white photographs now hang in Room 180 to document that visit. The room once belonged to the vice president. It later became a private hideaway office used by President Richard Nixon. Today it serves as a staff conference room, but its history is unmistakable. It is a reminder that voting rights were won through courage and partnership. It is also a reminder that those rights can be weakened when leaders choose exclusion over inclusion.

Trump’s approach to voting is not about expanding participation. It is about shaping the electorate. It is about deciding who gets to be heard and who does not. It is about using the tools of government, from administrative orders to legislative proposals to judicial appeals, to make voting harder for the communities least likely to support him.

Some of these efforts have failed. Some have backfired. But the broader pattern remains. When leaders attempt to restrict voting access, especially for minority communities, they weaken the foundation of democratic legitimacy. They erode trust. They send a message about whose voices matter.

The midterms will reveal how voters respond. The deeper question is about the health of American democracy. A system that makes it harder for Black voters and minority ethnic groups to participate is not a system that reflects the country it claims to represent. It is a system that chooses exclusion over inclusion and division over participation.

Trump’s strategy is not new. Its consequences are becoming harder to ignore.