Former CNN host Jim Acosta hates conspiracy theories unless, of course, he happens to be the one peddling them. On his Tuesday Substack podcast, Acosta mused, without evidence, that the Trump Administration could send ICE to polling stations to intimidate Latinos into not voting.
During a discussion with former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman and “democracy warrior” David Pepper, Acosta lamented, “The thing that you just mentioned a few moments ago about putting police officers or troops outside polling stations. It does remind me of something I saw—a very disturbing story in The Washington Post today that says that ‘the Trump administration is evaluating plans that would establish a ‘Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force’ composed of hundreds of National Guard troops tasked with rapidly deploying into American cities facing protests or other unrest.’ This is according to ‘internal Pentagon documents reviewed by The Washington Post.’”
Showing a lack of originality, Acosta proclaimed, “This is just nutty, dystopian, Handmaid’s Tale-type stuff.”
However, he also theorized, “But it makes me wonder: Do they try these kinds of intimidation tactics outside of polling stations? Perhaps they put ICE outside of polling stations to discourage Latino people from voting and so on.”
Pepper began his reply by hawking his book, “Yeah, I think that that is something that, you know, so I wrote this book last year called 2025, and I was imagining — trying to scare people to voting not for Trump—what would happen if he won.
He added, “And I hate to say it’s so much of, if you read this book, which was fiction, so much of it’s happening. It’s quite predictable. What you just described, I think, is quite predictable. The difference between 2017 and 2020 and now is Trump always wanted to have military cover protests. He wants that crackdown. The difference between now and then is he, you know, he was surrounded by people then, to their credit, who sometimes would stand up. Generals said, ‘No, we’re not sending troops to monitor protests.’ Now he’s got lemmings like [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth who clearly, eagerly go along. So, I do think we need to be prepared for that stuff. They are crossing red lines right and left. He clearly—the DC thing is clearly, you know, cooking up crime numbers to justify a power grab, and I’m sure we’re going to see that in other cities.”
That’s funny, considering it is the DC Metropolitan Police that has been accused of cooking the numbers by its own union. But The Jim Acosta Show, which encourages listeners to “Hold on to the truth,” doesn’t care.
Here is a transcript for the August 12 show:
The Jim Acosta Show
8/12/2025
JIM ACOSTA: The thing that you just mentioned a few moments ago about putting police officers or troops outside polling stations. It does remind me of something I saw—a very disturbing story in The Washington Post today that says that “the Trump administration is evaluating plans that would establish a ‘Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force’ composed of hundreds of National Guard troops tasked with rapidly deploying into American cities facing protests or other unrest.” This is “according to “internal Pentagon documents reviewed by The Washington Post.”
I mean, that this is just nutty, dystopian, Handmaid’s Tale-type stuff, but it makes me wonder. Do they try these kinds of intimidation tactics outside of polling stations? Perhaps they put ICE outside of polling stations to discourage Latino people from voting and so on.
DAVID PEPPER: Yeah, I think that that is something that, you know, so I wrote this book last year called 2025—
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PEPPER: — and I was imagining — trying to scare people to voting not for Trump — what would happen if he won. And I hate to say it’s so much of, if you read this book, which was fiction, so much of it’s happening—
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PEPPER: — it’s quite predictable. What you just described, I think, is quite predictable. The difference between 2017 and 2020 and now is Trump always wanted to have military cover protests. He wants that crackdown.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PEPPER: The difference between now and then is he, you know, he was surrounded by people then, to their credit, who sometimes would stand up. Generals said, “no, we’re not sending troops to monitor protests.” Now he’s got lemmings like Hegseth who clearly, eagerly go along. So, I do think we need to be prepared for that stuff.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PEPPER: They are crossing red lines right and left. He clearly—the DC thing is clearly, you know, cooking up crime numbers to justify a power grab, and I’m sure we’re going to see that in other cities.
