In a recent interview with Reuters, President Donald Trump suggested the 2026 midterm election should not be held, citing historical trends unfavorable to the party in power and touting his own record.
“We shouldn’t even have an election this year,” Trump said, expressing frustration that Republicans could majorly lose congressional control. “It’s some deep, deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has made remarks like this, but this is one of the most direct, prompting pushback from legal experts who noted that the president has no authority to cancel elections. Congress sets the timing of federal elections, and state and local officials administer them.
On The Young Turks, hosts Jordan Uhl and Sharon Reed analyzed Trump’s comments, criticizing White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt’s dismissal of Trump’s remarks as a joke.
“It’s not a laughing matter,” Jordan said. “This is something that he has talked about more than once. He talked about it again on Jan. 6, the anniversary of the day that his own supporters, at his request, tried to storm the Capitol.”
Sharon agreed, stating, “History will reflect he absolutely has considered not holding elections. There’s been reporting about this, as it looked like he was going to lose after his first term. And I believe history will show that he’s considering it right now.”
While acknowledging Trump cannot unilaterally cancel elections, both warned of other avenues to undermine the vote. Jordan pointed to the potential use of the Insurrection Act to deploy military or National Guard units.
“I would not be surprised if he invokes the Insurrection Act, deploys the military or the National Guard, especially in swing states, to try to suppress turnout, just to try to intimidate people,” Jordan said.
Sharon also predicted a campaign of voter intimidation, citing the sharp uptick in the presence of federal agents in cities and recent protests across the country. “He will intimidate people. He will suppress turnout because there’s people right now who don’t want to go outside of their homes in Minnesota because of what this guy is doing,” she said.
Jordan outlined a scenario where federal agents at polling places could instigate chaos. “Someone understandably defends themselves, and then it turns into chaos, and they shut polling locations down,” he said. “It’s a bleak prediction, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility.”
“That’s Donald Trump. He’s anti-democratic, and he wants to rig the system to keep Republicans in power,” Jordan said. “They do not care about our democracy. He’s shown you he doesn’t care about the peaceful transition of power. Of course, he would try this.”
