White House scrambles after Trump says “we shouldn’t even have” midterm elections

The White House is attempting to walk back a comment President Donald Trump made about the midterm elections.

During an interview with Reuters this week, Trump made a lot of controversial—and, at times, downright false—comments, including some concerning the upcoming midterms, set to take place on Nov. 3, 2026. It's expected that Republicans might lose seats in Congress at the midterms, which is often the case for the party of the sitting president.

"It's some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms," he said, adding that he had already accomplished so much during the first year of his second term that "when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election," referring to midterms.

White House dismisses concern

The president's remarks immediately sparked backlash among those concerned that the president and his administration have little respect for the established norms of American democracy, including free and fair elections. The administration's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, later dismissed concerns by claiming that "the president was simply joking."

"He was saying, 'We are doing such a great job, we are doing everything the American people thought. Maybe we should just keep rolling,'" she said. "But he was speaking facetiously."

The backlash over Trump's midterms comments

The fear that Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act so as to obstruct elections in Democrat-led cities and allow his party to retain power has been growing ever since his return to office last year. The inflammatory language being used regarding protests over ICE, among other things, has added to these concerns, and Trump's comments about midterms certainly aren't quelling any fears.

"There's a word for people who think like that: Tyrant," wrote Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

"Who could have possibly seen this coming," mused @jaubreyYT.

"You guys should do something about that," wrote @AutismRonin.

In theory, midterm elections take place on November 3 of this year. In reality? Guess we'll see how things go from here.

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