In an interview from the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Donald Trump suggested that the United States "shouldn't even have an election" later this year as he defended his record and grappled with the prospect of Republican losses in the 2026 midterm elections.
The Reuters interview was part of a series of sit-downs in which Trump defended decisions ranging from U.S. foreign policy to domestic law enforcement. He addressed tensions with Iran and Ukraine, economic management, and immigration enforcement, while characterizing low public opinion of his plans to annex Greenland as part of the United States as "fake."
Regarding criticism from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon as well as lawmakers within his own party about his administration's controversial decision to investigate Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for corruption, he told Reuters that, "I don't care."
He framed midterm prospects as an almost inevitable backlash against the incumbent party, citing "historical trends that have seen the party in power lose seats in the second year of a presidency." "It's some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms," the President said, before delivering the controversial line about elections.
Trump added that, "A lot of times, you can't convince a voter. You have to just do what's right. And then a lot of the things I did were not really politically popular. They turned out to be when it worked out so well." Despite his comments, Trump's administration is constitutionally obligated to hold elections: the U.S. Constitution and federal law set specific timing for congressional and presidential elections, and there is no mechanism for a president to unilaterally cancel them.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to tamp down the reaction to the election comment, saying Trump was "speaking facetiously" when he told Reuters that Americans shouldn't have a midterm election given his record. Leavitt told reporters that critics were taking the remark too literally and that the president did not actually intend to cancel elections.
Q: Why does Trump keep talking about canceling the election?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 15, 2026
LEAVITT: He's speaking facetiously pic.twitter.com/zGO9FrjxF9
However, the President has expressed doubts regarding the legitimacy of elections in the past. He has maintained that his loss in the 2020 presidential election was a result of tampering by the Democratic party and widespread fraud through mail-in voting. In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, he claimed that he should have had the National Guard seize the voting machines in 2020. For now, the midterm elections remain set for November 2026, requiring no action from the White House to proceed.
