Anonymous aides worry Trump doesn't think elections matter

President Donald Trump is acting like a man who does not believe it matters whether what he does hurts his party in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, according to a recent report.

"Fourteen months into a second term defined by the president's heightened ambition and a dearth of dissenting voices, Trump remains in what can only be defined as YOLO mode,” wrote Politico journalists Alex Gangitano, Eli Stokols, and Megan Messerly on Monday. “But the lack of restraint from an executive who won't have to face voters again has put his party in danger of losing the House and possibly the Senate too."

On Iran, Gangitano, Stokols and Messerly pointed out that Trump’s handling of the conflict is disliked by roughly six out of ten voters, and yet he is still proceeding undeterred. As a result Trump's "unconventional approach could make his fears about a Democratic-controlled Congress in the final two years of his term something of a self-fulfilling prophecy."

One person close to the White House, granted anonymity, bluntly told Politico that "so many of the calculations that the administration is taking are not political... It doesn't seem like they're operating or executing the administration's policies with an election on their mind."

Meanwhile a second anonymous source close to the White House admitted, "The House is not saveable, most likely. The president doesn't admit that publicly, but he certainly knows that it isn't." Meanwhile an individual close to Trump’s senior team warned the GOP in Politico that “Republicans were always going to be in a difficult situation in the midterms. But he's taking it from a difficult situation to being almost impossible for Republicans."

Last month conservative columnist George F. Will warned in a Washington Post column that Trump had a long history of trying to steal elections by falsely claiming they had been stolen from him. He falsely claimed that the 2016 GOP Iowa caucuses were stolen by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when he lost; that the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election was stolen from him because he lost; and that he was cheated in the 2020 presidential election when he lost.

“Someone should read to him ‘Lost, Not Stolen,’ a 2022 report by eight conservatives (two former Republican senators, three former federal appellate judges, a former Republican solicitor general, and two Republican election law specialists),” Will said. “They examined all 187 counts in the 64 court challenges filed in multiple states by Trump and his supporters. Twenty cases were dismissed before hearings on their merits, 14 were voluntarily dismissed by Trump and his supporters before hearings. Of the 30 that reached hearings on the merits, Trump’s side prevailed in only one, Pennsylvania, involving far too few votes to change the state’s result.”

Will then wrote, “Trump’s batting average? .016. In Arizona, the most exhaustively scrutinized state, a private firm selected by Trump’s advocates confirmed Trump’s loss, finding 99 additional Biden votes and 261 fewer Trump votes.” Therefore he wrote of Trump, “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

Similarly, conservative historian Robert Kagan warned CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in February that President Donald Trump is likely to meddle in the 2026 midterm elections so that he will not have to worry about losing power.

“I am worried, as I have said and others have been pointing out, about whether we will even have free and fair elections in 2026, let alone in 2028,” Kagan said. “I think Trump has a plan to disrupt those elections, and I don't think he's willing to allow Democrats to take control of one or both houses as could happen in a free election.”

Speaking to NPR earlier that same month, Kagan pointed out that Trump has repeatedly said he would like to be a dictator, and fears Democrats will impeach him if they take the House in 2026.

“It's clear that he has no intention of allowing the elections to play out and allow a Democratic victory,” Kagan said. “And I think it's important to understand his motives here. He knows perfectly well that, in effect, his presidency will be greatly diminished once the Democrats take either one or both of the Houses.”

He added, “He himself is saying right now that he'll be impeached, and that is why he wants to prevent the Democrats from taking power.”

from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/LzXVu2N
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