The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump was "speaking facetiously" when he suggested calling off the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump made the remark in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, boasting about his administration's accomplishments and saying, "When you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the comment during Thursday's press briefing, saying the president was joking.
"I was in that interview. It was a closed-door interview, and there was no audio or video," Leavitt said. "The president was simply joking. He was saying, 'We're doing such a great job, we're doing everything, the American people thought maybe we should just keep rolling.' But he was speaking facetiously."
Trump's comments came as he discussed the political challenges facing the Republican Party ahead of the midterm elections, citing the historical pattern in which the party holding the White House often loses seats in Congress during a president's second year.
"It's some deep psychological thing," Trump said. "But when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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