Former Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh warns Trump may try to cancel 2026 midterms

[Rhode Islander First, American Second]

Scary stuff, he says. Do we take this seriously?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-walsh-scary-trump_n_67ce6723e4b0c670035862c2

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

People need to start talking and thinking about it.

[Don't Tread on Me]

This sounds like a continuation of the whole "Trump is Hitler" thing. Even though Trump is an authoritarian, there are better leaders and countries to compare him to. At the least I cannot see a fesable situation where state and local elections are cancelled.

[Transgender for Everybody]

Not likely, but possible.

[Voice of low info America]

I hate this loser but he is right that there is a failure of imagination when it comes to Trump. Nothing is inconceivable at this point.

[Joe Kakistocracy]

The fact that a Tea Party congressman is discussing this with a host who used to be the RNC chairman around the same time, tells you a lot about the current condition of the Trump Party.

[Ferguson97]

Is it a guarantee that this will happen? Of course not. But it’s completely within the realm of possibility. If you disagree, ask yourself how you would have reacted to someone predicting January 6 or Trump threatening to invade Canada, or Elon Musk basically being the shadow president.

[Proud Family Values]

Can you imagine if any president said, "Oh I'm going to lose the House.  Let's cancel the elections."  Ain't happening!  

Midterms are referendums on the agenda of the previous two years, and both parties suffer when their agendas are unpopular.... they do unpopular things, they need to deal with the consequences.

Look at the battle over Obamacare and the bailouts, and what happened in 2010 with the Tea Party wave.  Democrats had a trifecta, and they owned what happened from 2009-2010.  It is up to the majority party in the trifecta to own up to what they do.

They can't blame Old Joe forever.  If the economy is going down the toilet, either you make a course correction or you accept the fact that you're going to be losing seats.

[Mr. Illini]

I’m not sure if he’ll do this but I am sure that if he did, his supporters would justify it.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Martial law by Trump over something; anything is a huge risk going forward.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Musk is already focus-testing this on Twitter. I think his instincts are far worse than Trump's - Trump still cares about being liked.

[Move Forward]

Am I the only one who does not worry about this? Trump is fat, slow, unhealthy and he does not scream dictator to me. 

[Banana Republican]

Am I the only one who does not worry about this? Trump is fat, slow, unhealthy and he does not scream dictator to me. 

https://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleViewAmp.html?idxno=23190

Well-known dictators are talked about not only for their politics but also for their lifestyle. That included their body shape and appearance. Sometimes, their favorite foods and testimonies about what made them gain weight are in the spotlight. These autocrats even have their own "signature" foods. What are the foods that made them so big? South Koreans need to look no further than the northern half of their divided peninsula and its obese young leader – Kim Jong-un.

...

Stalin is best known for his use of banquets as a means of maintaining power. Records show that Stalin would begin meetings as late as 9 p.m., eat dinner until midnight, and stay up until 5 a.m. drinking and telling stories. There's also the famous story of Stalin forcing his subordinates to drink alcohol and make mistakes so that he could exploit their weaknesses.

...

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, dubbed the "Black Hitler," was also a big man. His story made front-page news back in the days when he was known for his massacres of civilians, purges, and bizarre behavior. Amin was a glutton and a meat eater, and after exile, he turned to fast food. Amin's chef, Otonde Odera, revealed that he had to cook Amin baked pies with a mixture of beef, animal kidneys, onions, tilapia dishes, lamb pilaf, and chocolate pudding. Amin later enjoyed fried chicken and pizza in exile in Saudi Arabia, and according to Amin's son, Jafar Amin, fried chicken was Amin's favorite food. As a result of his fattening food choices, Amin lost his youthful health and struggled with obesity and high blood pressure in his later years.

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

Can you imagine if any president said, "Oh I'm going to lose the House.  Let's cancel the elections."  Ain't happening!  

Midterms are referendums on the agenda of the previous two years, and both parties suffer when their agendas are unpopular.... they do unpopular things, they need to deal with the consequences.

Look at the battle over Obamacare and the bailouts, and what happened in 2010 with the Tea Party wave.  Democrats had a trifecta, and they owned what happened from 2009-2010.  It is up to the majority party in the trifecta to own up to what they do.

They can't blame Old Joe forever.  If the economy is going down the toilet, either you make a course correction or you accept the fact that you're going to be losing seats.

This would be so true... if it was 2005. I wish it was, I'd love to go back to when my childhood dog was alive and Yao was still balling out on the Rockets. The fact is we're in unprecedented times and freedom and democracy are never guaranteed.

[Duke 🇺🇸]

Does Trump or the GOP act like they are going to be facing voters? They are intentionally crashing our economy and alienating our allies. Just doesn't seem like they are worried about being voted out in 2 years.

[Storr]

Does Trump or the GOP act like they are going to be facing voters? They are intentionally crashing our economy and alienating our allies. Just doesn't seem like they are worried about being voted out in 2 years.

Trump is acting like someone who knows he doesn't have to face voters again.

The reason why Congressional Republicans have been quite silent is because 1) They know what a lot of Trump/Musk is doing is unpopular 2) But don't want to anger the very stable genius and get attacked via Truth Social post.

[emailking]

Not saying he won't suggest it (with a trial balloon) or even try it, but I don't see any way he could actually effect it.

For example, even if he says the elections are cancelled, CA and NY (and many other states) will still hold the elections anyway. So he'd have to deploy the military to stop it I guess? That seems far fetched and maybe infeasible. And assuming the elections do take place, we're not going to see a majority of the current House members to agree not to seat them. The margins are too small and he doesn't have a 90% lock on Republicans to go along with something that insane.

[Ferguson97]

Not saying he won't suggest it (with a trial balloon) or even try it, but I don't see any way he could actually effect it.

For example, even if he says the elections are cancelled, CA and NY (and many other states) will still hold the elections anyway. So he'd have to deploy the military to stop it I guess? That seems far fetched and maybe infeasible. And assuming the lections do take place, we're not going to see a majority of the current House members to agree not to seat them. The margins are too small and he doesn't have a 90% lock on Republicans to go along with something that insane.

It would probably look less like “cancelling” the elections themselves, and more like trying to invalidate the results. Johnson and Thune saying that they cannot in good conscience seat these members-elect with the widespread fraud…

[emailking]

Johnson maybe I don't see Thune doing that. But it's not up to them, the whole House or Senate votes on it.

[All Along The Watchtower]

If he tries this, Democrats should publicly declare this administration to be engaged in such egregiously illegal and unconstitutional actions (which hey, it already is) that the only option is mass civil disobedience.

[President Johnson]

As I said in another thread, it's way more likely that they're targeting certain races in an attempt to overturn or nullify them. Particulary close races or Democratic won seats where there is any chance to stoke doubt about the process itsself. That's more plausible than outright "cancelling" the election.

The question is how far the courts allow this to happen, which could become a true litmus test of the system. I'm not sure even Republican appointed judges go along with this when the accusations are complete bogus.

Another tactic could obviously be voter intimitation or the fabriaction of a certain crisis and make Democrats look bad/weak on it. Here again is the question whether Trump and his inncer circle are smart enough to pull something like this out.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Scary stuff, he says. Do we take this seriously?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-walsh-scary-trump_n_67ce6723e4b0c670035862c2

Joe Walsh used to be a far-right nutcase. He's no longer far-right.

[ConDemocrat]

Scary stuff, he says. Do we take this seriously?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-walsh-scary-trump_n_67ce6723e4b0c670035862c2

Joe Walsh used to be a far-right nutcase. He's no longer far-right.

The overton window has moved. Joe Walsh is far-right on "the issues" but nevertheless wants to live in a democracy where there is free speech and freedom of association. The current far-right is attempting to reestablish the Nazi Reich.

[Steve from Lambeth]

Musk is already focus-testing this on Twitter.

I'm impressed that he's been able to, given that X has been soiling itself all day today.