Trump floats canceling 2026 midterms at House GOP retreat, warns of impeachment if Republicans lose

Speaking for over an hour at the House Republican retreat at the Kennedy Center in Washington — on the fifth anniversary of the January 6 Capitol attack — President Donald Trump raises the idea of canceling the 2026 midterm elections before quickly pulling back. Complaining that Democrats have \"the worst policy,\" Trump tells roughly 70 GOP lawmakers: \"I won't say cancel the election, they should cancel the election, because the fake news would say, 'He wants the elections canceled. He's a dictator.'" He then warns Republicans that losing the midterms will trigger his impeachment: \"You gotta win the midterms. Because if we don't win the midterms, they'll find a reason to impeach me.\" White House officials later characterize the remarks as facetious. Legal experts note that no president has constitutional authority to cancel or postpone congressional elections, whose timing is set by Congress and administered by states. The remarks mark the first in a sustained pattern of Trump statements treating elections as obstacles rather than democratic requirements.