With the U.S. 2026 midterm elections less than three months away, GOP strategists are warning about President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings and the possibility that Democrats could retake the U.S. House of Representatives, while Republicans hope to hold the U.S. Senate. That broader political backdrop helps explain why comments about election-related emergency powers have drawn attention: any move framed around election security would land in an already charged environment.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, in a thread posted on X early Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 11, warned that Trump could do something to interfere with the midterms.

Tapper was responding to a video of Wayne Allyn Root of the pro-MAGA Real America’s Voice saying, "You have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections. If you do this in the next month, we will get photo ID, proof of citizenship and a limit to mail ballots."

Trump replied, "Let me just say stranger things have happened. I'll leave it at that."

Tapper wrote, "There is zero reason to not take Trump at his word that he and his team are planning something alarming to disrupt the midterms and beyond."

He also posted, "We’ve been covering this for months. Maybe it would sound implausible in a pre-Jan 6 2021 world. But now that we know what’s possible, warning signs are there. Just look at what we know about. Now ask yourself what we don’t."

Tapper was not the only figure raising concerns about the possibility that Trump could find ways to interfere with the midterms if the results do not go his way. Former CIA Director John Brennan, in a Tuesday appearance on MS NOW, said he "wouldn't be surprised" if Trump tried to interfere with the midterm election results. Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett, also on Tuesday, told MS NOW’s Alicia Menendez that Trump is already "actively engaged in an election theft."

PBS News’ Liz Landers also weighed in on Root’s comments, writing on X, "I asked the president about this back in February when we reported on a proposed executive order that was floated by his allies outside the White House to declare a national emergency regarding elections."

On the same day, Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro L. Gonzales wrote on X, "I don't know if he will go through with it, but Trump absolutely wants to declare a national security emergency to sabotage the midterms in favor of the GOP. And there's no reason to believe that any major conservative institution from Heritage to Claremont would oppose it. The new right has lost the plot and does not recognize limits on what can be done to, in their delusional minds, 'save' the country, even and especially if that means blowing it up."

Gonzales was referring to the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank founded in 1979 that has taken a decidedly MAGA turn in recent years.