James Carville: Trump Will Rig or Cancel '26 Elections

And as president, and with Congress in his control, it won't be hard.

James Carville is really worried.

On The Jim Acosta Show, Carville said what a lot of Democrats are whispering and too few are willing to say out loud: if Donald Trump is elected again, he very likely will cancel the 2026 midterms to cling to power. He knows that if the Democrats take just one House, it may be enough to end his reign of terror. I said “may.”

“I don’t put anything past him—nothing!” Carville said.

Trump doesn’t respect the Constitution. He doesn’t believe in democracy unless he wins. He tried to overturn at least one election he lost, and God only knows if he stole the two he “won.” He encouraged a violent mob to storm the Capitol. And now he’s promising “retribution,” hiring only creepy crooked loyalists, and openly fantasizing about using the military against civilians. As President, which he wasn’t in 2020, surrounded by yes-men and convicted felons he’s already pardoned, why wouldn’t he take the next step?

Acosta asked if Carville was worried about Trump and Stephen Miller “monkeying around” with the midterms. Carville didn’t hesitate. “In a short word, yes. In the longer words, very.”

Goebells—Miller

People tell Carville they’re scared. He tells them they should be. I feel the same. Because while most of the country wants to pretend 2020 was a one-time glitch, Trump has treated it as a dress rehearsal. This time, he won’t rely on chaos. He’ll have people in place—a whole administration of G. Gordon Liddys— ready to do the dirty work. He won’t just pressure election officials—he’ll replace them. He won’t just incite a mob—he’ll use the tools of government.

Carville’s warning wasn’t just about Trump’s intentions. It was about our failure to imagine how bad things could get. Trump can think of things we can’t, Carville said, because “we’re not accustomed to thinking like that.”

Before the Holocaust or the Gaza genocide, weren’t accustomed to thinking of things like that either—although after Hitler and the “Final Solution,” we have no excuse for an inability to imagine anything.

Happy 249th Independence Day. One year to 250 when we will very likely have lost it all.

P.S. Carville does not say what we can do to prevent the future he envisions. That is because he, a master political strategist, does not know. I doubt anyone does.

Shout-out to Mitch McConnell and Merrick Garland. We wouldn’t be at this place without you.