Jake Tapper issues grim warning about Trump’s 2026 plans

With the United States' 2026 midterm elections less than three months away, GOP strategists are sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump's weak approval ratings and the strong possibility that Democrats will retake the U.S. House of Representatives — although they are hoping that Republicans will at least hold the U.S. Senate. And CNN's Jake Tapper, in a thread posted on X, formerly Twitter, early Tuesday afternoon, August 11, warned that Trump is quite capable of doing something to interfere with the midterms.

Tapper, in his X thread, was responding to a video of Wayne Allyn Root of the pro-MAGA Real America's Voice declaring, "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 tweeted, "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."

The CNN host 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 isn't the only one who is warning about the possibility of Trump finding ways to interfere with the midterms if they aren't going his way. Former CIA Director John Brennan, during a Tuesday appearance on MS NOW, commented that he "wouldn't be surprised" if Trump tried to interfere with the midterms election results. Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett, the same day, 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 — tweeting, "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."

Chronicles Magazine's Pedro L. Gonzales, the same day on X, warned, "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 that was founded in 1979 and has taken a decidedly MAGA turn in recent years.