Trump Tells GOP Lawmakers to “Get Smart” and Eliminate Early Mail-In Voting

In a Truth Social post over the weekend, President Donald Trump continued to rehash the outcome of the 2020 presidential election — and appeared to lay the groundwork for calling the results of the upcoming 2026 midterms into question.

For years, Trump has been unwilling to admit defeat in the 2020 election, wrongly alleging that President Joe Biden won the race as the result of widespread fraud, despite no verifiable evidence demonstrating that this was the case.

Discussing recent allegations of illegal gambling within the NBA in his post, Trump described the election five years ago as “a far bigger SCANDAL,” claiming, once again, that it was “rigged” and “stolen” from him.

“We now know everything,” Trump claimed, offering no evidence to back his claims.

Trump also pressured the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the election, despite the outcome being subjected to several audits, examinations, and judicial inquiries that have all come to the same conclusion: The outcome was legitimate.

“I hope the DOJ pursues this with as much ‘gusto’ as befitting the biggest SCANDAL in American history!” Trump said. “If not, it will happen again, including the upcoming Midterms.”

Trump also called for Republicans to “GET SMART…BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE” on the issue of absentee and early voting, implying they should restrict or eliminate such methods, which he himself has often utilized in the past.

Journalist Aaron Rupar shared Trump’s message on social media, warning that it signaled the president was planning to upend the 2026 midterm races.

“The seeds are being planted to rig the midterms,” Rupar wrote. “It’s becoming more explicit.”

Marc Elias, an attorney who focuses on elections and the founder of Democracy Docket, voiced similar concerns.

“Donald Trump is never moving on from the 2020 election. And now, he’s planning to get revenge in 2026,” Elias said.

Absentee voting and voting by mail are safe and secure methods for casting ballots, and there was no evidence showing otherwise in the 2020 presidential election — a point that Christopher Krebs, a cybersecurity expert who led a Department of Homeland Security agency tasked with securing that election, pointed out in November of that year, stating that the election was “the most secure in American history.”

Trump later fired Krebs for contradicting his claims of fraud.

Trump has made similar comments earlier this year — indeed, in August, he also disparaged voting by mail, vowing that he and Republicans in Congress would “do everything possible [to] get rid of mail-in ballots” during a public meeting in the Oval Office.

It would be incredibly difficult for him to do so, however. Firstly, the U.S. Constitution puts states, not the president, in charge of managing elections. Secondly, even if a bill were to be proposed, it would have to pass muster in Congress (and likely defeat a filibuster from Senate Democrats) in order to advance to Trump’s desk for signature.

Even if it became law, the legislation would likely face judicial challenges; voting rights groups have said that implementing such a law would be a logistical nightmare.

“Requiring states to eliminate or replace the voting machines that confirmed the election of this president, just 15 months before a midterm election and less than a year before primaries, is not possible and would result in chaos,” election law expert David Becker told CBS News in August.