Trump's 'total power' over admin cannot hide president's midterm worries: analysis

Donald Trump is seemingly fretting about the midterm election results months in advance, a political commentator has claimed.

The president has recently weathered election results which could be an indicator of a shifting mood across the country, with Taylor Rehmet flipping a Texas Senate seat Trump won by 17 points just two years ago. CNN analyst Stephen Collinson believes this result will have Trump fretting despite his complete control over an administration team filled with true believers.

Collinson wrote, "He showed yet again Monday he’s obsessing about the midterm elections — two days after a Democratic upset in a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas offered another ominous sign for the GOP in November."

The analyst went on to suggest Trump had continued his threats against the legitimacy of American elections too, just a short while after floating the idea that midterm elections should be canceled.

“I won’t say cancel the election, they should cancel the election because the fake news will say ‘he wants the elections canceled. He’s a dictator.’ They always call me a dictator,” a grinning Trump said at the time.

Collinson has since suggested the Constitution makes it "plain" that Trump cannot suspend upcoming elections, but it may highlight his worries over the future of his administration.

"In substance, Trump’s comment was nonsensical, since the Constitution requires states to run elections," Collinson wrote. "That principle has been upheld multiple times in court, including in cases brought by the president falsely alleging fraud.

"Trump’s warning was one of his most overt efforts yet to create a narrative of suspicion around November’s elections in case the Republican Party does poorly because of his tanking poll numbers.

"This is a familiar tactic. Trump laid groundwork for his false claims the election was stolen in 2020 months before the first votes were cast in his defeat to Joe Biden. Now, as Trump blanches at the scrutiny he’d face if Democrats win back the House, this process looks more sinister.

"The administration has created an infrastructure to cast doubt on the legitimacy of federal elections, or to shape them before they happen. It’s a well of unquestioned loyalty to Trump."

That unquestioned loyalty can be seen in the admin staff of Trump's second term, according to Collinson. He wrote, "Many senior officials are fully bought into Trump’s alternative electoral reality. There’s no one like then-Attorney General Bill Barr, who told Trump there was no evidence to support his voter fraud claims.

"Bondi has turned the DOJ into an arm of Trump’s political operation. Many lower-level officials are also true believers. In 2020, other federal officials — in the Department of Homeland Security, and even the White House counsel’s office — pushed back on Trump and stood up for the rule of law. Trump now has total power over his administration."