President Donald Trump has sparked controversy by suggesting the United States should cancel its midterm elections, a comment the White House later dismissed as a joke. In an interview with Reuters, Trump reflected on his second term, stating, “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the president was “simply joking,” but declined to answer whether he thought it was “funny” to cancel elections.
Separately, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota unless state lawmakers intervene in protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. The president described protesters as “professional agitators and insurrectionists” who were “attacking” ICE officers. The Insurrection Act, a rarely-used set of laws from 1792 to 1871, allows the president to deploy the military to suppress civil disturbances. It was last invoked in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots.
Republican Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York voiced opposition to the threat, telling Fox Business that using the Insurrection Act should be “the last thing we do.” Meanwhile, Trump’s approval rating among Gen Z has plummeted 42 points in the past year, according to CNN data analyst Harry Enten, dropping from a net positive of +10 in February 2025 to negative 32 points.
In other developments, Trump met with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for the first time, despite a chilly relationship since she won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. The US Coast Guard also seized an oil tanker, the Guyana-flagged “Veronica,” in the Caribbean for violating sanctions on Venezuela.
