President Donald Trump told Newsmax on Thursday that the highest priority for the Republican Party is to put an end to mail-in balloting and voting machines.
Without mail-in ballots, Trump said, he would have won California.
In an interview with "The Todd Starnes Show" on Thursday, Trump called banning mail-in ballots "the biggest thing we can do."
"It's bigger even than the reapportionment. It's bigger than anything we can do as a party. Our elections are extremely corrupt. The mail-in ballots, the system is so corrupt," Trump said in the interview, which reaired on "Greg Kelly Reports."
Trump announced Monday that he intends to sign an executive order banning the use of mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines in federal elections, setting the stage for a fierce political and legal battle ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The move, Trump argued, is necessary to restore public confidence in American elections, which he says have been plagued by fraud, mismanagement, and manipulation since the rapid expansion of voting by mail and the widespread adoption of computerized voting systems.
"The Democrats, the only way they're going to win is mail-in ballots. That's the only way," Trump told Starnes, also a Newsmax host. "I say we'd pick up 100 seats if you had real elections, meaning you go to the voters. I think I would have won California. I think I'd win California right now over that terrible governor. ... But the mail-in ballots, the mail-in voting, and then you put them together with the machines."
The answer, Trump said, is bringing back paper ballots.
"Go to paper ballots. You know, if you have paper ballots, it costs you 8% of what the machines cost," he said.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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