President Donald Trump acknowledged that scheduling the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention during the NFL’s opening game of the 2026 season was not the best idea.
The president sat down with Time magazine for an interview this week and was asked about the possibility of Democrats taking control of Congress in the midterm elections. He touted his campaigning strength but noted the lackluster timing of the first-ever convention.
“We did a convention that had 107 million views, and it stupidly was put opposite the NFL opening, and we got more views,” Trump said. “They got 25 million. We got 107. Very stupid thing to do, but we did it.”
According to NBC, the NFL opener between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots averaged about 25 million viewers, peaking at 27.4 million in the second quarter. Nielsen data found that the first night of the GOP midterm convention drew about 2.5 million viewers on Fox News, 1 million on MS Now, and under 500,000 on CNN.
Trump’s comments follow Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton revealing in a leaked audio that the convention hurt “everybody’s numbers,” including his own. In private conversation audio reported by the New York Times, Paxton was asked whether he thought Trump was a “little bit of a drag,” to which Paxton said the convention “dropped our numbers.” Trump said on Wednesday that he had not heard the leaked audio of Paxton, but again touted the success of the convention.
Trump has often rejected negative reviews of his leadership and actions, but during the interview with Time, the president staunchly rejected that he was underwater in approval polls.
“They’re fake numbers,” he said. “I would beat anybody running today by 20 points. Your numbers that you have are fake. The pollsters are corrupt. They’re almost as corrupt as the writers.”
Trump’s overall job approval has dropped to between 33% and 36%, depending on the poll, and it’s been on the decline largely because of high prices driven by the war with Iran and the trade war with Canada, which have squeezed households. Trump’s economic and foreign policy has put the GOP in a pickle, as candidates now must face voters and explain how they will tackle the affordability issues many view as being at the hands of Trump.
The president also touched on the prospect of deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to polling stations in November, an idea that has been floated to ensure election security, something Trump has put at the forefront of his agenda.
While White House border czar Tom Homan said last month that there are no plans in place to send ICE to polling sites, Trump offered a more candid response to the idea.
“Haven’t thought of it,” the president said.
When pressed on whether he would rule out declaring a state of emergency during the elections, Trump said he would leave all options on the table.
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“I don’t rule anything out or in. We’ll see,” Trump said, before clarifying, “You mean the Insurrection Act?”
The president then championed his crackdown on crime while noting he “could” invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the military and federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement.