At his “Trump-a-palooza” – a name coined by Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters for the first-ever midterm Republican convention in Dallas, Texas – Trump urged the audience to raise their hands and take a bizarre repeat-after-me pledge to cheat in the November mid-term elections by voting even if they are not registered:
“Please raise your right hand: ‘I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States, that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way — I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do …’ “
The pledge to cheat occurred on September 10, 2026, the second day of the two-day long convention.
In an October 5, 2024 social media post, Trump threatened “long prison sentences” for people who “cheated in the election” that year.
Trump has been falsely claiming for years that the 2020 election was stolen from him while never offering any proof of mass fraud being committed in the 2020 election, or any other election. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in April 2026 found 63% of Republicans still falsely believe Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump has undertaken a years-long campaign to undermine faith in U.S. elections.
The 2026 poll shows Trump’s years of lying about the conduct of elections in the U.S. have had a profound effect on a majority of Republican voters, who tend to unquestioningly believe his lies.