On Tuesday, President Donald Trump expressed concern Robert Mueller’s investigation will taint the 2018 midterm elections.

Noting the importance of the upcoming congressional contest, which could substantially shift power among the parties, Trump questioned whether those conducting the Russia probe “will be meddling” in their outcome.

According to Politico:

“The attack — the latest in Trump’s ever-expanding PR offensive against Mueller’s probe — echoes Trump’s 2016 claim that the election results could be rigged against him, a charge he repeated until the moment he eked out a surprise Election Day victory. And Trump’s backers in Congress — as well as the Republican Party — are bolstering the president’s latest charges with resolutions, letters and televised broadsides of their own.”

Trump first mentioned the possibility in a tweet on May 4th:

Is this Phony Witch Hunt going to go on even longer so it wrongfully impacts the Mid-Term Elections, which is what the Democrats always intended? Republicans better get tough and smart before it is too late!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2018

The President certainly has some backup. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., warned, “I respect the results of all of our elections, but will not tolerate prosecutors stalling and prolonging false narratives that influence the American people and their choices during the election process.”

Furthermore, Rokita claimed in a May 3rd resolution that “a failure to resolve this investigation swiftly and accurately threatens to question the legitimacy of future elections held in the United States.”

In an interview, national Republican committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon seconded the motion:

“I agree with the president on this. There appears to be a clear partisan aspect to the constantly expanding investigation — paralyze the president and delegitimize the 2016 election outcome, with a view toward the midterms.”

Unsurprisingly, Democrats are of a different mind. Mo Elleithee, a party strategist, spelled it out on Twitter Tuesday:

“The President of the United States would rather you believe that there is domestic meddling in the next US elections (with no evidence), than there was Russian meddling in the last one (despite incontrovertible evidence).”

The President of the United States would rather you believe that there is domestic meddling in the next US elections (with no evidence), than there was Russian meddling in the last one (despite incontrovertible evidence).

His disrespect for our democracy is stunning. https://t.co/RfzwUmneJR

— Mo Elleithee (@MoElleithee) May 29, 2018

Strategist David Axelrod agrees:

“I think they are trying to stoke their laggard base, but if they actually moved on Mueller it would turbocharge voters who believe Congress should provide a check and balance on the executive. The irony is that the greatest threat to the integrity of the next election is Russia, in which the president and House Republicans have shown little interest.”

The idea of an attack on Mueller igniting the Dems’ base is an interesting one. That paradigm is, as goes a commonly held notion, a reason for Trump’s ascension: the Left had become so despicable in its activism and — covering the campaign trail — its expressed contempt for the Republican candidate that it spurred Americans to the voting booth to tell them where to shove it.

As for now, the President could be shoving it. That is, his foot, into his mouth. He’s certainly not above doing so.

Either way, the results tallied on November 6th will provide plenty of clarity on the performance of Trump and his administration during their first two years.

Check out what else the President did today — he gave Jeff Session a bit of what for.

And follow ol’ Alex Parker on the Twitter.