Donald Trump 'always' respects election results, but in the US, he says they're 'rigged'

President Donald Trump insisted more than once during an interview with The New York Times that he "always" respects the results of elections -- even as he repeated his attacks on the trustworthiness of a system that twice landed him in the White House.

"I always respect the results of elections," he said at one point, before quickly adding that U.S. elections are always "rigged" and "dishonest." He added a claim that if Democrats "didn't cheat, they couldn't win."

Trump's pronouncement -- one day after the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by supporters who embraced his claims that the 2020 election was rigged -- came in response to a simple question. If Democrats won the 2026 midterms, would he abide by the result?

Trump, who has not accepted that he lost the 2020 presidential election despite having failed in dozens of courts to challenge the results, has consistently sought to undermine faith in the voting process. Over the years, he and his supporters have accused his opponents of using mail-in ballots, the lack of a national voter ID law and other processes to steal votes from him. But experts reject claims there is widespread voter fraud.

His efforts to erode public confidence in the electoral process this week included an effort to formally rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack using the White House's official website. On the same day, Trump told congressional Republicans that he feared Democratic victories in the coming midterm elections because they could lead to him being impeached for a third time.

Trump has stopped short of calling for an end to elections. Doing so, he told House Republicans, might make him look like a dictator. And after all, as he told the Times reporters who spoke to him at length in his office on Wednesday, it was nice to win.

"I won the last election by, I made it too big to rig," he said.

Then he renewed his claim that he won the 2020 race.

"I shouldn't complain, I won three times. I mean I won three times," Trump said. "I did great the second time, and I didn't get credited with that."