Donald Trump Says His Goal for 2026 Is to ‘Survive’

President Donald Trump‘s goals for 2026 include making it through the year.

The 79-year-old raised his mortality in a new interview with One America News Network, when he was asked about his plans for the midterms season.

“Yeah, I have big plans, I want to survive,” Trump said. “You look at what’s going on, it’s crazy.” 

The Republican president went on to accuse “crazy Democrats” of making “politics very dangerous,” referencing his administration’s unsupported claim that political violence is a left-wing problem.

The topic of political violence in America took center stage following the Sept. 10 murder of right-wing political organizer Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking to college students in Utah.

In the aftermath of Kirk’s death, the Trump administration quickly pointed fingers at Democrats for allegedly heightening tensions in America, portraying the political left as a domestic terrorism movement.

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Amid Trump’s claims, the Department of Justice deleted a 2024 study from its website that concluded the opposite — that right-wing extremists are behind the vast majority of domestic terrorist attacks.

“Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism,” concluded the study, which was titled “What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism.”

Kirk’s assassination was the latest high-profile example of political violence, which has affected figures on both sides of the aisle in recent years.

On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol in search of lawmakers. Trump later pardoned 1,500 people charged with the attack on his first day in office this past January. 

In 2022, Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer by a home intruder. According to court records, a man named David DePape confronted Paul, shouting, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” before adding, “Well, she’s No. 2 in line for the presidency, right? We’ve got to take them all out.”

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump survived two assassination attempts, including one where a sniper shot him in the ear during a rally in Pennsylvania.

And already in 2025, multiple political figures have been targeted for a variety of reasons. In April, Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home was set ablaze while he and his family were asleep inside.

Just two months later, two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota — state Sen. John Hoffman and state Rep. Melissa Hortman — were shot in their homes alongside their spouses. Melissa and her husband, Mark, died in the attack, while John and his wife, Yvette, were injured.

Trump, who will become the oldest sitting president in the course of his second term, has also been the subject of online speculation about his health.

His right hand has had a large recurring bruise, which is often masked with makeup during public appearances. The White House previously said that the bruising was a result of the president frequently shaking hands with others. 

In July, the White House also commented on the president’s swollen ankles, saying they led him to be diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which White House physician Sean Barbabella described as a “benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a form of venous disease that occurs when veins in your legs are damaged. As a result, these veins can’t manage blood flow as well as they should, and it’s harder for blood in your legs to return to your heart. CVI causes blood to pool in your leg veins, leading to high pressure in those veins.”

CVI is common, affecting about one in 20 adults, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It can be caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or any other changes to the veins that prevent them from working properly. Trump was ultimately cleared of DVT, according to Barbabella.

The CVI diagnosis came days after photos of Trump at the FIFA Club World Cup at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey went viral.