In private conversations, Trump has told advisers that he doesn’t think the 2018 election has to be as bad as others are predicting. He has referenced the 2002 midterms, when George W. Bush and Republicans fared better after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, these people said.

I’m pretty skeptical that the political dynamics of September 2001 would be replicated today. But regardless, this is a frightening line of thought for an incumbent president and his team to be entertaining.

In private, President Trump mused that a terror attack on American soil could help the Republican Party from getting crushed in the 2018 midterm elections.

...To a recent meeting, Trump brought his own brand of optimism. "In private conversations, Trump has told advisers that he doesn’t think the 2018 election has to be as bad as others are predicting," the Post reports. "He has referenced the 2002 midterms, when George W. Bush and Republicans fared better after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, these people said."

This calculus hasn't received the warmest reception from political observers. "if the president and his top staff are not so concerned with democracy but rather with purely political power, that’s a terrifying proposition," writes Matthew Yglesias in Vox. "If Trump thinks a terrorist attack would serve his political interests — either through a blind rally-’round-the-flag effect or by specifically validating anti-immigrant demagoguery or what have you — how hard is he really working to keep the country safe?"