For months, Donald Trump has continued to whine incessantly about his 2020 election defeat, so it wasn’t too surprising to see the president push the same line in his latest interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. After once again lying about the race being “rigged,” Trump added, “Let’s see whether or not Fox lets you put that in. OK? Do you hear me? Rigged.”
There is no reason for the Republican to continue promoting this absurdity. He was, after all, recently elected to a second term and returned to the White House. He gains nothing from returning, once again, to the discredited conspiracy theory popularly known as Trump’s “big lie.”
But the president, who’s never been altogether comfortable with the idea that Americans settle their differences at the ballot box, apparently can’t help himself.
In the same interview, the Fox anchor reminded his guest that his 2024 rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris, received 75 million votes. Trump disapproved — not about Baier bringing this up, but about the validity of the electoral total.
“Well, if you believe the whole thing,” the president said, apparently referring to the outcome of last year’s election. “The whole thing is ridiculous,” he added.
It was a telling moment for Trump. In reality, according to the latest tallies, Harris received over 75 million votes, finishing with more than 48% of the popular vote. By both metrics, the California Democrat fared better in 2024 than Trump did in either of his first two elections.
How does the Republican deal with this? By pretending the accurate vote totals aren’t real. The president appears more than happy to believe his own vote totals from last fall, but asked about his former rival, her election performance, in his mind, must be dismissed as “ridiculous.”
Why? Because he says so. Trump is one of those rare election conspiracy theorists who not only tries to undermine public confidence in the results when he loses, but who does the same thing when he wins.
Stepping back, watching the president’s scorched-earth approach to post-inaugural governing, it’s only natural to wonder whether the Republican believes he owes anything to the 50.2% of American voters who didn’t support his 2024 candidacy. The answer, by all appearances, is no — because as far as he’s concerned, he doesn’t want to believe those vote totals, no matter how accurate they are.
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