Earlier this week, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that former President Donald Trump believes he'll be "reinstated" as President by August, believing that continued audits of the 2020 election forced by Republican legislatures will vindicate his election conspiracy theories.
As Haberman also pointed out, this isn't how it works. What's more, the votes currently being audited in Arizona and Pennsylvania have already been counted and recounted. The results declaring President Joe Biden's victory aren't expected to change.
Nevertheless, Trump is urging journalists to repeat this fantasy as fact, according to a report from the conservative National Review confirming Haberman's reporting.
As for how Trump came to believe these delusions, pillow salesman and prominent conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell believes he was the one who inspired Trump.
Lindell is one of the few right-wing media personalities still clinging to the fantasy that Trump will be reinstated as President without being elected.
Lindell told the Daily Beast:
"If Trump is saying August, that is probably because he heard me say it publicly."
Lindell has in fact said Trump would be reinstated by August.
As Second Nexus reported back in March, Lindell told white supremacist and former Trump official Steve Bannon:
"All the evidence I have — everything is going to go before the Supreme Court and the election of 2020 is going bye-bye. It was an attack by other countries, communism coming in. I don't know what they're going to do with that after they pull it down. ... Donald Trump will be back in office in August!"
Of course, despite his insistence, Lindell has yet to provide any evidence that Trump didn't lose the election.
If Trump was inspired by Lindell's conspiracy theories—well, that kind of tracks.
It was a gutsy move for the White House Writing Room to bring back the MyPillow guy for another season but I think it was the right playhttps://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— Michael Cohen (@Michael Cohen) 1622676159
Of course.https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— \u269c\ufe0fCussinAssCajun\u269c\ufe0f (@\u269c\ufe0fCussinAssCajun\u269c\ufe0f) 1622673185
The crazy level in here is beyond imagining.https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— Ben White (@Ben White) 1622680316
Sounds about right....https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— ICTheLyte2.0 (@ICTheLyte2.0) 1622674003
On a list of dumbest sh*t I\u2019ve ever heard, this one is close to the top.https://twitter.com/noahshachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— Michael Muscato (@Michael Muscato) 1622676722
Ya think?https://twitter.com/noahshachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— Kim Hurdman (@Kim Hurdman) 1622683207
Pillow jokes were made.
Sweet sweet pillow talk.https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— Brian Guest (@Brian Guest) 1622673999
I trust my political strategy to a guy best known for cuddling pillows, toohttps://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— P\u00e9 (@P\u00e9) 1622688150
Lindell should\u2019ve slept on this idea....https://twitter.com/noahshachtman/status/1400213739874525186\u00a0\u2026— Steve (@Steve) 1622681891
We can't wait to see where Lindell moves the goalpost after August.
@GavinNewsom/X
