Months after President Joe Biden's inauguration, a diminishing number of former President Donald Trump's supporters believe Trump has a master plan to regain the presidency or even that he's still secretly operating as President.
Like corrupt preachers promising the rapture, right-wing media personalities and online conspiracy theorists keep moving the goalposts on when Trump will supposedly expose the Deep State, resulting in mass arrests and his reinstatement as President.
On January 20—Inauguration Day—theories circulated that Trump would use the emergency broadcast system to deliver orders to his supporters, and that he would expose Biden's purported crimes against humanity and retake the White House.
When that didn't happen, the new date became March 4, citing fantasies that the U.S. secretly became a corporation in the 1870s and that all Presidents after that were illegitimate. Trump would supposedly announce the return to the "real" America on March 4—the country's original inauguration date before the passage of the 20th Amendment.
Obviously that didn't happen, but now Trump is allegedly giving an alternate timeline to his associates, claiming he'll be "reinstated" by August.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman—who broke some of the most consequential developments of the Trump administration throughout his time in office—confirmed this is what Trump was telling people.
Trump has been telling a number of people he\u2019s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn\u2019t how it works but simply sharing the information).https://twitter.com/donie/status/1399528736463241221\u00a0\u2026— Maggie Haberman (@Maggie Haberman) 1622551318
It isn't happening in a vacuum. It is happening as he faced the possibility of an indictment from the Manhattan DA.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
But he is not putting out statements about the “audits" in states just for the sake of it. He's been laser focused on them, according to several people who've spoken with him (as well as WaPo reporting a few weeks ago).
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
It's still in question whether Trump is trying to keep his public support alive by sowing conspiracy theories, or if he is actually under the delusion that he could be reinstated. Haberman claimed that Trump has been "laser focused" on continued election audits forced by Republican legislatures.
People had questions.
Will he be indicted by then?https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@Grant Stern is fully vaccinated) 1622554213
when does this turn from laughable to scary?https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— BostonCharts (@BostonCharts) 1622552256
I\u2019m sorry... this is something that HE believes?https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Bobby Shmoderna (@Bobby Shmoderna) 1622551519
Some are certain it's another grift, while others think Trump is truly that unwell.
He\u2019s trying to keep the lie - and therefore his relevance - alive. But his social media footprint is much smaller, however. And with disinformation, fact-checking often may be less helpful than to simply ignore.https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Jim Sciutto (@Jim Sciutto) 1622555957
The former President is not well. \n\nAnd he still can\u2019t identify who stole the election. Was it Hugo Chavez? Dominion machines? Voters who got water while standing in line? Voters who voted on Sunday?https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1622565134
He knows this isn't true, it's simply more grifting. And millions will foolishly open their wallets.https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Luis Moreno (@Luis Moreno) 1622554567
We should all be worried about this. Suggests his grip on reality is loosening even as his grip on the GOP is stronger than ever.https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Arieh Kovler (@Arieh Kovler) 1622551556
Some believe Trump's latest fantasy will result in yet another failed insurrection like Americans saw on January 6.
the proper framing of this is \u201ctrump has been telling a number of people hes plotting a coup for august\u201dhttps://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— Andrew Lawrence (@Andrew Lawrence) 1622558373
While his loyal party blocks efforts to organize a bipartisan investigation of the late attempt to overthrow the republic, the former president is fantasizing about the next coup and circling dates on the calendar.https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— southpaw (@southpaw) 1622556833
It's a delusional fantasy, obviously, but it's a fantasy about a violent coup - which is really something from an ex-president.https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1399707794375426051\u00a0\u2026— David Frum (@David Frum) 1622553009
Trump has yet to comment on the matter on his blog, but he continues to promote election conspiracy theories.
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