In a new statement, former President Trump concluded with the phrase “2024 or before!”, seemingly rather clearly indicating that he imagines an imminent retaking of the presidency on his part or, at the very least, on the part of his Republican allies. To be clear: there is no real-world evidence and has never been any real-world evidence in support of the spreading far-right conspiracy theory that evidence of imaginary election fraud will somehow lead to Joe Biden’s presidency ending before 2024. Facts, however, haven’t hindered Trump so far, and he certainly doesn’t seem inclined to become more careful with his words now.
Trump said as follows:
‘The story that I asked the Department of Justice to go after ratings-challenged (without Trump!) Saturday Night Live, and other late-night Losers, is total Fake News. It was fabricated, there were no sources, and yet the Lamestream Media goes with it… I do believe that the 100% one-sided shows should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the Democrat Party, hard to believe I got 75 million votes (the most of any sitting President) despite all of that, together with a very Fraudulent Election. 2024 or before!’
Check out the statement below:
Trump basically confirming @maggieNYT's "reinstatement" reporting: "2024 or before!" pic.twitter.com/PevQm7oiV8
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 23, 2021
Trump did not receive 75 million votes. In fact, he got a little over 74.2 million, which does not round to 75 million. That’s just not how rounding works — the “75 million votes” claim is a falsehood, and a remarkably lazy one, at that. Meanwhile, Maggie Haberman from The New York Times reported earlier this month that Trump had “been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August,” and prominent Trump ally and MyPillow founder/CEO Mike Lindell has openly espoused that same conspiracy theory, indicating that it’s taking off in the former president’s circles, although again: there’s nothing indicating any truth at all to the idea of an imminent Trump reinstatement.
Trump has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn’t how it works but simply sharing the information). https://t.co/kaXSXKnpF0
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
Meanwhile, as for Trump’s confident claim that the story about him requesting Justice Department scrutiny of individuals involved in late-night television is false: obviously, a former U.S. president who pushes mind-numbingly petty and frankly embarrassing nonsense like the nickname “Lamestream Media” (in place of “mainstream media”) isn’t exactly credible. He’s just a clown — as Americans continue to struggle to meet their basic needs in the spreading fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as the losses of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died from that pandemic continue to reverberate across the nation, this guy is angrily writing out — or dictating — insults like “Lamestream Media” and putting them out to the world. What a pathetic embarrassment of an ex-president.
