Almost four years after Donald Trump was defeated in the 2020 election, many of his supporters still can’t accept the fact that he lost. And that was on display at the GOP convention in Milwaukee — starting with Trump himself.
In a video recorded before he was injured in an assassination attempt, Trump warned delegates to be on the lookout for dirty tricks in November, still pushing the lie that the 2020 election was ‘rigged and stolen’ by Democrats.
“Keep your eyes open, because these people want to cheat, and they do cheat, and frankly, it’s the only thing they do,” Trump said.
That video was played two different nights — just to drive that point home.
As we all know, Trump has absolutely no evidence to prove any of his false claims, but that subject remains red meat for conservatives who are still making wild charges about 2020.
You didn’t have to go far in Milwaukee to find some of the actors who amplified Trump’s never-ending lies. They were still at it this week.
There was Mike Lindell, the conservative pillow salesman, hitting Media Row to spout off the false charge that Pennsylvania had more votes than voters in 2020 and hinting darkly that Georgia Republicans allowed massive fraud to tip the election against Trump.
Just down the way on Media Row was the President’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who went even further than Lindell.
“Joe Biden stole that election,” Giuliani said in one interview. “I’ve got the evidence at my home,” Giuliani added, immediately name-checking the state of Georgia for alleged 2020 fraud, but not exactly rushing home to release his ‘evidence.’
It didn’t end there. We also heard the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr., throwing out the same kind of evidence-free fraud claims in a convention week interview.
Asked how his father could lose in 2024, Trump Jr., had a blunt response.
“I’d say cheating,” he answered, as Trump Jr. went on to hint that Democrats had stuffed 2020 ballot boxes in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Milwaukee.
Like father, like son. Trump Jr. doesn’t have any actual evidence to back up his false charge, but those kinds of GOP allegations are basically already baked into the campaign cake for Republicans in 2024.
Remember, when Donald Trump lost the Iowa Caucus to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2016, Trump’s knee jerk reaction was — to claim fraud.
Trump did the same when he lost in 2020 — and judging from what we heard at this convention — he’s already laying the groundwork for a repeat excuse about 2024.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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