June 6, 2021, 5:30 AM EDT
By
, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
I’m afraid this is even worse than it looks.
The
(
) that Donald J. Trump, the former president of the United States (and probable Republican nominee in 2024) does indeed believe quite genuinely that he — along with former Sens. David Perdue and Martha McSally — will be “reinstated” later this summer.
That, of course, is not going to happen. It is, in fact, weapons-grade lunacy to imagine that it is even possible.
That, of course, is not going to happen. It is, in fact, weapons-grade lunacy to imagine that it is even possible.
But Trump’s embrace of the story shows how the right’s doom loop of craziness works — and how it is accelerating narratives that began in the fevered imaginations of his hardcore true believers.
It should also remind us that even though an idea is fake, the consequences of a new Big Lie can be very real, and even deadly.
Delegitimizing our democracy is now central to Trump’s agenda and his hopes for a political comeback. And polls suggest that his lies about the election have influenced tens of millions of voters.
A
from May found that a quarter of Americans — and 53 percent of Republicans — actually believe Trump is the "true president" of the United States.
JUNE 6, 202106:16
In this alternative reality, it’s only a small step to believe their “true president” might really return.
The idea of just such a magical, extra-constitutional Trumpian reinstatement was floated just last week at a QAnon conference. MAGA lawyer Sidney Powell said, without providing any evidence or details, that Trump “can simply be reinstated, but a new inauguration date is set, and Biden is told to move out of the White House, and President Trump should be moved back in.”
The same idea has been amplified by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy, whose baseless charges of election fraud bought him a
. (He is
.)
For months, Lindell has been insisting that he would present evidence that would overturn Joe Biden’s victory. In April, during his
he announced he had produced a
that would “change our world forever.” He promised “proof and evidence that China was attacking our country, and you're gonna know that this election was flipped.”
He followed up “Absolute Interference” with another documentary he called “Absolutely 9-0” in which he promised that a unanimous Supreme Court would throw out Biden’s victory and reinstall Trump.
Lindell also
that Trump would be “back in office in August.” The evidence, which he compared to “blood DNA at a crime scene,” would be so overwhelming, he promised, that even Rachel Maddow would accept Biden’s ouster.
"So when we get there and they do take this down and look at it, when that vote comes out 9 to 0, they're going to have more trust that it's 9 to 0," he insisted. "Wow, even the liberal judges did this. And we will get that case before the court."
This is delusional. But now, the former president appears to believe it. Or at least pretends to.
Days after Trump’s former
(he has since denied doing so despite it being captured on tape), New York Times reporter
that “Trump has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August.”
