Former President Donald Trump, despite losing the 2020 election, became fixated on a fringe conspiracy theory that he could be reinstated as president before the next election, according to a new book by ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. The book, titled “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party,” reveals that Trump believed in a far-right theory supported by some of his most devoted followers, including MyPillow CEO Michael Lindell.
Lindell claimed that Trump would be able to move back into the White House on August 13, 2021, and promised to present evidence of mass vote-flipping by Chinese hackers during a symposium he hosted in South Dakota. However, the evidence did not exist. Despite this, Trump remained enthralled by the idea.
In June 2021, Trump released a statement that included the phrase “2024 or before!” This caught the attention of Jonathan Karl, who asked Trump about it during a phone call the following month. Trump responded by saying he wouldn’t explain it to Karl because he wouldn’t understand or write about it.
Karl’s book reveals that Trump privately discussed the baseless notion of being reinstated, leading some of his advisors to worry that he actually believed he could force President Joe Biden out of the White House before the next election. Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis publicly refuted the idea in May 2021, stating that the Constitution only allows for the removal of a sitting president through impeachment and conviction.
Even one of Trump’s staunchest congressional allies, former Rep. Mo Brooks, changed his stance on the election fraud claims. While he initially supported Trump’s challenge of Biden’s victory and spoke at the rally before the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Brooks eventually encouraged Trump supporters to move on from the claims.
Months later, Trump called Brooks with election-related demands, including publicly stating that Trump should be reinstated as president. Brooks refused, and as a result, Trump rescinded his endorsement of Brooks, who went on to lose the primary.
When asked if he believed Trump truly thought he could be reinstated, Brooks expressed hope that Trump didn’t because that would mean he was “way outside the bounds of reality.”
Jonathan Karl’s book, “Tired of Winning,” will be published on Tuesday.
