To know anything about Donald Trump’s political rhetoric in the aftermath of his 2020 election defeat is to know that he’s denied the reality of his 2020 election defeat. The former president has lied about this so often and with such ferocity that it’s become known as the Republican’s “big lie.”
All of which makes it notable when the GOP candidate slips and grudgingly acknowledges what actually happened. NBC News reported:
Former President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged that he did not win the 2020 presidential election, telling podcaster Lex Fridman that he “lost by a whisker.” Fridman asked the Republican nominee about his expectations for his debate next week against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in a podcast episode released Tuesday.
Trump initially boasted about his prowess as a debater before shifting his attention to his electoral record.
“I became president,” he said, referring to the 2016 race. “Then the second time, I got millions more votes than I got the first time.”
Let’s pause here to note that this happens to be true: In 2016, the Republican ticket received roughly 63 million votes, which worked out to be approximately 46% of the popular vote. Four years later, amid higher turnout, Trump finished with more than 74 million votes — which would’ve been great, were it not for the fact that Joe Biden finished with more than 81 million votes.
Nevertheless, in the same interview, the GOP candidate went on to say, “I was told if I got 63 million, which is what I got the first time, ‘You would win. You can’t not win.’ And I got millions more votes than that and lost by a whisker.”
Putting aside the statistical details — the fact that he received more votes is largely irrelevant, except for its impact on the former president’s ego — it was those last four words that stood out.
Trump, who’s spent a ridiculous amount of time, energy and resources trying to convince Americans that he secretly won the race he actually lost, acknowledged — out loud and on the record — that he “lost by a whisker.”
What’s more, the on-air comments came on the heels of nearly identical remarks late last week. At a far-right event in Washington, D.C., the Republican said in reference to Biden, “He beat us by a whisker. It was a terrible thing.”
At first blush, the fact that Trump said — twice in five days — that he really did lose in 2020 seems rather extraordinary, given his outlandish and allegedly felonious efforts to convince the public otherwise. Indeed, the acknowledgement of reality might even be legally relevant.
As Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the bipartisan panel, explained two years ago, “Claims that President Trump actually thought the election was stolen are not supported by fact and not a defense. There is no defense that Donald Trump was duped or irrational.”
A Washington Post report summarized soon after, “Trump was not, lawmaker after lawmaker argued, an angry king or reckless madman — caught up in the emotion of the day — or a mere hapless bystander, unaware of the destruction he wrought. In fact, it was quite the opposite: Trump was a leader who knew he had lost — who was repeatedly told he had lost and who privately admitted he had lost — yet who plunged ahead with a calculated and deliberate plan that shook the foundations of the very democracy he had sworn to uphold.”
But just below the surface, there’s another element to this story. On Friday, for example, after Trump admitted that he “lost by a whisker,” he quickly added, “They used Covid to cheat. It was a terrible thing.”
In other words, there’s some nuance to keep in mind. When Trump points to his 2020 defeat, he’s apparently only acknowledging what transpired in the most superficial way possible: The Republican nominee knows he’s not president anymore, but he also still believes the lie — or at least expects us to still believe the lie.
In other words, Trump is willing to accept that he was defeated, but he’s still not willing to accept the legitimacy of that defeat.