Former President Donald Trump, animated by false grievances about a stolen election, is reportedly consumed with the idea that a sketchy ballot review piloted in Arizona and pushed by his supporters in other battleground states could back up his months-long rants about how he actually won the 2020 presidential election.
The Washington Post reported that sources in the former president’s orbit have said Trump has become so fixated on the “audits” that he is even telling allies that their success could herald his return to the White House this year.
One adviser told the paper that anyone who reminds Trump of the truth — that he lost — “is p—— into the wind.”
Trump advisers told the Post that the ex-president has become so locked in on the falsehood, that he’s been plotting how to replicate similar reviews in other states he lost, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Georgia.
Describing his obsessive habits to the Post, advisers reportedly said Trump will watch any television coverage he can find about the Arizona ballot review. Sources also told the Post that Kelli Ward, the Arizona GOP chairwoman, has been keeping Trump abreast of the review in her state.
The former president, unable to diverge from dwelling on the legitimacy of his loss, has even looked at candidates’ positions on his election falsehoods as part of his consideration about who to endorse in 2022 and 2024 races, his advisers told the Post.
Two advisers told the paper that Trump, in addition to the Maricopa County review, is particularly fixated on Fulton County, Georgia, where he is facing a criminal inquiry into steps he took to interfere with the election.
That interest has been coddled by those who have egged on Trump’s false election claims, advisers reportedly told the Post.
A host at the One America News network, Christina Bobb, has privately discussed the Arizona audit with the former president and his team, advisers told the paper. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has also been in touch with Trump and encouraged the ex-president’s fixation.
Lindell is hosting a rally in Wisconsin on June 12 where Trump, referred to in a promotional flier for the event as the “REAL” president, is slated to appear via Jumbotron.
In light of conspiracy theories emerging that have suggested Trump could be reinstated as president in August, Lindell reported told the Daily Beast that “If Trump is saying August, that is probably because he heard me say it publicly.”
