Many Republicans Believe Trump Will Be Reinstated as President in August
The Claim
Trump and up to a third of Republicans believe he will be reinstated in August.
News posted on
Emerging story
On June 2, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who has covered Trump extensively, tweeted that the former president "has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August." In the brief tweet thread, Haberman said that the claim didn't come out of nowhere but hinges on yet another audit of ballots in Arizona, which many believe will show he won the election.
It also tracks with potential indictment coming from the Manhattan DA, according to Haberman.
Haberman was actually responding to a video clip from CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan. In the clip, O'Sullivan interviews Trump supporters who continue to believe that the 2020 election was fraudulent and that perhaps a Myanmar-style coup should reinstate Trump as president. In the clip he said, "This talk from Americans about a coup… Cheering on a coup… Hoping for a coup in the United States is one of the most chilling things I hear on the road."
Following up on Haberman's viral tweet, Morning Consult conducted a poll of 1990 registered voters between June 4-7, indicating that nearly 19% self-described Republicans believe this theory, saying that it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely."
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar's investigation found that the first part of the story concerning Trump's belief he will be reinstated seems credible. Charles C.W. Cooke of The National Review later backed up Haberman, saying that "Haberman's reporting was correct."
Cooke continued, "I can attest, from speaking to an array of different sources, that Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he — along with former senators David Perdue and Martha McSally — will be “reinstated” to office this summer after “audits” of the 2020 elections…[have] been completed."
Lara Trump has recently denied that the former president made such claims.
This theory isn't new, though, and has been floating around for months in MAGA-QAnon circles.
In early May, speaking on Steven Bannon's podcast, MyPillow guy Mike Lindell said, "Donald Trump will be back in office in August."
And, at a rally in Texas called the "For God & Country Patriot Roundup," during an interaction with a crowd member, Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seemed to suggest that a Myanmar-style coup "should happen here [the United States]." Flynn later walked his statement back.
Sydney Powell, who also spoke at the event, claimed that "he can simply be reinstated."
The conspiracy that the 2020 election was fraudulent and Trump would come back to oust Biden and all of the democratic leadership in a military-style takeover was a potent conspiracy theory that dialed up federal authorities to high alert in early March. Allegedly, after Trump took over the White House again on March 4, he was to "confront a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles running the Democratic Party." The March coup never happened.
Posted on the MAGA Revolution Facebook page is an article from Conservative Brief that seems to suggest that Trump's reinstatement is a serious possibility. The article relies heavily on statements released from Trump and commentary from Sydney Powell. It gives updates from the ongoing recounts but gives no other context.
That Facebook post garnered over 20k likes and thousands of shares and comments that support Mr. Trump's reinstatement. MAGA Revolution, which has almost 600k followers, is operated by the same group that owns Conservative Brief, and many of their articles have similar engagement.
While it's unsure if these rumblings on the internet are just that – rumblings, and not hints of something more, like January 6 – nothing happened on March 4.
Furthermore, according to Politico's poll, this particular conspiracy theory does not have a lot of support outside of far right wing circles. Only "72% of voters, including 61% of Republicans, say it is unlikely Trump will be restored to the presidency."
As Misbar also recently pointed out, the idea that Trump can be reinstated is not accurate at all. There is no constitutional pathway for Trump back to the White House before the next election.
Cooke further explains, "It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government. There is no Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution."
Regardless of what Trump and a good number of self-described Republican voters believe, Joe Biden will be president at least until 2024.
Since the poll size was limited but seems to indicate a trend, we rate this claim as selective.
