Former President Donald J. Trump has once again repeated his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him and has refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election. In an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he stated that he would only accept the results if they were honest, further perpetuating his false narrative of election fraud. Additionally, he dismissed questions about potential political violence by suggesting that his victory was inevitable, indicating that the outcome of the election would depend on its fairness.
Mr. Trump’s baseless claims about the fairness of the 2020 election were central to his efforts to overturn his loss to President Biden and led to the violent storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters. He now faces dozens of felony charges in connection with those events. Despite this, he continues to campaign in battleground states and sow doubt about the integrity of the upcoming election by making unfounded claims that Democrats are likely to cheat to win.
The former president has also promoted the false belief that he won Wisconsin in 2020 and has pressured Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to help overturn his loss in the state. Mr. Trump has continued to install election deniers in influential positions within his campaign and the Republican Party, further perpetuating the narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. The Republican National Committee has appointed individuals like Christina Bobb, a former host at the far-right One America News Network, as senior counsel for election integrity, despite her promotion of false claims about election fraud.
Trump and his allies have taken an aggressive approach to “election integrity” efforts, aiming to cast doubt on elections that the party lost. The RNC has announced plans to train and dispatch over 100,000 volunteers and lawyers to monitor the electoral process in battleground states and challenge the results. During a recent rally in Freeland, Michigan, Mr. Trump promised to assemble a team of highly qualified professionals to ensure that the events of 2020 will not be repeated, claiming that he will secure the elections to prevent a similar outcome in the future.
Despite losing Wisconsin by over 20,000 votes in 2020, Mr. Trump continues to push the false narrative of election fraud and refuses to accept the legitimacy of the election results. He has vowed to fight for what he believes is right for the country, echoing his statements before the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, where he called on his supporters to “fight like hell.” With his continued efforts to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and perpetuate false claims of election fraud, the former president’s stance on accepting election results remains divisive and contentious.
