Trump expects to be ‘reinstated as president by August’
Donald Trump is reportedly itching to get back in the Oval Office. Source: Getty
Former US president Donald Trump is not giving up on a triumphant return to the world's most powerful job – but not how you might think.
He is reportedly telling those in his inner circle it will happen sooner than a frequently foreshadowed presidential run in 2024.
According to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, the former president has been "laser focused" on so-called "audits" of state vote counts in last year's presidential election and telling confidants he expects to be reinstated to the White House by August.
There is no legal or constitutional basis for such a thing.
Donald Trump is reportedly itching to get back in the Oval Office. Source: Getty
A highly partisan and non-binding audit of votes in Arizona is currently taking place – a process that has been widely criticised and which the Maricopa County's Republican dominated Board of Supervisors said had turned their state into a "laughing stock".
Despite the process having no legal authority, Trump has repeatedly said he wants to take the show on the road to push for similar exercises in other crucial states where he lost to Joe Biden.
In the US, a Yahoo News/YouGov poll released last week found that 64 per cent of Republicans believe that the 2020 election was "rigged and stolen from Trump", but the courts have not been as kind to the former president, almost unanimously turning back his incessant legal challenges.
Recounts and official audits of the votes in several states have also failed to overturn Biden's victory.
None of those points have seemed to deter Trump or his ardent supporters from the mistaken belief that he will be restored to power.
Here's how they think that will happen:
QAnon group at the centre of Trump's latest claim
At a QAnon conference held over the weekend in Dallas titled "For God & Country Patriot Roundup," some theories emerged about Trump's touted reinstatement.
Sidney Powell, a fringe lawyer who has long backed the former president and pushed his more whacky conspiracies, spoke at the event and told attendees the US Constitution was no match for their righteous cause.
"He can simply be reinstated," Powell said, eliciting loud cheers from the crowd despite it being wildly untrue.
Michael Flynn, the retired Army lieutenant general and former national security adviser under Trump who was forced to resign after lying about his interactions with Russian officials, offered his own idea at the event.
Video quickly circulated on social media with him responding to a question saying there was "no reason" a Myanmar-style military coup couldn't topple the Biden administration.
"It should happen" he said, before later backing away from the statement.
As New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman noted, this is happening as Trump faces a serious criminal probe in the state of New York.
"He is not putting out statements about the 'audits' in states just for the sake of it. He’s been laser focused on them, according to several people who’ve spoken with him," she tweeted.
As the legal woes for Trump continue, his personal blog which acted as a social media substitute after mass bans, appears to have been taken down.
with David Knowles, Yahoo News US
