Former President Donald Trump recently acknowledged that he lost the 2020 election has shaken prominent far-right figures, with some saying they will campaign to prevent him from being elected in 2024.
At least three times in recent weeks, Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, has acknowledged that he lost 2020 “narrowly.”
“He beat us by a hair. It was a terrible thing,” Trump said of President Joe Biden during a 45-minute interview on August 4 with podcaster Lex Fridman. He used similar language on August 30. Moms for Freedom Summit and a press conference on August 23 at the southern border.
Despite repeatedly and falsely claiming that he had actually won the election and making the issue a central plank of his 2024 bid, Trump has occasionally in recent years Trump has admitted that he lost. He lost the popular vote to Biden by 7 million votes and the Electoral College by 74 electoral votes. His efforts to overturn the election culminated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, by Trump supporters hoping to prevent the certification of his defeat.
The reaction from some far-right activists and influencers to Trump’s latest comments has been unusually strong.
White Nationalist Nick Fuentes criticized Trump on September 4 for admitting he lost the 2020 election and said he would work to get voters out of supporting Trump.
“So why did we start Stop the Steal? Why did anybody go to January 6? Why did anybody go to jail? … It would have been good to know that before 1,600 people were indicted,” Fuentes said. on his podcastin reference to the criminal charges against those who invaded and ransacked the Capitol. “I wish I had known this before all my money was frozen, before I was put on a no-fly list, before I was banned from everything, before I lost all my bank accounts and all my means of payment.”
Fuentes, a podcaster and Holocaust denier who dined with Trump and celebrity rapper Ye at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2022, called it a “huge betrayal” and “a cruel indifference to the sacrifices his supporters have made in his name.”
Right divided as Trump seeks moderate voters
The loss of Fuentes and other far-right influencers and media figures could have serious consequences. The Trump campaign has long relied on players in the far-right media ecosystem to amplify political messages to its audience of Trump’s most ardent supporters.
The Trump campaign declined to comment for this article.
This is not the first time that far-right provocateurs have criticized Trump’s positioning in the general election, a time when he will need to win the support of more than just his most devoted supporters in order to recapture the White House.
A month ago, after the Republican National Convention, Fuentes declined to endorse Trump for reelection. He also said on his podcast that he planned to mount a sustained opposition to Trump, including holding a press conference in Michigan…
Discover more from The Times Of Update
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
