Trump believed fringe conspiracy he could be reinstated as president

A new book by ABC’s Jonathan Karl reveals that former President Trump seriously took to a fringe conspiracy that he could be reinstated as president after losing the 2020 election and well after leaving the White House.

Karl’s new book, “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Ole Party,” releasing Tuesday, includes details about how Trump came to believe the theory, which was supported by some of the former president’s staunchest allies. 

Among them was My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who falsely peddled the notion that Trump could return to the White House on Aug. 13, 2021 — nearly seven months after the former president ended his first term on Inauguration Day.

That groundless theory was linked to QAnon, which also falsely claimed President Biden was not actually the president and that the military was in power until Trump returned to office — which he never did.

In a 2021 interview, Karl asked Trump if he really thought there was a way to have him reinstated before an election. 

“I’m not going to explain it to you, Jonathan, because you wouldn’t — you wouldn’t either understand it or write it,” Trump said, according to ABC News, citing audio of the interview.

Karl reported that Trump brought up the notion of being reinstated so often that some in his inner circle began to worry Trump actually believed he could force Biden out of the White House before the next election.

The idea, which is not rooted in any law, eventually gave other Trump supporters serious pause, including former Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who was booed while running for a Senate seat after suggesting Trump supporters put the 2020 election behind them.

Earlier this year, Brooks told Karl in an interview that Trump called the Alabama congressman in 2021 with several election-related asks.

“He asked me to publicly state that Donald Trump should be allowed to move back into the White House, reinstated as president,” Brooks told Karl.

Brooks went on to lose the Senate bid after Trump rescinded his endorsement for not delivering on making the claim of reinstatement. When asked if Trump truly believed he could be reinstated, Brooks said: “I sure hope not.”

“Because if he truly believed that, then he was way outside the bounds of reality.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as Trump’s White House communications director, responded to Karl’s reporting on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday calling it “stunning.”

“But the fact that someone who is the former commander in chief very well could be again, was buying into something so absurd, so patently false, underscores how dangerous Donald Trump is,” she said.