JD Vance and Mike Johnson Are Gaslighting People About 2020 Now
Republican leaders want you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears as they rewrite their narrative about the 2020 presidential election.
In the waning days leading into Election Day 2024, some of Trump’s closest allies are refusing to yield to the truth: that Trump lost the last election—a bad omen ahead of November.
On Sunday, ABC News’s Martha Raddatz pressed Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on why he wouldn’t admit that Trump didn’t win during the last election cycle.
“I’m just going to assume that if I asked you 50 times whether he lost the election, you would not acknowledge that he did. Is that correct?” Raddatz asked.
“Martha, you ask this question, I’ve been asked this question 10 times in the past couple of weeks. Of course Donald Trump and I believe there were problems in 2020, you haven’t asked about inflation—” Vance began.
“No, no, I’m sorry. Let’s stick to this. I know, I know—Why won’t you say that? Why won’t you say that?” Raddatz continued, attempting to hold Vance to the question as he bulldozed over her audio.
“Because Martha I believe that in 2020 when big tech firms were censoring American citizens, that created very serious problems,” Vance responded after some time. “By the way Martha, you’re a journalist, you represent the American media. Look at the polling on this. A lot of Americans feel like they were silenced in the run-up to the 2020 election. That is such a bigger issue.”
“If you—I just want to—but I don’t understand why you won’t just say that you believe it,” Raddatz interjected.
“Just say what? That I think the 2020 election had some problems? I’ve said that repeatedly,” Vance threw back.
“Did Donald Trump lose? That’s the question, and you know that’s the question,” Raddatz said.
“Martha, I’ve said repeatedly that I think the 2020 election had problems. You want to say rigged, you want to say he won, use whatever vocabulary term you want,” Vance said, returning to his talking point about Facebook’s alleged censorship. “The fact that you’re so obsessed with what word I used to describe this phenomenon rather than the phenomenon itself suggests something very broken in the American media.”
RADDATZ: I assume that if I asked you 50 times if Trump lost the 2020 election, you would not acknowledge that he did. Is that correct?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 13, 2024
VANCE: You haven't asked about inflatio--
R: No, I'm sorry. Let's stick to this. Why won't you say this?
VANCE: Because when big tech ... pic.twitter.com/CWOWJYYNmw
But Trump’s right-hand man isn’t the only MAGA ally to aggressively skirt a confession about the results of the 2020 election. Speaking with NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson couldn’t help but qualify his answer as to whether he would certify the results of the upcoming election, regardless of who wins.
“Regardless of who wins, you’ll certify the results?” asked Kristen Welker.
“Regardless? Of course, yes, if the election is free and fair and legal, and we pray and hope that it is, there’s a lot of work being done to make sure that’s true,” Johnson said. “I think this one’s going to be so large there’ll be no question. I think Donald J. Trump is your next president, and that can’t happen soon enough.”
When Welker pointed out that saying “if” the election is fair, as well as Trump’s continued lack of a concession over the 2020 vote, was likely to undermine voter confidence in the upcoming election, Johnson was quick to brush off her concerns.
“The point is the process works. We have the peaceful transfer of power. We did in 2020,” he said, conveniently ignoring the fact that an armed and violent mob stormed the Capitol to try to prevent that transfer of power.
Johnson: The point is the process works. We had the peaceful transfer of power. We did in 2020 pic.twitter.com/4Lor2CrAdP
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 13, 2024