Former President Donald Trump’s recent acknowledgment that he lost the 2020 election has rattled prominent far-right figures, with some saying they will lead a campaign to keep him from being elected in 2024.
At least three times in recent weeks Trump, the 2024 Republican party nominee, has acknowledged that he lost in 2020 “by a whisker.”
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“He beat us by a whisker. It was a terrible thing,” Trump said of President Joe Biden during a 45 minute interview Aug. 4 with podcaster Lex Fridman. He used similar language at an Aug. 30 Moms for Liberty summit and an Aug. 23 press event at the Southern border.
Despite frequently and falsely claiming that he actually won the election and making the issue a central point of his 2024 bid, Trump has occasionally over the last few years admitted that he lost. Trump lost the popular vote to Biden by 7 million votes and the Electoral College by 74 electoral votes. His effort to overturn the election culminated in Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters hoping to stop the certification of his defeat.
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The reaction to Trump’s most recent comments from some far-right activists and influencers has been unusually stark.
White nationalist Nick Fuentes blasted Trump Sept. 4 for admitting that he lost the 2020 election, and said that he will work to get voters not to back Trump.
“So, why did we do Stop the Steal? Why did did anyone go to Jan. 6? Why did any one go to jail? … It would have been good to know that before 1,600 people got charged,” Fuentes said on his podcast, referring to the criminal charges for those who invaded and ransacked the Capitol. “It would’ve been good to know that before (I) had all my money frozen, put on a no-fly list, banned from everything, lost all my bank and payment processing.”
Fuentes, a podcaster and Holocaust denier who dined with Trump and the notorious rapper Ye at Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2022 went on to call it a “tremendous betrayal” and “callus indifference to the sacrifices that his supporters made on his behalf.”
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Divided right as Trump pursues moderate voters
Losing Fuentes and other far-right influencers and media personalities could have a serious impact. The Trump campaign has long relied on those in the hard-right media eco-system to amplify political messages to their audiences of Trump’s most ardent supporters.
The Trump campaign declined to comment for this article.
Colin Henry, a researcher at George Washington University who studies the role of the internet in political violence, said he’s seen a decline in support for Trump in far-right communities in the last several months.
“At first it was just like, they’re mad about the tactics the campaign is using. But now it feels like there’s blood in the water, right? And the fringe senses this opportunity to take back more control (of) the movement,” Henry said.
He said white supremacist groups haven’t always seen Trump as “their guy,” but rather as a vehicle for their views, and their initial enthusiasm for him has been waning.
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“They all seem kind of ready to move on,” Henry said. “Their support is pretty contingent on him delivering some of the more extremist ideological goals.”
This isn’t the first time hard-right provocateurs have criticized how Trump is positioning himself in the general election, a time when he will have to gain support from more than just his most dedicated supporters in order to win back the White House.
A month ago − after the Republican National Convention − Fuentes refused to endorse Trump for reelection. He also said on his podcast that he plans sustained opposition to Trump, including a press conference in Michigan in mid-September, “counter-programming” during a Trump or Vance rally and other actions to pressure the Trump campaign.\
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Far-right activist Laura Loomer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Trump’s approach “needs to change FAST because we can’t talk about a stolen election for another 4 years.” She also called his surrogates “weak” and said his momentum is being suppressed.
In a podcast, far-right personality Candace Owens said the infighting a “MAGA Civil War” is spurred by anger that Trump’s campaign has softened his policies and persona to boost his mainstream appeal.
Trump has flailed back and forth on his position on abortion bans recently, drawing rebukes from anti-abortion rights activists.
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But Owens stressed that she will still support him.
“I’m just not sure who is driving the MAGA bus anymore,” she said, stressing that her issue is with Trump’s staff, not the former president. “You’re losing that support from the people that believed in you. … You need those people. That is your base. You can’t suddenly change who your base is think that that is going to be a successful strategy here.”
