Today's Poll Question: Does Donald Trump Really Believe The 2020 Election Was Stolen From Him?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
But first, Michael explains it for you right here.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:08)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM for Independent Minds. Hello, hello.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:15)
Hi, gang. Today is Friday. It's the 7th of August. I almost said July. I wish it were the 7th of July. It is August the 7th of 2026 I have a fun one for you today. Poll question at smerconish.com. Does Donald Trump really believe the 2020 election was stolen from him?
Voting yes means you think he's a sincere believer. Voting no means you think that he knows he lost. Why are you asking this today, Michael? I'm asking this today. Actually it's been on my mind for a while. I've wondered aloud. I've wondered aloud on air on exactly that question. But there was a Katie Rogers piece in The New York Times just within the last couple of days. And I read it and I said to myself, he's, you know, in his second term and it's six years later.
And he still constantly talks about the 2020 election. Here, I'll give you an example. Six months ago, Davos, he's speaking to world leaders. And here's where he goes.

**Donald Trump** (1:19)
The war with Ukraine is an example. We are thousands of miles away separated by a giant ocean.
It's a war that should have never started and it wouldn't have started if the 2020 US presidential election weren't rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. Sure, you know it. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did.
It's probably breaking news, but it should. It was a rigged election. Can't have rigged elections. You need strong borders, strong elections, and ideally good press. I always say it. Strong borders, strong elections, free, fair elections, and a fair media.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:01)
What's the upside? Why does he go there? Does Donald Trump really believe the 2020 election was stolen from him? More on that in just a moment.

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**SPEAKER_2** (4:04)
The Daily Poll Question at smerconish.com.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:07)
A non-scientific social political question designed to spark broader discussions about current issues.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:12)
Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and review of this podcast on your favorite podcast app.

**Michael Smerconish** (4:18)
So the poll question today on this Friday, August 7th, does Donald Trump really believe the 2020 election was stolen from him? I mentioned that Katie Rogers piece. Here's the headline. It blazoned across the full length of the A section of the New York Times. Nothing seems to move Trump's mind far from the events of 2020
Dateline, Washington. What year is it again? Over the past few days, President Trump has been living in the year 2020, claiming that he defied his advisors to reopen the country during the coronavirus pandemic, saying that one of them, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, was the one with all the quote unquote crazy ideas. He's revisited his nearly daily falsehood that he won the 2020 election and that it was rigged, a belief held by a large swath of his political base. And on Friday, he said, that's a week ago today, that his supporters who ransacked the Capitol on January 6 were simply on an quote innocent journey for people died that day. Mr. Trump is not so much a student of history as a rewriter of it. In his second term, he's so set on avenging his election loss and pursuing retribution against his political enemies that he has Americans looking backward while many have signaled they would rather explain why the country is at war with Iran or help them afford groceries now in the year 2026 Why does he keep bringing it up? Does he really believe the 2020 election was stolen from him? What struck me is the timing. As I said, six years removed from that election back in the White House clearly won in 2024 Nobody doubts that, right? As he would tell you, not only did he win all the battleground states, he won the popular vote. Falling approval numbers, Republicans nervous about the midterms, those are factors that I need to mention as well, but he's still at it talking about 2020 And as Katie Rogers wrote in the New York Times, he's not so much a student of history as a rewriter of it.