Donald Trump continues to cling to the fabrication that he won the 2020 election, and his embrace of this pernicious and outrageous lie has cost him nothing. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R, Calif.), thirsty to regain power, is shunning Liz Cheney (R, Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R, Ill.) as “Pelosi Republicans,” a truly bizarre bit of oxymoronic branding by a Trump sycophant who wants Nancy Pelosi’s job. McCarthy has completely retreated from his original position faulting Trump for not acting more swiftly to quell the insurrection at the US Capitol in January. But Trump’s behavior is as consistent and predictable as it is disgusting.
As Michael C. Bender reports in his new book, "Frankly, We Did Win This Election": The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, Trump went into election day being told by his staff that he would win, and he has not given up that fantasy since. He has, as some are wont to say, “doubled down” on his fictional claim, and he has remained oblivious to the harm his claim is causing to the very foundations of our democracy.
Bender’s book is a page-turner best-seller that chronicles Trump’s losing effort in the 2020 campaign. Mr. Trump spent twice as much in 2020 than he did in his 2016 election effort, and he garnered 10 million more votes the second time around, more votes than any other candidate in history, except one: Joe Biden, who won the election by more than 7 million votes, and a solid majority in the electoral college.
Michael Bender is the award-winning senior White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal. He has covered the former President since the 2016 election, and he is with us for the hour today to talk about his new book. Michael Bender joins us on our digital line from Washington, D.C..
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Mr. Bender will be reading from and discussing his book with his Wall Street Journal colleague, money and politics reporter Julie Bykowicz, tonight (July 29) starting at 6pm on the Back Patio at The Ivy Bookshop, located at 5928 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD 21209. For more information and to register for the free, one-night event, click here.
