Do you think the ex-president actually believed that the election was rigged?

[El Supremo]

This may not be the best day to dwell on this question but it has been on my mind for many days.

Was he just lying to stir up his base? Or did he really believe it? Maybe he convinced himself that his lies were the truth.

If it was the latter two then he is much more mentally ill than we thought.

[SheltieLover]

1. No. He was doing putin's work

[Turin_C3PO]

2. I think he does believe it.

His ego can't accept that he lost fair and square. It's classic narcissism.

[ret5hd]

3. He thought it was rigged in his favor.

Thought he had it in the bag.

[milestogo]

16. Exactly.

He didn't rig it enough.

[fierywoman]

22. Exactly to both of you. And he paid good money for that rigging!

After all, we know he projects ad nauseum.

[DeminPennswoods]

4. Not initially, but eventually, as he often does, he

convinced himself it was true.

[grumpyduck]

8. That's pretty much what I think.

And mostly because he couldn't backpedal.

[Blasphemer]

20. I agree....

Kind of like he convinced himself that he was always going to win in 2016. Before the unthinkable happened, he did not believe he could win and did not want to be president. I read a great piece awhile back detailing his complete shift in attitude after he won. He's good at believing the lies he tells himself.

[blm]

5. He knew he was lying. He planned to lie about it all along

to serve his own interests......as always.

[Chainfire]

7. Of course he knew

He had been telling us for a year that the election would be rigged in preparation.

[wryter2000]

6. I'm convinced he did

At least, toward the end. The only people he listened to were yes-people who told him it was stolen.

[AmyStrange]

9. The only thing he knows for sure is...

-

that McConnell's WAS!!!
===========

[Buckeye_Democrat]

10. Hard to know with that liar.

There were some supposed leaks from his WH aides that he didn't really believe it.

Yet he's also provided clues over the years that he can believe his own lies which boost his ego, like a good little follower of the Norman Vincent Peale creed of maintaining positive thoughts about yourself. (Trump's father pushed those ideas into his little brain long ago.)

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Thinking No. I Have A Different Reason

I think he was convinced THEY had it rigged and reelection was in the bag.
When Biden won, there was probably a thought that they cheated better than him.
It's possible that when sycophants were telling him a win was guaranteed, he may not have figured out that they were cheating.
But, since he's a lifelong cheater, it's hard for me to believe he wouldn't be plugged into their rigging.
So, he might believe he got "outcheated" but maybe not just cheated.

[Demobrat]

12. I think he believed it

I was involved once with a person who believed his own lies so the behavior felt familiar to me.

And he was surrounded by people who fed the fantasy, so listening to them was way preferable to dealing with reality.

[struggle4progress]

13. "Criminal? insane? or criminally insane? So little time: so much to know"

[lindysalsagal]

14. Just like Cosby believed he was innocent....

[dclarston13]

15. He rigged it in 2016

He tried in 2020 but this time it didn't work out. That's why he is adamant, he knows what he did and expects everyone else to do the same..

[JHB]

17. Let's just say I believe Trump has a large capacity for convincing himself...

...of what he wants to believe. The more he wants it, the more readily he'll convince himself.


I also believe he believes that all elections are rigged, because to him that's the only sensible thing to do. Why would you not rig it? Only suckers would think they aren't rigged.

So I don't think it's an either/or question.

[El Supremo]

18. Excellent responses so far!

My conclusion is how can you figure out the motives of a mentally defective person?

[demigoddess]

19. He believed it! He thinks he is as great as he says in all his speeches.

NARCISSISM!

[LeftInTX]

21. Projection: He failed to rig it

[Mr. Ected]

23. He knew that he lost and that Biden won.

I don't necessarily ascribe to everyone's diagnosis of him as deluding himself otherwise.

Every moment of this was calculated. He was indeed doing Putin's work. Now we have to root out all the Putinites that Trump defecated into our government.

[Ferrets are Cool]

24. I don't really care, do you?

I apologize. I just could not resist.

[El Supremo]

25. I'm only interested on a clinical basis.

[Ferrets are Cool]

26. I was just being a giddy ass

because I am in such a great mood today.

[Demsrule86]

27. There was a reason why they went after AA areas. I really don't believe the GOP thinks AA voters

should not be allowed to vote in large numbers. So yeah, I think by making it easier for all those AA voters to vote with mail in ballots and early voting (instead of standing in long lines forever like the GOP usually makes them), Trump considered that 'cheating'. They are also entitled and have not accepted a Democratic president since Clinton.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

28. I don't think he believed it for more than a day. nt

[peggysue2]

29. I think he convinced himself with the help of others . . .

That he would surely win, that the election was in the bag. When he lost, he and his team scrambled to cement the 'rigged' argument because he could not admit that he fell short. Trump had thrown the early seeds out into the public ether.

And so, the Great Fraud and Steal was nourished and grown.

Did he believe all the nonsense? Again, I think he convinced himself so he could convince his supporters. The grift continued right up to the end.

Whatever he believed or did not believe was always laced with continuing the grift which in this case reportedly amounted to 250 million dollars dumped into his coffers.

Whatever. The most corrupt and incompetent regime is finally out on its ass.

And we have another chance and a new day. Hallelujah!

[halfulglas]

30. Only in the sense that being "fair" means he gets his way.

He has always stated that the media, everybody, has to be "fair" to him. That means doing it his way, he's the winner always. If he's not the winner, it obviously wasn't fair. He HAS to be the winner. Everything is to feed his giant ego. Just like he has never had a pet. Pets have their own needs and need love back. He has people like Lindsey Graham and others who give him slavish devotion but anything he gives is his choice, not their needs.

[Dorian Gray]

31. Yes

because it assuaged his ego.

[moondust]

32. Psychosis.

I don't know what to call it but I think it may be a condition that allows him to simply convince himself that whatever is good for him is the "truth." Delusional long-term white privilege? Advanced bubble derangement syndrome? Then the toadies around him reinforce it and it becomes the "truth" for the whole gang.

[kentuck]

33. He believed that was the best way to get his followers riled up for an insurrection...

....is what I believe.

[Whiskeytide]

34. He - along with many republicans - believes ...

... that working to get people to vote and then counting their votes IS cheating.

I agree with much of what has already been posted here, because he is both immoral AND fucked up in the head. But the core of the “stop the steal” scam was the fact that they define cheating very differently from how normal people define it.