Donald Trump has once again managed to steal the spotlight after his much-awaited appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Trump repeated his claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and continues to question the results, even though there is strong evidence proving his claims wrong.
The podcast was released on Friday, the same day Donald Trump wrote on social media that he wants to take legal action against election officials, attorneys, and voters he claims are "cheating" in the 2024 race. A summary of some of Trump's assertions and the facts that refute them can be found here.
Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden
During the podcast, Joe Rogan initiated discussions about the 2020 elections, to which Donald Trump said:
“I won by like — they say I lost by like — I didn’t lose.”
Trump claimed that in Wisconsin, officials admitted the election was 'rigged' because some ballots weren't signed or were not originals. When Joe Rogan asked if he would present evidence for his claims, Trump hesitated with "uh" and instead started talking about Russia and Hunter Biden's laptop.
However, no matter what he argues, Donald Trump did lose to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. According to ABC News, even Trump’s former Attorney General, William Barr, agreed no substantive proof of widespread fraud had been identified. The integrity of the election was also confirmed by a Senate probe led by Republicans in Michigan, where Trump claimed there were vote anomalies.
Similarly, there was no proof of the fraud Trump claimed in Wisconsin, where a nonpartisan audit required by the GOP-controlled Legislature was conducted. In the podcast, Trump continued to argue that his loss was close.
Trump then went on to say:
“We should switch to paper ballots.”
Donald Trump and Joe Rogan echoed each other's support for a return to paper votes, alleging that electronic voting machines are unreliable. However, over 90% of U.S. voting jurisdictions already utilized paper ballots in the 2020 election. Louisiana is the only state that doesn't have a paper ballot system or a paper trail, even after the federal Election Assistance Commission recommended that all states use paper ballots.
On the podcast, Donald Trump also claimed that:
"They (Democrats) used COVID to cheat"
He was saying that a Democratic conspiracy changed voting rules during the pandemic to benefit mail voting, which he thought was rigged against him.
However, according to an article by ABC News, this claim doesn’t reflect reality. When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, both Republican and Democratic election officials promoted mail voting to avoid crowded polling places, and this was generally accepted. It only became controversial after Trump raised concerns, suggesting that mail voting might lead to fraud.
By what margin did Donald Trump lose?
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Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden by a significant margin in the Electoral College, with Biden securing 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. Regarding the popular vote, Biden received approximately 81 million votes (51.3%) compared to Trump's 74 million votes (46.9%), giving Biden a lead of over 7 million votes.
The 2020 election also saw historic voter turnout, with over 158 million Americans voting. Although Trump could have theoretically flipped certain states, the combined popular and electoral votes supported Biden.
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