He preemptively called the California recall election “probably rigged.”
105.
On Sept. 11, he did not join three other former presidents at the National 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan. He did not speak at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, like a fourth former president, George W. Bush, who cited the “unity of America” in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of 20 years back and lamented the lack of that now. “A malign force,” Bush said, “seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment.”
Trump?
“Trump appeared via taped video at a conference at the Unification Church, better known as the ‘Moonies cult,’ and made a visit to a fire and police station in New York, where he began his opening remarks by criticizing Joe Biden for ‘fleeing’ Afghanistan, repeating the lie that the election was ‘rigged,’ and suggesting very strongly that he will run for president in 2024,” as my colleague Ruby Cramer wrote. “By nightfall, he was at a South Florida casino delivering several hours of commentary on four boxing matches for Triller Fight Club in an ‘alternate telecast’ available for $49.99” on pay-per-view.
106.
He heard Bush. “Bush,” Trump said, “led a failed and uninspired presidency. He shouldn’t be lecturing anybody.”
107.
He called Mark Milley a “Dumbass.”
108.
He relished the news that Anthony Gonzalez was not going to run for reelection — the first of the 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment to bow out. Gonzalez in making his announcement had called Trump “a cancer for the country.”
“RINO Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, who has poorly represented his district in the Great State of Ohio, has decided to quit after enduring a tremendous loss of popularity, of which he had little, since his ill-informed and otherwise very stupid impeachment vote against the sitting President of the United States, me,” Trump said.
“1 down, 9 to go!” he added.
109.
He sued his niece and the reporters she helped.
110.
He sued Twitter to try to get his account turned back on.
111.
He doubled down on the lie that he had won even after an audit in Arizona confirmed that he lost. “The Fake News is lying about the Arizona audit report!” he said in a statement. “The Audit was a big win for democracy and a big win for us. Shows how corrupt the Election was … a bigger Scam even than anticipated!” he said in another. “However, the Fake News Media is already trying to ‘call it’ again for Biden before actually looking at the facts — just like they did in November! The audit has uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD! Until we know how and why this happened, our Elections will never be secure,” he said in another. A majority of Republicans believed it.
112.
He wrote a letter to the Republican governor of Texas — demanding a “Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election” in a state that he won.
OCTOBER
113.
He forgave Chuck Grassley.
“The reality is, he lost,” the Republican senator from Iowa had said in February in his explanation of his vote for acquittal at the end of Trump’s second impeachment trial.
Now, though, at a rally in Des Moines, he let Grassley join him on the stage — to accept his endorsement.
“If I didn’t accept the endorsement of a person that’s got 91 percent of the Republican voters in Iowa, I wouldn’t be too smart,” Grassley said.
114.
He all but told Republicans not to vote in 2022 and 2024 if the party didn’t “solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020.”
115.
He told former aides to ignore subpoenas from the House committee investigating Jan. 6.
116.
He sued the committee to try to block the release of the records from his White House related to the Capitol attack.
117.
He announced the launch of his own social media platform — funded by hundreds of millions of dollars of other people’s money — called “TRUTH.”
118.
He aimed a brushback pitch at a Florida rival. Even if Ron DeSantis ran for president in 2024, Trump said, “I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else.”
119.
He did the controversial “tomahawk chop” at a World Series game in Atlanta.
120.
He celebrated the announcement of the retirement from Congress of Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — another of the 10 Republicans in the House who had voted for impeachment. “2 down, 8 to go!” he said. He blasted in an email with a link to an article from The Hill: “Kinzinger retirement underscores Trump dominance over GOP.”
NOVEMBER
121.
He took credit for GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia when it was his relative absence from the race that many said led independents to vote for the Republican. “I would like to thank my BASE for coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin,” he said.
122.
He endorsed a challenger against Peter Meijer of Michigan — another one of the 10 House Republicans who voted for his impeachment. And he endorsed a raft of more people for the state legislature and other down-ballot races in Michigan who were in line with him on “voter fraud,” “Election Integrity,” “stop the steal” and “the theft of the 2020 Presidential Election” — Rachelle Smit, Mike Detmer, Mick Bricker, Kevin Rathbun, Jon Rocha, Jacky Eubanks, Angela Rigas and Mike Hoadley. Ditto in Arizona.
123.
He blamed his own son for getting him involved with Sean Parnell after the scandal-ridden Pennsylvania Senate candidate suspended his campaign.
124.
He hosted Kyle Rittenhouse at Mar-a-Lago after the teenager was acquitted of shooting to death two men during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. “Congratulations,” he said, “for being found INNOCENT.”
125.
Through his super PAC — “Make America Great Again, Again!” — he polled for his looming 2024 comeback run, the results of which showed him leading Biden in all five states he lost in 2020 — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “Trump,” a Trump adviser said, “wants a rematch so badly with Biden he can taste it.”
DECEMBER
126.
Iced out of traditional publishing houses, he self-published a coffee table book about his tenure as president — Our Journey Together, priced at $74.99 per copy, $229.99 if signed. “It’s a book of pictures, largely, with statements,” Trump told Hugh Hewitt, “but a book of pictures.” It sold well.
127.
He tried to broker a deal to help his Senate pick in North Carolina.
128.
He endorsed David Perdue in his run against Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia. “Kemp has been a very weak Governor — the liberals and RINOs have run all over him on Election Integrity,” Trump said. “What’s Perdue’s reason to run? That he’s Trump’s lap dog?” a Kemp adviser told POLITICO. “That dog don’t hunt. Lap dogs don’t hunt.”
129.
“Anybody that doesn’t think there wasn’t massive Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election is either very stupid, or very corrupt!” he said.
130.
He blasted former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, it was reported, for congratulating Biden on the day of his inauguration. “I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump said. “Fuck him.”
131.
He got the RNC to pay for $1.6 million of his personal legal bills.
132.
He got Republican candidates to pay him to come to Mar-a-Lago to raise money for their campaigns. “When it comes to raising money for Republican causes and candidates, there are only two seasons that matter,” Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich said. “Bedminster season and Mar-a-Lago season.”
133.
He went on tour with Bill O’Reilly to talk about what he always talked about. “What happened on Jan. 6 was a protest against a rigged election — that’s what it was,” he said in one of four (sometimes patchily attended) “History Tour” conversations with Bill O’Reilly in arenas in Florida and Texas. “This wasn’t an insurrection.”
134.
He endorsed somebody for the state Senate in Alaska.
135.
He endorsed somebody for Texas state representative.
136.
He put on a tux and celebrated New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago.
JANUARY 2022
137.
He endorsed Viktor Orbán — the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary.
138.
He trawled for more challengers to Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach him: “Anyone want to run for Congress against Don Bacon in Nebraska?”
139.
He announced he was going to have a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6 and then canceled it.
140.
He spent the anniversary of the riot at the Capitol sending out frenzied statements. “… the complicit media just calls it the Big Lie, when in actuality the Big Lie was the Election itself,” he said. “Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!” he said.
141.
He called Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) a “jerk” because he called Trump’s lies lies.
142.
He hung up on NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
143.
He took another shot at Ron DeSantis.
144.
He went to Arizona to have another rally. “Most losing presidential candidates are forced into quiet retirement by their parties,” the Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey wrote from Florence. “Trump has bucked the trend, only tightening his grip on the GOP in the wake of his defeat. He has convinced Republican candidates all over the country — including those on stage tonight — to repeat his election lies, and convinced his rank-and-file supporters to treat those falsehoods as holy writ. By this point, those lies have been circulating for what feels like forever. But at tonight’s rally, as Trump’s fans called for the arrests of poll workers and the reinstatement of the rightful president, I got the sense that this might be just the beginning.”
145.
He promoted on Martin Luther King Jr. Day renovations at his golf course in Miami. “Check it out!” he said.
