It's "Reinstatement Day" — but Trump has yet to be "reinstated" as president

Conspiracy theorists like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell scramble as their prophecies fail to play out

Published August 13, 2021 1:49PM (EDT)

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to the South Lawn of the White House (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to the South Lawn of the White House (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

Friday, August 13, 2021, according to far-right conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, was supposed to be "Reinstatement Day" — the day in which Donald Trump would be reinstated as president when evidence demonstrated that widespread voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election. But that evidence doesn't exist, Lindell's wacky conspiracy theories have been debunked by cybersecurity experts — and as of Friday morning, August 13, Joe Biden is still the democratically elected president of the United States and Kamala Harris is still vice president. Even if the non-existent evidence of election fraud appeared, there would still be no mechanism for returning Trump to power.

Nonetheless, Newsweek journalist Jenni Fink reports that one in ten U.S. voters believe that Trump will be returning to the White House and Biden will be ousted sometime before 2021 ends.

"Religious leaders and Trump's supporters have thrown out a number of dates that the former president was expected to return to power," Fink observes, "and the failure for the prediction to come true prompted some to double down, throwing out new expectations."

Some far-right figures have even claimed that Trump has already retaken the office of the presidency, despite the obvious falsity of this assertion.

In early July, Lindell told far-right evangelical fundamentalist Brannon Howse, "The morning of August 13, it'll be the talk of the world, going, 'Hurry up! Let's get this election pulled down, let's right the right, let's get these communists out.'"

Fink explains, "Lindell's August 13 prediction wasn't the first to fail and Biden was still inaugurated on January 20, the day that some believed the election would be overturned. Biden also remained in office after March 4, another day that was floated for Trump's reinstatement."

One of the far-right evangelical conspiracy theorists who has claimed that Trump will be "reinstated" this year is QAnon supporter Jeff Jansen, who said on June 8, "The Trump Administration is on its way in. The pedophilia Biden Administration, the fake administration, the Biden Administration is on its way out."

The "pedophilia" part comes from QAnon's comically absurd belief that the U.S. government has been hijacked by an international cabal of pedophiles, Satanists and cannibals. QAnon adherents also believe that R&B superstar Beyoncé isn't really African-American, but rather, is an Italian-American named Ann Marie Lastrassi who is only pretending to be Black.

The day that Jansen predicted for Trump's "reinstatement" was June 23.


By Alex Henderson

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Brannon Howse Conspiracy Theory Donald Trump Jeff Jansen Mike Lindell Qanon Reinstatement