Trump’s army of election deniers is a problem on many levels

U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other Republican lawmakers, speaks in the Oval Office last September during an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama. | REUTERS

Sep 13, 2026

Let’s set aside, for a moment, how ridiculous it is that officials serving in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, including executive and judicial officials, won’t acknowledge in front of Congress that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

These deliberate dodges — a consistent pattern more than 18 months into Trump’s second presidency — aren’t just political theater; they’re informative. Trump is famously heterodox and transactional on cultural, fiscal and foreign policy matters. During his first term, the president sought wide counsel and invited debate from congressional Republicans and his Cabinet. But in stubbornly clinging to the falsehood that he defeated Biden while allowing zero deviation from others, Trump has revealed himself to be a diminished leader compared to his initial White House sojourn.

The culprits haven’t been limited to obvious (and occasionally churlish) partisans like FBI Director Kash Patel, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House budget director Russell Vought, among others. But otherwise serious people, like freshly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche (granted, he’s functioned as a Trump loyalist) and Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton are the latest high-profile examples.

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