Trump Allies Reject Theory Trump Can Be Reinstated as President

Former President Donald Trump's staunchest allies may not believe that President Joe Biden rightfully won the election, but some of them won't get on board with the belief that Trump can retake the Oval Office before the next election.

Trump's supporters have floated at least five different times they expected the former president to be reinstated, ousting Biden from office. While the predictions' failures caused some to double down on the belief, three prominent Trump supporters-Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Corey Lewandowski and even Trump's own attorney, Jenna Ellis, have advised people not to put stock in the theory.

Ellis, who helped lead the charge for Trump's challenge of the 2020 election results, posted on Twitter in May that, "no, President Trump is not going to be 'reinstated.'" She explained the only way to oust Biden would be to impeach and convict him and said Trump still wouldn't become president if that happened.

The presidential line of succession, as outlined in the Constitution, dictates that if the president is unable to serve, the vice president would take over. Then, the role would be given to the speaker of the House, then the president pro tempore of the Senate and then members of the former president's cabinet.

"The states had their opportunity to cure the corruption before January 20; they refused," Ellis wrote in the Twitter thread. "This is entirely on the GOP."

In June, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported Trump was telling people that he expects to be reinstated in August and the claim was corroborated by the National Review. Trump's never spoken publicly about whether he holds faith in his ability to be reinstated, often focusing the conversation on the alleged fraud in the election, and Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, told Fox News Sunday, the former president hadn't mentioned the possibility to him.

While Lewandowski couldn't speak to conversations Trump may have said to other people, he said he was unaware of "any provision in the Constitution" that would enable the former president to be reinstated.

"Nor do I know of any provision under the Constitution that allows an individual who lost an election to come back in if a recount is dubbed inaccurate," Lewandowski said. "There are election integrity matters we have to deal with, there's no question about that."

Around the same time, Lara Trump, the former president's daughter-in-law, said on Fox News that to her understanding there are "no plans" for her father-in-law to be reinstated in August. While she didn't outright deny that it was possible, Lara attributed the theory to people getting "a little worked up" that Republicans didn't "push back" enough on the election.

"So no, I have not heard any plans for Donald Trump to be installed in the White House in August," she said.

Several self-proclaimed prophets have stood by the belief that Biden was not duly elected and have continued to peddle the message that he'll be back in office before the next election. However, Robert Jeffress, a Dallas megachurch pastor, and one of the former president's most visible allies, won't subscribe to the theory that the presidency will change hands before 2024.

"People need to engage and deal with reality, not fantasy. I know the president to be an extremely intelligent person, one of the smartest people I've ever known, and I would doubt seriously the reports that he believes he's going to be reinstated in August," Jeffress told the Daily Beast.

Greene, who's one of the most vocal proponents of the belief that the 2020 election was stolen and Biden should be impeached, also shut down the idea that Trump could be reinstated. While speaking to Steve Bannon for his War Room podcast in July, Greene said people need to be "careful in what they believe."

"I would hate for anyone to get their hopes up thinking that President Trump is going to be back in the White House in August because that's not true and I'm telling you that as a member of Congress, that's a very difficult thing to do," Greene said.