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- Former President Trump is reportedly floating another idea on unlawfully taking power.
- Speaking with confidants, Trump has echoed a far-right conspiracy that he'll be "reinstated."
- Pro-Trump personalities such as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell have pushed the baseless claim for months.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former President Donald Trump has reportedly been telling people that he thinks he'll somehow return to the White House as sitting president by August, according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
-Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
Haberman, who broke some of the biggest stories from the Trump administration and has been covering him for decades, added that Trump has been "laser focused" on voting audits in states whose results he is still trying to overturn.
The anti-democratic conspiracy theory has been bubbling up in fringe conservative media for several months.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is one of the most prominent proponents of the theory, which has no basis under the Constitution or any legitimate legal framework.
Former Trump attorney Sydney Powell also floated the idea at a recent QAnon conference.
The anticipation of such an event among the most dedicated Trump supporters is similar to the buildup ahead of the January 6 insurrection, which began to gain steam during a nationwide pro-Trump bus tour calling for the 2020 election results to be overturned.
Out of dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump lawyers and other Republicans, none have resulted in a victory affirming any of their voter fraud claims.
In Lindell's telling, August would be when he would go to the Supreme Court to present evidence the pillow tycoon claims he acquired on January 9. Lindell says the evidence will be so convincing that the justices will be forced to reject the 2020 election results.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's podcast has amplified the conspiracy theory, with Lindell and others going on the show to promote it with minimal pushback.
The Bannon podcast remains influential among GOP lawmakers hoping to avoid a primary challenge while seeking reelection.