One of the most persistent conspiracies online attributed to the increasingly-prolific QAnon movement is the claim that former President Donald Trump will soon be reinstated as US president.
Read more – What is QAnon?
It has been a reoccurring theory since the first day of President Biden’s inauguration, and despite numerous “deadlines” having been and gone, there are still a significant number of conspiracy theorists that believe Trump will make some imminent and dramatic return to the White House as his detractors and political opponents are pushed aside or even arrested.
We take a look at some of the dates that have passed, followed by our own ‘reality check’.
The claims that Trump will be inaugurated for a second term as president began on Biden’s very first day in the White House.
Many conspiracy theorists with significant online followings promoted the idea that the Biden inauguration on January 20th was actually a “trap” orchestrated by the US military to arrest a number of Democratic politicians attending the event, including Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and President Joe Biden himself.
Many went further to claim that the inauguration would then take place, only it would be Donald Trump – not Joe Biden – stood opposite the Chief Justice, accepting his second term in office.
Reality Check: No such mass arrests took place. Trump didn’t attend the inauguration at all, and Biden was inaugurated at the United State’s 46th president as expected.
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Following on from this, another theory began to emerge that followed a very complex narrative that claimed the United States of America had [somehow] been for the last century a corporation and not a country, ever since the passage of a piece of legislation called the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871.
The theory also goes on to explain that, upon the passing of some miraculous legislation in the offing put forth by President Trump’s allies, the US would soon return to its status of a country once again. The consequences of this, as the theory goes on, is that no US president since 1871 had been a legitimate president, and upon Trump’s March 4th inauguration, he would become the 19th US president, following on from Ulysses Grant (the last recognised US president.)
But why March 4th? Because this was the inauguration date for all incoming presidents up until 1933 when it was changed to January.
Reality Check: The idea that the United States has become a corporation is based on little evidence and has been widely discredited. Trump did not become the 19th president on March 4th nor did he take back the White House at all. Future inaugurations are still set to take place in January.
When the March 4th date didn’t come to fruition, there was a growing notion in the QAnon movement that believed QAnon had been infiltrated by the “deep state” who had been promoting fake dates to make the movement appear foolish. From that, some theories claimed the real date had been March 20th, though it is unclear as to why that date had been chosen.
Reality Check: There is no evidence that anyone has infiltrated QAnon to promote fake dates. In fact the March 4th date was promoted by many high-profile QAnon influencers. Trump was not reinstalled as president on March 20th.
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Many were hoping that the Friday 13th superstition would ultimately prove to be a curse for the Democrats on August 13th, which was another date set forth by many conspiracy theorists for Trump’s imminent return to the Oval Office. The day was also given the unofficial tag “Reinstatement Day”.
This date was also publicized by Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow who has heavily promoted the claims that the US election was rigged. Lindell scheduled his three-day “cyber symposium” so that it would end the day before the August 13th date. According to multiple reports, Trump himself also believed he would be reinstated before the end of August.
Reality Check: Despite many high-profile claims, there was no obvious reason why August 13th was set as a date or any relevancy the date may have had. Trump was no reinstating on August 13th.
The next date in the seemingly never-ending sequence of proposed dates to Trump’s reinstatement in August 20th, though like many other dates in the article there doesn’t seem to be any relevance to this date. It appears to be promoted primarily because the date was mentioned by a FOX News host during their “The Five” segment, though a cursory glance of this segment indicates that the host may have not been serious in their statement.
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Despite these continued parroting of such reinstatement dates, Trump will not be reinstated president in this manner, as per our reality check below.
Reality check:
The US Constitution offers only a single mechanism to remove a living president, and that is through the impeachment and eviction process that requires both the Houses of Representatives and the US Senate. If a president is removed through such a process, then he/she is succeeded by the next person in the Presidential Line of Succession. This is the vice-president. Failing that the next in line in the Speaker of the House, and then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and then the Cabinet secretaries.
Additionally, even in a hypothetical situation where a president’s detractors could definitively prove a certified presidential election was rigged, the US Constitution also offers no mechanisms to decertify an election or otherwise reverse its certified results. As such, to remove the US president, the above impeachment process would still need to be followed.
If the US president resigns, the Presidential Line of Succession would still need to be followed, as per the US Constitution.
Consequently, there is no process in the US Constitution that can allow a former president to simply be reinstated as president. Any attempt to do so would be unconstitutional.
Trump can still return to the White House however, since the 45th president was never removed from office and has only served a single term. Consequently he can still run for president in 2024 (or any other future presidential election) to serve the one remaining term offered to him by the US Constitution. Only one president has ever served non-consecutive terms and that was Grover Cleveland who was the country’s 22nd and 24th president.