Former President Donald Trump cannot admit that he lost the 2020 election. He cannot, will not and has no reason to ever admit the truth, because to admit defeat would be to become a loser. And men like Trump cannot stand to lose.
At a recent rally in Minnesota, Trump claimed a previous electoral victory in the Gopher State, noting that, "I know we won it in 2020." Minnesota? Really? A state that Democrats have carried since 1976? A state that even the most Trump-friendly news outlets never called in his favor? Minnesota? Two days earlier, on Minnesota Public Radio, he made the same claim, saying, "I thought I won in 2020 easily." What? It seemed that Trump, who originally contested the results of the 2020 election in a handful of states including Georgia and Arizona, has expanded the reach of his Big Lie to states that he lost by well over 200,000 votes.
Rather than admit in the face of endlessly mounting evidence that he was wrong and concede his defeat, Trump seems to be doubling down on the victory in his own head. In Trump's estimation, he actually won every state, all of them, if only it hadn't been for those pesky election officials. There is a lot of psychology behind why we cannot admit we are wrong.
I spoke to a local professor of psychology, who was quick to answer, "that's all about ego, about a person's sense of self." She explained that for some people, acknowledging wrongness is so antithetical to their perception of themselves, that their brains will actually .