Trump claims 2020 election was 'rigged' by his own White House, Internet says 'you can’t be this dumb'

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Former president Donald Trump was mocked on social media for claiming that the White House “rigged” the 2020 presidential election—considering he was the sitting president during that time.

Trump referenced a report about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's concerns about the removal or demotion of certain content on the platform in response to government pressure.

Mark Zuckerberg's letter and Donald Trump’s reaction

Trump’s claims stem from a letter written by Mark Zuckerberg to Republican House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan. The letter explicitly states that Zuckerberg wanted his platforms to maintain political neutrality and regretted the suppression or removal of certain content, per the Wall Street Journal.

Zuckerberg specifically mentioned Covid-19 misinformation and a controversial story about Hunter Biden’s laptop published by the New York Post. In his letter, the Facebook founder recounted that the FBI had warned his platform about a potential Russian disinformation campaign involving the Biden family.

"The FBI warned us about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead-up to the 2020 election," he wrote.

Reacting to Zuckerberg's letter, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and wrote: "Zuckerberg admits that the White House pushed to SUPPRESS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY (& much more!). IN OTHER WORDS, THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED. FoxNews, New York Post, Rep Laurel Lee, House Judiciary Committee."

He followed this up by commenting on a screenshot of the New York Post's story, "This is what everyone’s been waiting for — THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED!"

The Post's headline read: "Zuckerberg admits Biden admin pressured Facebook to censor COVID content, says it was wrong to suppress The Post's Hunter laptop coverage."

Zuckerberg detailed in his letter how Biden administration officials "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire" in 2021. However, the letter's timeline also made it clear that it happened after the 2020 election, which took place in November of that year.

Zuckerberg also noted the FBI's warning regarding the potential Russian disinformation operation, which led Facebook to demote the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story temporarily pending a fact-check.

"In a separate situation, the FBI warned us about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead-up to the 2020 election," he wrote. "That fall, when we saw a New York Post story reporting on corruption allegations involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's family, we sent that story to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for a reply..."

Social media reacts to irony of Donald Trump's claims

Having said that, Trump's claims that the White House "rigged" the 2020 election led many to point out the obvious flaw in his argument—he was the president of the United States during that time.

David Frum, a writer for The Atlantic, posted on X: "Who was president of the United States in the year 2020?"

George Conway, a conservative attorney and well-known critic of Trump, mocked the absurdity of the statement. "Imagine if [anyone else in the entire f*****g world] said this," he wrote.

Veterans advocate and former intelligence officer Travis Akers posted a screenshot of Trump's statement and joked, "Wait until he finds out who the president was in 2020."

Several other critics joined the backlash on social media, poking fun at Trump's apparent confusion over who occupied the White House at the time.

"Hmm. According to Trump, the ‘White House’ pushed Zuckerberg to ‘rig the 2020 election.’ So Trump, the occupant of the White House ahead of the 2020 election, rigged the election against himself? Ok? Does Trump want himself to be punished for this or something?" one posted on X.

"Trump claims that the White House rigged the 2020 election. Trump occupied the White House at all times during the 2020 election. Is he confirming that he committed crimes, or is he just a moron?" another asked.

"Biden was so all-powerful he was running the country even as a private citizen between January 2017 and January 2021," a third user quipped.

"Not a full deck and never was in the Trump camp. Doesn’t even know where he was during that time," someone else wrote.

"He knows his supporters don't use common sense and will just claim Biden was in office at that time. They don't have to make sense. They just have to repeat it," a comment read.

"When you're used to complaining, soon enough you run out of victims to blame for your failures you turn to the one whom you'd have blamed in the first place; Yourself," another offered.

Another added, "U can’t be this dumb.. This is like saying JFK had himself shot!"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.