Two months before the 2024 election, Trump repeats 2020 election lies that led up to Jan. 6

With less than two months until the 2024 election, former President Donald Trump is repeating the lie about the “stolen” 2020 election that he used to incite a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol—the same tactic that undermined Trump’s candidates in the 2022 midterms.

“No, I don’t admit it at all,” the Republican presidential nominee said during Tuesday night’s debate with Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris when asked whether he would finally admit that he lost the race for the White House four years ago.

The former president, who attempted a coup, also complained that hundreds of his followers had been prosecuted and that one person was shot dead trying to climb through a broken window in a hallway where lawmakers were being evacuated from the House of Representatives.

“Ashley Babbitt was shot by an out-of-control police officer. That officer should never, ever have shot her,” he said in a long, winding response to a question from the moderator. “It’s shameful that we didn’t do that. This group was treated so badly.”

Most of Trump’s Republican consultants and elected officials have urged him for years to focus on what he would do to help the American people if he were to regain the White House, rather than on his bitterness over his defeat four years ago.

But Trump has taken that advice only sporadically, repeatedly lying in 2020 that Democrat Joe Biden cheated to beat him and that he himself had done nothing wrong until January 6, 2021, even though he was impeached for his actions and now faces two criminal charges.

“It’s a misconception that Trump has no message discipline,” said Amanda Carpenter, a former aide to Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and now a researcher at the group United To Protect Democracy. “He’s been remarkably consistent over the last three years, repeating violent rhetoric inciting rioters and promises to pardon insurrectionists.”

During the debate, when asked whether he had any regrets about his actions or inactions that day — he failed to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol for three hours, during which time they assaulted 140 law enforcement officers, leading to one officer’s death hours after the assault and four more suicides in the months that followed — Trump repeated that he had done nothing wrong, then lied about a rally he had personally called before the attempted coup.

“I had nothing to do with it, other than they asked me to speak. I just showed up to speak,” he said.

Trump has said the same thing dozens of times on the campaign trail, and has even stood up and saluted his followers who are now in jail after attacking police. One key difference is that his rallies are mostly attended and watched on television by his ardent “Make America Great Again” supporters.

Tuesday night’s debate, on the other hand, is expected to be watched by tens of millions of Americans, including undecided voters in six key states.

“We always say the more the American people hear about Donald Trump, the better for us, and his election fraud comments last night were a great example of why,” said Sarafina Chitika, a Harris campaign spokeswoman. “He always rips elections for the MAGA crowd, but last night, the American people who are actually undecided saw him refusing to admit he lost the 2020 election and instead defending the J6 insurgents. This is one of his worst polling rankings.”

Harris herself cited Trump’s debate remarks on Jan. 6 to appeal to Americans, including non-Democrats, to support her in protecting the nation’s democracy. “If that’s a bridge too far for you, there’s a place in our campaign where you can stand up for our country, for our democracy, for the rule of law, and to end chaos,” she said on stage Tuesday night.

It’s unclear whether Trump’s decision to continue embracing violence surrounding his attempts to cling to power—an attempt that nearly resulted in his vice president being killed by a mob—will move voters. That approach hurt Trump-leaning candidates in 2022, but midterms historically have a more educated electorate than general elections, a demographic that has shifted more toward Democrats since Trump took over the Republican Party in 2016.

“It has no effect. It’s already set in stone,” predicted Republican pollster Neil Newhouse.

“I don’t think talking about 2020 is going to help him, but is it going to hurt him?” said GOP consultant David Kotzel. “Nothing moves more than one point. This is down to a few thousand voters in a few states. The era of big moves is over.”

Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer who defended the Capitol from Trump’s mob that day, said Trump’s continued defense of January 6 “is corrosive to American democracy, regardless of its effect on the election.”

“He’s targeting a small minority of Americans who believe his lies,” Dunn said. “That minority is the people who buy into his lies, and the people who stormed the Capitol on his behalf. What he’s spreading is not only a lie, it’s dangerous.”