Former President Donald Trump. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Trump claimed that he could defeat Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in an election before the pandemic.
Trump stated to Mollie Hemingway, "George Washington, with Abraham Lincoln his running mate could not have beat me."
He added that "I was up by such a lot" before the COVID-19 epidemic hit the US.
Mollie Hemingway was a senior editor at The Federalist who told Donald Trump that he would have defeated Abraham Lincoln and George Washington if he ran to be reelected before the COVID-19 epidemic.
Trump said to Hemingway that it hurts less to lose than to win, likely to refer to his false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulently "rigged" to take away from him.
Hemingway and Trump also talked about Trump's State of the Union speech in 2020. This address was given shortly after he was acquitted of the Senate's first impeachment case on charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. He boasted at the time that he had "launched an American comeback."
Trump stated that "jobs are booming", incomes are rising, poverty is dropping, crime is falling and confidence is surging and that the country is thriving again." He spoke to a joint session in Congress in February 2020.
"George Washington with Abraham Lincoln as his running partner could not have beat me," he said. He told Hemingway about his chances of reelection.
Trump has made this comparison before to Lincoln and Washington, and suggested that he would beat them in an election.
Trump stated that if George Washington returned from the dead, and he choose Abraham Lincoln to be his vice president, it would be difficult for them to beat him.
He told reporters that the pandemic had ruined his chances to regain the White House.
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Gallup reported that Trump's average approval rating was 41%. This is the lowest average approval rating for any president since Gallup began the survey in 1940s. Trump left office with 34% approval. This puts him on par with Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. President Harry Truman was the only one to leave office with a lower approval rating at 32%
Trump's highest approval ratings for jobs were in the early to mid 2020s. They fell dramatically in the summer as the US continued to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, more Americans died, and the economy was struggling to recover.
Trump's lowest approval rating, 34%, was based on a Gallup poll that was taken between January 4-15. This was immediately before and after Trump supporters stormed Washington in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn 2020 election results.
Insider reached out to Trump's spokesperson but he did not immediately reply.
Business Insider has the original article.
