The most important question Donald Trump has for America today is: If 2 + 2 = 4, how many times do we have to count the numbers until 2 + 2 = 5?

For Trump, this is not a math question, but a political question, asking how many times must he assert a false claim until it becomes a truthful claim? And, on a larger scale, when do numbers matter, and when do we ignore them?

We know the math answer to Trump’s question because we use numbers to count ballots, votes and winners and losers in elections.
Recounts have been completed for the 2020 election, and in some states, like Georgia, over and over, and for a few states, recounting is still ongoing. The results, after all counts, court rulings, recounts, audits and Trump lies, remain at 306-232, the electoral votes that made Joe Biden president and Donald Trump the loser in 2020.

There are more numbers, like the number of court cases filed and dismissed claiming election fraud against Trump, 61 of 62 cases dismissed. And we know the number of states who overturned their vote for errors that cost Donald Trump a victory: Zero.

But Trump knows this, 2 + 2 can be whatever you want it to be if you repeat a lie enough times. Consider these numbers: only 32 percent of Republicans believe the 2020 election was “free and fair.” 92 percent of Democrats believe the election was fair, and 65 percent of voters overall believe the election was fair. (Morning Consult poll)

Clearly, 2 + 2 is not relevant to Republican voters in this case.

This week, Trump said Republicans should not vote in 2022 and 2024 unless the 2020 election investigations reveal the fraud and acknowledge that Trump won in 2020.

Here, Trump may find some Democratic allies, since (numbers again) 50 secretaries of state, 50 state electors’ groups, the FBI and Department of Justice, and U.S. cybersecurity found the election free and fair and Congress certified the election of Joe Biden.

Given those numbers confirming the 2020 election, Trump and 68 percent of his followers will likely never convince others that, in this case at least, 2 + 2 can equal 5. Our Democratic friends will embrace Trump repeating his 2020 accomplishment of helping elect two Democratic senators in Georgia by telling Republicans not to vote.

Trump will never look back if Republicans lose in 2022 by Trump voters withhold their votes for Democrats to win because Trump is not a Republican at the end of the day. He is Trump, and Republicans only deserve his support when pledging their fealty and obedience to Trump personally. What Trump wants, even more than revenge on those who dared voted to impeach him, or those who refused to support the Big Lie, is to undermine U.S. elections so, should he run again, he can assert to the joy of his followers that, if he lost, he really won again.

Further, to ensure that he would not lose, Trump is quite successfully rearranging how votes are counted and who is excluded from voting. In May 2020, Trump stated that if, “Mail-in voting (is allowed) …will also lead to the end of our great Republican Party (5/29/2020.”

Translated, if more people vote, then there will be more Democratic votes and Republicans will lose.

After that statement, the 2020 election brought more voters than ever, and more voters voted Democratic by mail-in ballots, electing Joe Biden as president.

And, since the 2020 election, 18 Republican states have revised their voting laws to reduce their mail-in voting.

After all, gerrymandering alone is not enough to ensure winning elections with fewer voters than your opponent.

Jim Crawford is a retired educator, political enthusiast and award-winning columnist living here in the Tri-State.