How does Donald Trump plan to win over female, independent suburban voters?

“First of all, I won in 2020 by a lot,” the former president told Fox News’ Bret Baier earlier this week when asked that exact question. “Ok? Let’s get that straight. I won in 2020.”

Trump never got around to answering Baier’s question. Instead, what happened next should be familiar to anyone who’s ever talked politics with a diehard Trump supporter: A barrage of nonsense.

While Baier did his best to point out that Trump did not in fact win – noting recounts in swing states and more than 50 lawsuits all confirming that Trump did not in fact win in 2020 – Trump badgered him with red herrings and non sequiturs about stuffed ballot boxes, “FBI Twitter” and “the 51 agents.”

“Wisconsin has practically admitted it was rigged,” Trump added.

I don’t know what that last comment is referring to, but a top Google result returned the Associated Press headline: “Judge: Wisconsin probe found ‘absolutely no’ election fraud.”

And so it goes.

“Election fraud” is the forever-Trumper scapegoat that explains all losses, though the intensity they cling to is matched only by their inability to prove it.

You don’t need to be an expert in election fraud to believe that Trump lost, just look at what Baier pointed out. There were more than 50 lawsuits from Trump’s team and his supporters, as well as recounts in counties in Texas, Wisconsin and Arizona and the entire state of Georgia, and none of them produced evidence of outcome-altering fraud or a basis for overturning the results. And just this week two Georgia election workers who had been widely accused by forever-Trumpers of committing election fraud were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Now, some will tell you it’s a conspiracy, but let’s briefly consider that.

In order for there to be a conspiracy of the magnitude alleged, countless people would have to be in on it. You would need some county election officials, secretaries of state, judges, at least some staffers and lots of law enforcement.

Or you would need to hack voting machines, but that conspiracy theory cost Fox News nearly $800 million for defamation.

The fraud conspiracies are both unproven and illogical. Trump doubling and tripling down on them at the expense of crafting a persuasive message to key demographics is a terrible campaign strategy. But since he should never be president again, his ineptitude pleases me.

But it does have a trickle down effect that is disappointing to me as a Republican. Many Republican voters have bought into Trump’s narrative, which is disastrous in California in particular.

California needs the political competition, but as long as the GOP remains linked to Trump’s narrative, it’s hard to persuade otherwise persuadable Californians to break the supermajority.

Not only is it a losing message, but it distracts voters from the issues that matter and GOP activists from the hard work of winning.

Until Republican voters and activists accept that Republican candidates are losing not because Democrats are rigging elections but because Californians aren’t buying what they are selling, nothing will change.

In other words, walk off a cliff with Trump at your own peril.

Follow Matt on Twitter @FlemingWords