Virtually no one in any official capacity has said that there was widespread voter fraud or problems with mail-in ballots besides Trump. But it's a testament to the cult-like devotion of his fans that when he says something outlandish is true, they believe it is true.

According to a Reuters poll conducted earlier this week, 79 percent of Americans believe that Joe Biden is the President-elect, and only 3 percent actually believe that Trump won. But here in the Bay Area we don't need to look further than eastern Contra Costa County to find some of that 3 percent, as KPIX reports that about 50 ardent Trumpists gathered on a street corner in Danville Wednesday evening to advertise their delusion and loyalty to the president.

"I am 100 percent confident Donald Trump will be our president for the next four years," said one MAGA hat-wearing attendee who, tellingly, declined to give his name. "That’s why we’re celebrating today."

Another Trump supporter who preferred not to give his name said, "Biden is going down. He is not going to win. He had too many fake votes. Well, Trump won, so what’s to argue?"

The New York Times podcast The Daily found similar quotes among Trump voters in Mason County, Texas, which had the highest bump in turnout this election in all of Texas, and which went overwhelmingly for the president.

One 67-year-old woman there referred to "all that he's been through" including "the hoax" and the impeachment, and praised Trump for all that he'd accomplished despite Democrats' efforts to obstruct him at every turn. "If the American people voted for [Biden], yes, it will hand over and that will be fine," she said. "Do not tell me that I need to follow someone who cheats to get that."

Much like the Danville supporters, these Texas voters use the exact language that Trump repeats in tweets, having fully accepted his words as gospel. The Democrats engaged in "shenanigans" to "steal" this election, the Texas woman's husband said. The Mueller investigation the Trump campaigns contacts with Russia were a "hoax."

"He’s done a fantastic job and the election was stolen from him," said an anonymous Contra Costa County woman to KPIX. "It’s totally not fair. There’s so much evidence it’s not even funny."

In fact, there has yet to be any evidence of ballot tampering or problems with the vote, and as the campaign's court cases in various states make their way before judges, that will become more clear. But it may be too late for these supporters to listen — in the "fake news" and post-truth world we're living in, Trump's lies are truths, and if he says there's "so much evidence," then there must be, and everything that's been done to him is "unfair."

Thankfully, we're not in a situation where half the country thinks this way — it's a shrinking minority who are pained that their hero lost. There's talk of faithless electors, just like there was among mourning Democrats in 2016 hoping against hope that there was still a way to keep Trump out of the White House.

And Trump will keep on tweeting until he's dead, no doubt, and refusing to accept that he lost the popular vote, twice, and that a few voters in Michigan and Wisconsin and the electoral college can't save him this time.

Photo: C Drying/Unsplash