Retribution Execution, Con't

The Trump regime is opening up dangerous efforts this week to try to de-legitimize Joe Biden's win, and will challenge the election itself starting this week with multiple recounts in multiple states, attacking the election process in various state courts, and a nationwide media blitz on cable channels to engage Trump supporters to mobilize. Axios's Alayna Treene:

 

President Trump plans to brandish obituaries of people who supposedly voted but are dead — plus hold campaign-style rallies — in an effort to prolong his fight against apparent insurmountable election results, four Trump advisers told me during a conference call this afternoon.

What we're hearing: Obits for those who cast ballots are part of the "specific pieces of evidence" aimed at bolstering the Trump team's so-far unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud and corruption that they say led to Joe Biden’s victory. Fueling the effort is the expected completion of vote counting this week, allowing Republicans to file for more recounts.

What's next: Team Trump is ready to announce specific recount teams in key states, and it plans to hold a series of Trump rallies focused on the litigation.

• In Georgia: Doug Collins, the outgoing congressman who lost to Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a special election to fill former Sen. Johnny Isakson's seat, will be leading the campaign's recount efforts. The team has also redeployed 92 staffers from Florida to Georgia, doubling its group on the ground.
• In Arizona: Kory Langhofer, former counsel for Trump's 2016 transition, will serve as lead attorney.
• In Pennsylvania: Porter Wright's Ron Hicks is heading up the legal effort.
• Nationwide: They're assembling additional surrogates and lawyers.

"We want to make sure we have an adequate supply of manpower on the ground for man-to-man combat," one adviser said.

The group is also staffing a campaign-style media operation. The team led by Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh is now a surrogate messaging center. It will pump out "regular press briefings, releases on legal action and obviously things like talking points and booking people strategically on television," one adviser said. They'll also make a big play to raise money for their legal defense fund.

Trump's formal legal team includes 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien, lawyer Justin Clark, and senior advisers Jason Miller and David Bossie. Reps. Jim Jordan and Scott Perry, as well as former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, are also advising.

 

This is all going to end up extremely badly for the country, especially when Trump cultists decide that maybe obstacles to Trump's "win" need to be removed by any means necessary. The damage is going to be incalculable, and please note all the dozens of Republicans lining up to help Trump do this.

 

Well, the ones that are left, anyway.

 

Mike Allen follows up as Republicans are worried however that Trump's long, futile fight will cost them Georgia's Senate runoff.

GOP leaders and confidants of President Trump tell Axios his legal fight to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory — which they admit is likely doomed — could last a month or more, possibly pushing the 2020 political wars toward Christmastime.

Why it matters: Most top Republicans have followed Trump’s orders not to accept the Biden victory, and to allow all legal options to be exhausted. That could mean weeks of drama — and, more importantly, distractions from the vital work of transitioning government for a change of power.

Axios is told an internal effort is underway to dissuade Trump from pursuing a blitz (with Rudy Giuliani as the tip of the spear) that could mean three to six weeks of legal challenges, discovery and rulings — at the same time that Biden is talking daily about a message of healing. 

Some top sources tell Axios that Trump has no plan to call for national unity. "No chance," says a person who talks often to the president. A senior Republican who talks often to Trump said the president is "angry ... volatile ... disconsolate."

The problem was never Trump.

The problem was always the GOP and the people who support them.