Trump’s call to Georgia is a window into a consumed president

He finally did it on Saturday, with explosive results.

As his docile assistants listened and contributed their thoughts, Trump turned into vague threats of criminal prosecution and expressions of political regret. As he has done in almost every conversation since losing the election, Trump expressed disbelief at the reality that he will no longer be president in a matter of weeks.

“It is not possible to have lost Georgia. It is not possible,” he said on the call. “When I heard he was close, I said there was no way.”

Neither Trump nor the White House have commented on the call, although Trump allies have accused Raffensperger of deception by leaking it.

Two months after Election Day, Trump is still as devoured by his loss as ever. He has mostly ignored the surge in coronavirus cases and the damage that is spreading from a massive Russian attack. He has seen tensions rise with Iran, but he spends far more time discussing its attempts to overthrow the election results than he does about looming threats to national security, according to White House officials.

Trump’s mood has darkened in recent weeks as he continues to be fed a daily diet of election conspiracy theories, a White House aide involved in the election challenges told Jim Acosta.

“It got worse as more people said something went wrong” with the election, the adviser said.

Trump’s presence has become so unpleasant that several attendees said they were actively avoiding any interaction with the president.

Dead city

Despite Trump’s efforts to stay in power, the West Wing is turning into a ghost town. Several high-level officials have left in recent days and more are expected to do so soon as officials line up their next jobs. The few remaining top officials have tried to distance themselves from Trump’s efforts for fear of possible legal exposure.

Some senior advisers, including Hope Hicks, spend less time in the White House than before. And Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, headed to Saudi Arabia earlier this week for a ceremony marking the end of the Gulf crisis involving Qatar rather than staying in Washington.

“Nobody wants to be around anymore,” said an official. “It is a dark place.”

White House attorney Pat Cipollone was not on the call with Raffensperger over the weekend and did not know what was happening, according to a person familiar with the situation. Legal experts have said that Trump may have violated the state’s election fraud law by asking Raffensperger to seek more votes for him.

Cipollone’s influence in the White House has waned in recent weeks, as he has argued internally that Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results, driven primarily by conspiracy theories, are futile. He joins other White House officials who have seen their roles as presidential advisers rapidly diminish as Trump remains focused solely on election results.

His daily schedules have become a self-parody, with no events listed and only a brief blurb, personally dictated by the president, according to a person familiar with the matter, detailing his activities.

“President Trump will work from early morning until late at night. He will make a lot of calls and have a lot of meetings,” he read his schedule for Monday, before noting what time he would leave the White House for a rally in Georgia. an event that Trump has been holding for weeks and again threatened to cancel after his fateful call with Raffensperger on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Trump has basically riled up with everyone who works for him, people familiar with the matter said, though he has recently focused his ire on Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Vice President Mike Pence, claiming neither of them is fighting hard enough to him while trying to do so. subvert democracy. Meadows joined Trump’s call on Saturday and then tweeted his support for Republican lawmakers who will challenge the Electoral College results on Wednesday – efforts that haven’t stopped the president from complaining loudly about him, according to people who have heard. your complaints.

Pence is in a more precarious position: As president of the Senate, he will preside over the Electoral College count on Wednesday. Before Christmas, Trump became very interested in his role, believing that Pence could somehow reverse or prevent Biden from being certified as a winner. Even when Pence explained that his role was merely ceremonial, Trump seemed captivated by the idea.

Trump offered tacit approval for the lawsuit brought by his Republican ally, Rep. Louie Gohmert, who lobbied Pence to overturn the election results, and was later disappointed to learn that his own Justice Department was asking for a judge. to reject the claim, according to a person familiar with importing. Trump and Pence discussed the matter late last week.

Trump has told associates for weeks that he doesn’t think Pence is fighting hard enough for him. That frustration is in part what prompted Pence’s chief of staff to issue a statement Saturday night saying he welcomed efforts by Congress to raise objections to the Electoral College, although several noted that it seemed carefully worded and not they said they supported the objections directly.

Dwindling crew

Trump, meanwhile, has turned to whoever entertains his conspiracies, including business adviser Peter Navarro, who recently suggested on television that the inauguration date could be delayed, contradicting the Constitution.

He has been adding attorneys so abruptly that it is difficult for some attendees to keep up with who is representing him at any given time. Several senior officials were unaware that Cleta Mitchell, a prominent Republican attorney, was working with him until it came to light in Trump’s call with Raffensperger. Apparently, neither did his law firm, Foley & Lardner, which issued a statement afterward saying it was “concerned” about his role in the call and “are working to understand his involvement more fully.”

This week, Trump is again ready to spend his days embroiled in desperate efforts to override the will of the voters. Before a rally by two Republican Senate candidates in Georgia on Monday, Trump declared that he would use his time to explain why he did not lose the state presidential election. As Republican lawmakers make a futile attempt to delay Electoral College certification on Wednesday, Trump will address a rally by his supporters in the Ellipse near the White House.

When all those efforts inevitably fall short, few close to the president believe it will stop. Despite losing dozens of court challenges, Trump remains hopeful that new cases will emerge that lend credibility to his false claims, people around him said. As even some staunch allies begin to distance themselves, Trump is attacking.

“The” Surrender Caucus “within the Republican Party will fall into infamy as weak and ineffective” guardians “of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!” tweeted Monday after top allies in the Senate, including Sen. Tom Cotton, said they would not support efforts to delay Electoral College certification.

As the end of his term approaches, Trump has continued to discuss ways to disrupt, or at least counter-schedule, the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20. Few advisers expect Trump to attend the reduced event, which is Biden’s. The team has said it will feature a virtual parade instead of the traditional procession down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Trump himself has not made his intentions known, although recently, while in Florida, he asked others if he should go.