Trump’s last stand: Outgoing president is burning more norms and his own party in final weeks

‘The Trump Show’ is entering its final episodes, and fittingly, there is ample drama ahead, writes Washington Bureau Chief John T. Bennett

Donald Trump’s phone call to Georgia elections officials and his calls for congressional Republicans are a fitting  end to “The Trump Show.” (AFP via Getty Images)

British troops burned down the White House in August 1884. On his way out of the executive mansion, Donald Trump is hurling metaphorical flaming torches at former allies and his own political party – even the capital city itself.

A presidency half-jokingly described by many Washington insiders as “The Trump Show,” a reality television approach to running a country, is fittingly ending with final episodes that are shaping up to be as dramatic – if predictable – as anything most Americans have ever seen. And the star of the show, Mr Trump, seems as desperate as ever while running out of ways to create a path to a second term.

He will return to the campaign trail Monday evening in Georgia. But GOP lawmakers and party insiders worry he will turn what ostensibly is a rally for the states two Republcian Senate candidates, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, into another form of his recorded phone call with state elections officials in which he asked them to “find” nearly 12,000 votes he needs to win the state.

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, typically a Trump ally, broke with the president over that phone conversation, calling it “one of the things, I think, that everyone has said is that this call was not a helpful call.”

While the outgoing president appears to believe his office has the power to order state officials to take specific actions related to elections, Ms Blackburn and other Republicans see danger in his view.

“Now, one of the things you have seen us talk about with our coalition that is looking at election integrity is sending this issue back to the states. The states are the ones that are going to resolve this issue. We do not have federalized elections in this country,” she told Fox News. “We do not want federalized elections in this country.”

The president appears mostly focused on himself and remaining in power.

“I won this election by hundreds of thousands of votes. There’s no way I lost Georgia. There’s no way,” he claimed on the call. “We won by hundreds of thousands of votes. I’m just going by small numbers when you add them up, they’re many times the 11,000. But, but I won that state by hundreds of thousands of votes.”

The Georgia officials on the call, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, repeatedly told Mr Trump the opposite.

The matter will be part of Republican lawmakers’ calculations on Wednesday when the full Congress meets to certify the Electoral College result, which gave President-elect Joe Biden a 306-323 victory. (A candidate needs 270 votes to win.) Mr Trump’s repeated calls for his party to try overturning the result is splintering the party he leads in his final weeks in office.

One camp features conservative House members and about a dozen far-right GOP senators.

Those senators are breaking with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been able to hold his caucus together even during Mr Trump’s most bombastic moments.

“The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective ‘guardians’ of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!” Mr Trump tweeted in a direct attack on the GOP lawmakers who are planning to reject the half-dozen objections on Wednesday. In doing so, they will be voting to certify Mr Biden’s victory.

The soon-to-be-former president has kept the heat on his party mates for weeks, and though the objectors acknowledge their challenges will fall short in both chambers, Mr Trump continues to drive a wedge between the factions that compose it.

“How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG,” he tweeted. “You will see the real numbers tonight during my speech, but especially on JANUARY 6th. @SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!”

That was a warning to Missouri’s junior GOP senator, who announced he will not join the challenges. Mr Trump is vowing to help pick conservative candidates to run in 2022 primaries against any incumbent Republicans who defy him on Wednesday.

‘Seditious actions’

But some veteran Republicans contend the president’s actions would be damaging to not just his political party – but the entire country.

“The seditious actions of GOP Members of Congress will not succeed on January 6th. Joe Biden will be inaugurated POTUS January 20th at noon.  However, if their ACTION was sucessful (SIC) it would destroy the government of the United States and cause the collapse of the Republic,” Steve Schmidt, a former aide to the late Senator John McCain, tweeted.

“This is an unpardonable offense. It is an unspeakable betrayal of the United States and the sacrifices of generations of Patriots. It is fueled by Trumps incoherent delusions and disordered ramblings. It is fueled by ruthless cynicism and dishonesty; cowardice and self interest,” added Mr Schmidt, a founding member of the anti-Trump Linclon Project.

As the House and Senate plod through what might be a 12-hour effort to certify Mr Biden’s victory, three pro-Trump rallies will be taking place outside on the streets of Washington.

“The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!” the president tweeted on New Year’s Day. “January 6th. See you in D.C.”

That protest is actually three different events in one. Some experts, however, are concerned three angry Trump crowds and expected counter-protestors could turn the capital city into a war zone.

Mabel Berezin, a Cornell University professor of sociology and a populism and facism expert, said the protests on such an emotionally charged day are collectively “assuring some form of public violence before the day is over.”

“Twelve US Senators jumped on the president’s bandwagon to hold up the certification of electoral votes – showing that bold faced opportunism ... took precedence to what at least those two should have learned about the Constitution at law school,” the Cornell professor said. “Democratic procedure will most likely hold this week, but the spirit of democracy is damaged.”