TPM Reader MM channels some of my recent thinking …

I viewed that priceless video last night, and was delighted and unsurprised to learn that Trump was furious about it. That’s the thing about losing, when a majority hates you: nobody who matters is listening. Raised $170 million on lies? Delighted to see the money well wasted by those who contributed. Trump was politically successful in a restricted, time-limited sense, but a Trump propaganda organization fueled by supporters’ bucks? Money down the toilet, just like every other business enterprise ever undertaken by Trump. Keep the money flowing in! Give more next month!

Not that we needed any more reason to declare it over, but, as of yesterday, all six states where President Trump has attempted to contest the results of the election have finalized their vote counts. Joe Biden was and is and will be the next president.

Yet, even after Wisconsin and Arizona both officially certified the results of their elections yesterday, the Trump campaign filed another lawsuit this morning — this time in Wisconsin. The campaign is alleging “abuse” of absentee ballots, targeting 270,000 ballots.

You’ve probably noticed that my posts have been perhaps a bit more reflective than usual in recent days. Biden not only won and Trump is leaving but now Trump gets it and knows he’s leaving, even as he labors to manufacture a narrative in which he won but is being deprived of office by a conspiracy against him. Like TPM Reader MM below, there is a certain relaxing of muscles and tension. This really is over. And despite Trump’s still fairly successful efforts to project a reality in which he remains a presence past his presidency, I suspect it’s really over to a degree greater than we quite yet suspect.

This situation with Joe DiGenova saying whistleblower (in the informal sense) Chris Krebs should be “taken out at dawn and shot” deserves our attention for a few reasons. The first, of course, is the sheer unacceptability and outrageousness of it. But it’s also a window into the permissive and transgressive far-right/Trumpist ecosystem.

Late this afternoon news broke of a federal investigation into an alleged bribery for pardon scheme targeting the White House. Matt Shuham has the basic details here. You can read the document here.

Let me run down a few initial reactions and clues in the document.

No matter which way you splice it, Georgia is now all about Trump.

As his rhetoric puts the safety of innocent election workers, and even state officials, at risk, the outcome of the two runoff Senate races in the Peach State will show the value of President Trump’s waning political influence — at least over Republican voters in Georgia.

Here’s something I didn’t know about in the annals of Trumpist mania and bad acting. You’ve probably seen the name Lin Wood come up. From my recollection, prior to his Trumpist incarnation, Wood was what you might call a regionally known celebrity lawyer. He was involved in a lot of high profile cases and was very successful. I don’t know how respected he was as a lawyer per se. And I don’t think he was known for supporting coups or being unhinged or evil.

More recently he was the lawyer for Nicholas Sandmann – the kid from Covington Kentucky involved with that incident with the Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial – suing media organizations for defamation. He took on the case of alleged terrorist shooter Kyle Rittenhouse with funding from high profile Trump supporter Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy). And now since the November election he’s been at the forefront of some of the wildest and most lurid pro-Trump fraud conspiracy theories and demands for overthrow of the government.

A bizarre, hilarious and maddening story out of Georgia. A Florida Republican lawyer from Bay County, Florida is caught on tape encouraging Florida Republicans to claim phony residence in Georgia to vote in the run-offs. He says he’s registering at the address of his brother who lives in Georgia. When local reporter Nicole Carr asked the lawyer, Bill Price, about the video he said that it was all a joke and that of course he didn’t make a bogus registration at his brother’s address.

But she checked and he had registered. Now Price is being investigated for vote fraud by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

After the joke excuse didn’t pan out Price apparently changed his story and insisted that he made the fraudulent registrations to prove how susceptible Georgia’s voting system was to fraud.