Trump ‘going through the motions’ by challenging election loss — but ‘he knows it’s over’: MSNBC's Morning Joe

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough doesn't think President Donald Trump actually thinks he can overturn his election loss, but he's merely "going through the motions."

The "Morning Joe" host wondered why the president was continuing his increasingly doomed legal challenge, and he asked Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire what Trump was trying to accomplish.

"You just kind of get the sense that President Trump is going through the motions but, you know, his heart doesn't seem to be in it," Scarborough said. "He knows it's over, so what is he doing? Is he playing for that announcement that he's going to be running again in 2024? What's going on inside the White House?"

Lemire pointed out the Trump legal team's 1-37 win-loss record in court cases, and he said their optics are even worse.

"His team signaled the legal challenges will continue, but to your question, Joe, there's no expectation within the White House, within the president's inner circle, that is going to change," Lemire said, "that Joe Biden won't be sworn in on Jan. 20. This is about projecting the fight, this is about sowing doubts about the election. Yes, this is about plotting whatever his next move may be. He did for the first time publicly say on Thanksgiving Night that yes, he would leave the White House when his term was up, if the Electoral College did indeed give this race to Joe Biden, which he said would be a mistake, but everyone around the president knows that will happen. It's about what comes next."