Politics

President Donald Trump may be leaving the White House in less than three weeks but he has vowed to continue his political battle. Although Trump is still pushing election falsehoods publicly, behind closed doors he is said to be planning the announcement of his 2024 presidential bid. But could the Senate ultimately dash his hopes of returning to the White House?

A new MSNBC editorial suggests it is certainly possible for the Senate to block Trump from another presidential bid. According to MSNBC Opinion Columnist Hayes Brown, Trump's flurry of pardons may come back to haunt him in the very near future.

On CNN Saturday, New York magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi noted that Vice President Mike Pence — who has largely escaped President Donald Trump's wrath over the years — will now inevitably face it as he is required to perform his constitutional duty and count the Electoral College votes confirming Joe Biden the winner of the election.

Trump and his supporters have suggested Pence can throw out or challenge these votes, but he actually has no constitutional power to do so — setting them up for disappointment and anger.

Figuring he has nothing left to lose, Donald Trump is reportedly planning on fighting to remain president to the bitter end and beyond after Congress meets on January 6th to formally count the votes cast by the Electoral College and hand the presidency to former Vice President Joe Biden.

According to a report at the Daily Beast, Trump is hyping up a "Stop the Steal" rally on that day, but that won't be the end of it for him as the country moves on towards the January 20th inauguration.

On Friday, CNN reported that the Senate has voted, on an overwhelming, bipartisan basis, to override outgoing President Donald Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act — likely one of the last acts of the 116th Congress, and the only time Trump has ever had a veto overridden.

The vote, which follows the House's move to do the same, is a humiliation for the president, who leaves office in a few weeks. The bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins, making an override likely, and Trump had ignored his own party leaders' warnings not to try to block the legislation.

On Friday, Congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), a controversial far-right figure with an affinity for the QAnon movement, posted a typo-laden manifesto on Twitter accusing Democrats of using "paid terrorists" to manufacture a "coup" against outgoing President Donald Trump.

She also baselessly claimed that election laws in several swing states were "altered" in violation of the Constitution and that there was "MASS voter fraud" — and that she will "uphold" her oath upon being sworn in.

On CNN Friday, former national security official Samantha Vinograd warned that outgoing President Donald Trump may have an incentive to engage in aggression against Iran.

"It is a fact that Iran represents a threat to U.S. national security, particularly during this period of heightened risk due to the upcoming anniversary of the Qassim Suleimani assassination," said Vinograd. "But we have to acknowledge the fact that we can't trust a lot of what the administration tells us when it comes to Iran ... President Trump and members of his team have fabricated or twisted intelligence, including on Iran, to suit personal or political objectives."

According to Axios founder Mike Allen, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is either pushing back, ignoring or soft-selling to his caucus Donald Trump's demands as the president scrambles for Republican Party help to remain in office during his last days.

With Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announcing that he is willing to contest the certification of the Electoral College votes on the floor of the Senate on Jan. 6th to the delight of the president, McConnell attempted to call him out during a conference call this week only to find out the Missouri Republican was a no-show. As for the other GOP senators, McConnell who has a history of keeping his caucus in line, reportedly told them to vote their "conscience" instead of insisting they back the president.

On CNN Friday, White House correspondent Boris Sanchez broke down the implications of outgoing President Trump's demand that the Republican Party assist him in trying to overturn the results of the election, a move spearheaded by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and as many as 140 House Republicans.

"President Trump setting up this loyalty test for Republicans that ultimately may become a fork in the road for the party," said Sanchez. "Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) yesterday calling Republicans who are supporting this move to object to the certification of the Electoral College results 'institutional arsonists,' saying they're 'playing with fire' and there's no evidence of widespread election fraud. Privately, Mitch McConnell has been lobbying these same Republicans to avoid the scenario."

On CNN Friday, Rep.-elect Carlos Giménez ( (R-FL) tried to argue that there were legitimate voting irregularities that merited the GOP objection to certifying the Electoral College for Joe Biden — and anchor Ana Cabrera quickly corrected him.

"Look, certainly it's unprecedented and certainly something that we shouldn't be in this spot, but then again I blame a lot of the mess that we are in right now on what happened in some of those states and some things that are very irregular," said Giménez. "Counting votes after — counting the absentee ballots after the close of elections to me is crazy. I mean—"

On Friday, ABC News reported that voting rights activists are worried that outgoing President Donald Trump's campaign of disinformation and lies about the integrity of the election could trigger outbreaks of political violence in Georgia as the Senate runoffs draw near.

"Researchers from Fair Fight Action, an activist group that promotes voter participation in Georgia and is chaired by Stacey Abrams, have tracked a large increase in disinformation related to the state's elections as conspiracy theories about the vote count promoted by President Donald Trump and his supporters have run rampant on social media," reported Fergal Gallagher. "The post-election spike of disinformation and the consumption by Georgia voters of disinformation has been 'incredibly high,' said Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo on a recent press call organized by the group."