"GOP leaders and confidants of President Trump tell Axios his legal fight to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory... could last a month or more, possibly pushing the 2020 political wars toward Christmastime."

Axios reports.

Axios is told an internal effort is underway to dissuade Trump from pursuing a blitz... that could mean three to six weeks of legal challenges, discovery and rulings — at the same time that Biden is talking daily about a message of healing....

A senior Republican who talks often to Trump said the president is "angry ... volatile ... disconsolate."...  Trump plans to hold rallies focused on the litigation, and brandish obituaries of people who were recorded as voting but are dead....

Republican operatives told Axios they worry that Trump's scorched-earth fight will divert money from the real remaining prize for the GOP — the twin Georgia runoffs on Jan. 5 that'll determine control of the Senate.... 

ADDED: I'd like to see some clear-headed analysis of whether Trump's holding out and fighting will help or hurt the Republicans in the Georgia runoffs. Axios — which obviously wants Trump to concede — is pushing the assumption that a concession will boost the Georgia GOP candidates. And I can see that. It's not just how much money is available but how important it is to keep the Senate. But you could say that Trump's diehard fighting is about the importance of keeping the liberals out of power, and if you really believe that, then if Trump fails in his effort, he will leave conservatives pumped up and that will fuel the fight for the Georgia Senate seats. 

"I was going to call my old, first phone number in the Bronx, and talk to whoever answered.... I would interview this person long enough to reveal our common humanity..."

"... and I would then tell his or her story with compassion; whatever differences we might have — cultural, political, whatever — would disappear with greater familiarity and understanding. Above all, we would, together, two ordinary people, prove that for all this country’s troubles, modernity does not have to be soulless. So I called. And got this recording: 'The next available service specialist will be with you momentarily. They will be happy to assist you with any inquiry.' Then I was put on hold, where I remained for 22 minutes, until I hung up." 

Story idea goes bad for Gene Weingarten, but he got a column out of it anyway: "Maybe the past is only a phone call away" (WaPo). They say you can never go home again, and, it seems, you can never phone home again. 

 

We were just talking about E.T. yesterday. Remember? "Like Steven Spielberg’s E.T., [Biden] seems to instinctually believe in the healing power of physical connection—even if that intimacy can sometimes feel a bit too close."

Everybody's trying to make a connection... but maybe nobody's there anymore. Weingarten's column made me think of Bob Dylan's "Talking World War III Blues":