Washington Post: “President Trump needs Republicans to help him validate his big lie that the votes of millions of Americans are illegitimate and that the election is being stolen from him. Meanwhile, Republicans need Trump to keep his voters energized for two big Senate runoffs in Georgia. This has created a Faustian bargain of sorts: Republicans keep feeding the illusion that the outcome of the presidential race remains in doubt by refusing to say Trump should concede. And Trump keeps screaming that the outcome is fraudulent, which he may or may not actually believe, but either way, it has utility to Republicans because it keeps his voters in a fury.”
“But at the core of this bargain is a fatal flaw, one rooted in iron facts about the law and the calendar: Republicans cannot sustain this illusion for much longer. Which hints at longer-term truths about the current situation and how it might ultimately wind down. The Georgia runoffs are in early January. What will happen to the Faustian bargain in the interim? There will be still more talk of pulling off a miracle when Congress meets to count the electoral college votes, also in early January. But it will be noise.”