President Trump continues to insist he won the 2020 presidential election. Courts, so far, disagree. While many of Trump’s allegations are aired on Twitter, he has also found platforms on FoxNews and other outlets. In his most recent interview with Maria Bartiromo, Trump said not only the election was rigged, but the F.B.I. and D.O.J. could be in on the scam. A.G. Bill Barr’s recent declaration that investigations have revealed no widespread fraud is now being used as evidence that he is “compromised” or part of the “deep state.”

Eric Metaxas, the evangelical author and radio host, insists not only that Trump won, but Joe Biden must prove his votes were legally cast. Metaxas sees the 2020 election as an existential crisis for America. Trump’s legal team is the thin line between civilization and barbarism. The possible theft of the election is “the most horrible thing that has ever happened in the history of our nation.” The struggle, for Metaxas, is worth even the ultimate sacrifice. “I’d be happy to die in this fight,” the radio host told President Trump recently.

Martyrdom was not the kind of killing on Joe diGenova’s mind. A Trump legal eagle, diGenova was featured on Newsmax. He said that Chris Krebs, the former head of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division, who was fired by Trump after Krebs declared the election secure, was a “moron” who should be “drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot.”

Krebs may have the distinction of being most directly threatened by Team Trump, but he is not alone. Trump has attacked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Both Republicans have been strong Trump supporters, but their decision to certify the Peach State’s election results inspired physical threats. Raffensperger has acquired a security detail. U.S. Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both locked in run-off elections in Georgia, where control of the U.S. Senate will be determined, filed a joint statement challenging Raffensperger’s competence, saying he has “failed the people of Georgia.”

One recent poll shows that a majority of Republicans believe the 2020 presidential election was neither free nor fair. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, née Romney, felt the brunt of these opinions in Georgia where she was attempting to rally support for Loeffler and Perdue. The Senate has been the focal point of progressive reform efforts. Court packing, the elimination of the filibuster, and impending statehood for Puerto Rico or Washington, D.C. are on the table. Winning at least one of the two January elections would guarantee none of these happen, at least in the short-term.

When talking with a crowd about the run-offs, McDaniel was harangued about vote switching software and rigged returns. Why should Republicans vote, came the cry, when the election is “already decided?” Yesterday, Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, attorneys who have pressed the most outlandish claims on behalf of the Trump campaign, told Georgia voters they should abstain from the run-off election in order to show their support for President Trump. Loeffler and Perdue still need to “earn” their votes by challenging the election results.

The Republican Party’s leaders find themselves in their most difficult position since Spring 2016, when candidate Trump was moving toward the nomination. At that point, the donors, office-holders, and officials (county, state, and national committee members and chairs) decided that Trump would benefit more than he would harm. In the short term, they were probably right. But what about now?