Importantly, these events are not even carried on Fox News anymore. Instead, it’s the One America Network (OAN), an even more extreme right-wing infotainment channel, that is airing the president’s disinformation campaign. This presidential grousing has real consequences. In Georgia, Republican election officials are being harassed by gun-toting Trumpians spouting QAnon conspiracy nonsense and placing nooses in public spaces with the names of low-level ballot employees on them.[4]

Yet Trump’s increased reliance on OAN signals a kind of desperation. Much like his steak business, airline, clothing line, boardgame, television show, and university, his time in government is unraveling rapidly. And he’s demonstrating he will go anywhere and do anything to stay in the limelight. His advisors say he sees the “writing on the wall,” but he is not letting up on his accusations of fraud.[5] He once claimed his followers would still follow even if he murdered someone on 5^th Avenue in New York City. We assumed that said something about the unwavering devotion of his fans—that they would engage in the kinds of weaponized devotion that they’re exhibiting in Georgia presently. Perhaps an even more important issue was whether Trump, too, would go to such lengths just to keep their attention.

This is surely why today marks the unofficial beginning of the Trump 2024 campaign. Last night, the president tweeted, “A lot of Senators and House Members are very happy that I came along. Think I’ll stick around for awhile!”[6] His son just opened up another Political Action Committee to siphon funds from donors.[7] Shockingly, over $170 million has flowed Trump’s way since losing the election last month—the precise amount his campaign has been accused of illegally laundering, interestingly.[8] Much of whatever the sum is will likely be spent on “legal fees,” which is perhaps why Giuliani and Ellis keep representing this lost cause.

Notes

[1] Selena Simmons-Duffin, “CDC Panel To Vote On Who’s 1st In Line For COVID-19 Vaccine,” NPR.org, December 1, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940418718/cdc-panel-to-vote-on-whos-1st-in-line-for-covid-19-vaccine.

[2] Darragh Roche, “GOP Rep. Says Trump FBI Claim Is ‘Flooding the Zone with Baseless Conspiracies,’” Newsweek, November 30, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/gop-rep-trump-fbi-claim-flooding-zone-baseless-conspiracies-1551079.

[3] https://twitter.com/dougducey/status/1333605208983621635?s=20

[4] Stephen Fowler, “‘Someone’s Going To Get Killed’: Ga. Official Blasts GOP Silence On Election Threats,” NPR.org, December 1, 2020, https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/12/01/940961602/someones-going-to-get-killed-ga-official-blasts-gop-silence-on-election-threats.

[5] Jim Acosta and Caroline Kelly, “Trump Sees ‘the Writing on the Wall’ despite What He Maintains Publicly about the Election, Advisers Say,” CNN, December 1, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/30/politics/trump-writing-on-the-wall-election-advisers/index.html.

[6] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1333614815533817856

[7] Alex Isenstadt, “Donald Trump Jr. Aides Launch Super PAC as Georgia Worries Mount,” Politico, November 30, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/30/donald-trump-jr-super-pac-georgia-worries-mount-441205.

[8] Russ Choma, “The Trump Campaign Is Accused of Laundering $170 Million,” Mother Jones (blog), July 28, 2020, https://www.motherjones.com/2020-elections/2020/07/trump-campaign-accused-of-laundering-170-million/; Jeremy Diamond, Fredreka Schouten, and Betsy Klein, “President Donald Trump Raises More than $170 Million since Election Day as He Pushes Baseless Fraud Claims,” CNN, December 1, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/01/politics/president-donald-trump-raises-more-than-170-million-since-election-day/index.html.