President Donald Trump is angry with people in his circle, who he thinks aren't putting in enough effort to reverse the election results. The president, who still refuses to concede, has been pushing his dubious claims of massive voter fraud and has repeatedly accused the Democrats of stealing the election from him without offering any evidence.
Trump has reportedly turned on Pence and is angry with several of his closest allies during his last few days in the office. Top officials told Axios that the president is persistently complaining about anyone who isn't willing to support his conspiracy theories or indulge in his meaningless bids to reverse the outcome of the presidential election.
Aside from Pence, sources say Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, the secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell are all in the line of fire. As far as lack of support from his vice president is concerned, Trump is said to bring up a recent Lincoln Project ad to back up his complaints.
The commercial notes that it will be Pence who will seal Trump's fate at the time when Congress certifies President-elect Joe Biden's victory on Jan. 6. According to a source, that particular statement seems to have got inside Trump's head.
A group of Trump loyalists, most of them in the House of Representatives, are gearing up to challenge the impending confirmation of Biden's win. Several GOP lawmakers and constitutional scholars, however, say the attempt to overturn the election result is highly likely to fail, Independent reported.
This isn't going to be easy for the outgoing vice president, who will be tasked with confirming Biden's victory once and for all. The president of the Senate, which is Pence at the moment, is expected to present the EC votes to Congress and announce the election winner, under federal law.
That would leave Pence with no choice but to admit that he and Trump lost to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. A source told Axios that the president would view that as an ultimate betrayal.
According to Trump, anyone not supporting him or not fighting in his corner are disloyal, stupid or weak, and "beneath contempt." Trump isn't happy with Meadows either, who he thinks should be backing his dubious claims of widespread voter fraud.
In the wake of Trump's desperate attempts to reverse the election outcome in his final days in office, top White House aides have been trying for weeks to distance themselves from the president and his baseless lawsuits, Business Insider reported. Trump is also asking his advisors if they could order the state legislatures to cancel their electoral votes, and sources say he gets angry when he is told no.