The road leads back to Georgia

It's a big day in Georgia, as voters there determine the balance of the U.S. Senate for the next term. Lines are long as Georgians vote in two runoff elections—between incumbent Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue and their respective Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Also in Georgia today, a federal judge rejected President Trump's latest attempt to invalidate President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state. In another court loss for the president, U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen ruled against Trump's effort to decertify Georgia's election results before Congress meets tomorrow to count the Electoral College votes and seal Biden's win. —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

• — I, demagogue. Trump ostensibly campaigned for Loeffler and Perdue in Georgia last night, but he was more focused on his own election rants. Wallowing in fantasies that he won Georgia and the election, Trump spent much of the hour-and-20-minute rally denigrating fellow Republicans who haven't assisted his effort to overturn the election. "They're not gonna take this White House!" he declared to cheers from the crowd. —CBS News
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• — "Everybody's vote is going to count." At a press conference earlier in the day, Gabriel Sterling, a top election official in the Georgia secretary of state's office, refuted Trump's faulty allegations against the state voting system line by line. The Republican urged his fellow Georgians to vote. "Given the nature of the president's statements ... we are specifically asking and telling you to turn out and vote tomorrow," Sterling said. "Do not self-suppress your own vote." —NPR
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• — "Unforeseen circumstances." U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak suddenly resigned his position in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia yesterday. He was appointed by Trump in 2017, making history at that time as the first-ever Korean-American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney. He previously served six years in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing a portion of Gwinnett County, and is widely seen as a rising star in the state Republican Party. Hmm. —Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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• — The Senate's anti-democracy movement grows. Loeffler has joined the effort to oppose the certification of Biden's Electoral College win tomorrow, bringing the total number of anti-democracy Republicans in the U.S. Senate to 13. Twenty-four GOP senators will support the certification, and 14 remain undecided or have not publicly indicated their intentions. —The Washington Post
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• — Biz for Biden. Nearly 200 of the country's top business leaders have co-signed a letter to Congress to certify the electoral results for Biden, arguing that "attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy." Signers included a wide array of executives of Fortune 500 companies, including banks, airlines, investment firms, pharmaceutical companies, professional sports leagues, real estate conglomerates, top law firms, and media companies. —The Washington Post
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• — It all comes down to Pence. Trump is pressuring his vice president, Mike Pence, to overturn the election, falsely tweeting this morning, "The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors." In reality, Pence's role in presiding over Congress' counting of the certified Electoral College results tomorrow is largely ceremonial. So what will the obsequious Pence do? Stay tuned. —The Hill

Will: The GOP's domestic enemies

"[Sens.] Hawley, Cruz, and company have perhaps rescued Biden from becoming the first president in 32 years to begin his presidency without his party controlling both houses of Congress. ... Be that as it may, on Wednesday, the members of the Hawley-Cruz cohort will violate the oath of office in which they swore to defend the Constitution from enemies 'foreign and domestic.' They are its most dangerous domestic enemies." —George Will in The Washington Post

George Will is a conservative political commentator and columnist for The Washington Post.

MORE: Los Angeles Times Ed. Board: Republicans can support democracy or Trump. There's no middle ground —Los Angeles Times

DC braces for violence

Preparing for possible violence as Congress votes to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory tomorrow, the nation's capital has mobilized the National Guard. Supporters of President Trump are planning to rally in Washington, D.C., today and tomorrow, seeking to bolster the president's unproven claims of widespread voter fraud. "There are people intent on coming to our city armed," D.C. Acting Police Chief Robert Contee said yesterday. Local residents have been urged not to engage with them. —Associated Press

MORE: Proud Boys leader arrested in Washington, accused of burning Black Lives Matter banner —Chicago Tribune

No extradition for Assange

A British judge yesterday rejected the U.S.'s request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges over the publication of secret U.S. documents a decade ago. While District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected arguments that Assange faces a politically motivated American prosecution that rides roughshod over free-speech protections, she said his precarious mental health would likely deteriorate further in a U.S. prison. The Justice Department will appeal the decision. —Associated Press

Dorfman: Lessons in reform from Chile

"Americans should heed the cautionary tale that Chile sends us. In 1990, after 17 years of dictatorship, Chileans regained the right to determine their own destiny, but they were unable to take the crucial next step of pressuring their leaders to right the wrongs of the past and move forward to a full democracy. Remnants of the old regime survived, and strangled attempts at indispensable economic, political, and social reforms. Without those reforms, a majority of the people felt left out of the mainstream of public life, discourse, and consensus, and became more cynical about democracy itself." —Ariel Dorfman on CNN

Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean-American novelist, essayist, and human rights activist. He is a professor of literature and Latin American studies at Duke University.

MORE: Chile populists challenge elite as voters seek new direction —Financial Times

Tensions with Iran on the rise

Iran has asked Interpol to issue a "red notice" for the arrest of President Trump and 47 other U.S. officials, citing the targeted killing a year ago of Qassem Soleimani, a powerful Iranian general. On Sunday, in an about-face, the Pentagon ordered the aircraft carrier Nimitz to remain in the Middle East because of Iranian threats against Trump and other American officials. The warship was headed home last week in an effort to de-escalate rising tensions with Tehran. But acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller was forced to abruptly reverse the original order, which was made over the objections of top military advisers. —NPR

MORE: South Korea sending troops, contacting other nations after Iran seizes ship —Newsweek

Erlanger: The call heard around the world

"Trump's capacity to shock the world with his epic self-centeredness and disregard for democratic and ethical norms is vanishing. The president has revealed himself many times before this latest episode, when he badgered and threatened Georgia officials to 'find' him the votes needed to flip the state. But if Trump has not moved on, the world has. Foreign leaders are looking forward, even as many worry that the Trump effect will last for years, damaging trust in American predictability and reliability." —Steven Erlanger in The New York Times

Steven Erlanger is the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for The New York Times.

MORE: Axelrod: The courage of Brad Raffensperger —CNN

Great comments from Erin R. from South Carolina. Ready to entertain the idea of a third party to stand with other principled Americans. —Jeff M., Iowa

Please start a new political party—I heard the Lincoln Party was a good name. Evan, Mindy, and Steve Schmidt have the following now to do it. Mitt Romney and John Kasich would probably join! —Ken G., Colorado

In regard to the discussion that has been periodically happening in the comments section of The Topline about potentially forming a new political party: I'm curious if there has been any outreach to or interest from current or recent moderates in the Republican or Democratic parties? It's a huge ask for a sitting congressman or senator to jump ship, and I'm sure none would go along with it unless there were a number of others, but I'm also certain no effort by us moderates to give the American public a serious third option would succeed without it. —Will C., Mississippi

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