Trump exposes costs of loyalty as high-stakes week begins: Analysis
It's going to take at least the first full week of 2021 to settle some of 2020's highest-profile political business.
And what might have been a decent closing series of political acts for Trump could wind up being disastrous -- for himself and for a Republican Party that sees anew what loyalty to the president might cost them.
First up: Control of the Senate. Both Biden and Trump will be in Georgia Monday in advance of the Tuesday runoffs that could make or break the Biden agenda, and also render judgment on Trump's value and utility to Republicans.
To the latter point, the recording of Trump's weekend conversation with Georgia's Republican secretary of state shows the president more interested in bullying election officials than establishing facts. It casts a new light on efforts by more than 100 House Republicans and a dozen GOP senators to refuse to sign off on finalized Electoral College results on Wednesday.
Trump loses his formal power on Jan. 20, and that won't change as the result of anything that happens this week.
But how this week is remembered could go a long way toward determining how Biden can hope to govern – and how Republicans can pick up the pieces of what Trump will have left them.
-ABC News' Political Director Rick Klein
