As though led purposefully to the slaughter, Trump didn’t know he was being recorded on Raffensperger’s end, and his damaging efforts to have the Georgia secretary of state subvert his state’s election—or, in the White House view, Trump’s effort at charm offensive and helpless bloviation (precisely the substance of what Trump would insist was a “perfect call”)—was leaked the next day.

Cleta Mitchell, sitting in on the call, would be forced to leave her law firm, Foley and Lardner; as would Alex Kaufman, a partner at the Philadelphia firm Fox Rothschild, who did not say anything on the call and was identified only as “Alex” in the transcript.

Every effort in state and federal courts and in the legislatures of the contested states, along with efforts to get the support of key state officials, had abjectly failed. Every significant threshold of counting and certification had passed, giving no advantage or hope to the challenge effort. Only days remained before the ultimate, formal certification, a rite that in itself was largely meaningless to the already certain outcome. And yet Trump was steadfast, even optimistic.

And confident about his own powers.

He was buttressed by the media in this, which, operatically, had bought into the uncharted possibilities of his powers, wiles, machinations, and demagogic evilness—the media believed he might well have the power and will to overturn the election. He followed his own battles closely as they unfolded on television. Even as he lost one, the narrative offered another. This was hardly just the right-wing media, although Fox and the satellite right-wing outlets were on the edge of their seats in anticipation. But the rest of the media were equally on the edge of their seats in horror and astonishment—even if, in a parallel voice, there was a stricter explanation of the really practical impossibility that anything could disrupt what was otherwise destined to happen.

The background to the January 6 certification remained the procedural hurdle of needing a senator to join a House member in challenging a state’s electors.

The nature of such a grand stand was a complicated one.

For one thing, most notably, it would have no effect whatsoever on the election. The Democratic-controlled House would defeat any challenge—meaning none could proceed—and, likely too, the McConnell-controlled Senate would also defeat any challenge. Also, no one, save for the president, had any doubt that the vice president would not participate in the certification challenge.

What’s more, any senator participating in the challenge would alienate him or herself from the Republican leadership. McConnell and company had made it clear that this was a pretty personal score. Tommy Tuberville’s indication that he might join one or more of the House challenges tended to reinforce the sense that this was an outlier place to be; he wasn’t even seated yet.