Trump Corruption Index

This Week in Trumpland Corruption: Georgia on His Mind

Trump makes a last-gasp attempt to overturn the election results; Sidney Powell is threatened with a lawsuit

Is there enough graft, double-dealing, and self-interested chicanery in the Trump administration to publish this column every week? Only time — and Trump — will tell. (But we feel pretty confident.) Presenting this week’s installment of the Trump Corruption Index.

Dialing up the corruption to 11

On Saturday, President Donald Trump held an hourlong call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to discuss his general election loss in the state to President-elect Joe Biden. During the call, which was recorded and shared with the Washington Post, Trump repeatedly pressured Raffensperger to reverse the election outcome, urging him at one point to simply “find” the votes. “There’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump said on the call. “I think you have to say that you’re going to reexamine it.” Democrats immediately demanded investigations, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris calling the recording a “bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States.” Even some top Republicans criticized Trump over the call, with Sen. Pat Toomey calling it a “new low in this whole futile and sorry episode.” Raffensperger, for his part, hinted on Monday that Trump’s actions could warrant an investigation, as he potentially violated laws that prohibit interference in elections.

• Corrupt-o-meter (out of a possible five emojis): ☎️☎️☎️👿👿

Georgia governor in Trump’s crosshairs

Despite bipartisan outrage over Trump’s call to Raffensperger, the president doubled down on claims that Democrats somehow stole the election from him. “There’s no way we lost Georgia,” Trump said Monday at a rally in Georgia, adding that he remains committed to blocking Biden from taking the White House on January 20. “We’re going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now,” Trump promised the crowd. The president also attacked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for failing to help him overturn the election results in…