Donald Trump is often his own worst enemy. But sometimes, he gets competition from his lawyers.

Perhaps no better example of that can be found than in Wednesday’s order from the Supreme Court, which summarily rejected the former president’s “emergency” request to block, on grounds of executive privilege, the release of documents to the select House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The court’s decision was a brutal, and personally stinging, loss for Trump. And the arguments his own lawyers advanced may have made the defeat worse.

Trump lost the case in virtually record time. He sued the committee and the National Archives on Oct. 18, lost in the district court on Nov. 9, lost in the court of appeals on Dec. 9 and lost in the Supreme Court on Jan. 19. And so, today, the Jan. 6 committee has hundreds of documents Trump desperately wanted kept under wraps.

The main predicate President Donald Trump cited as his rationale for having federal officials seize every voting machine in the nation as part of his doomed effort to prove that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him was that Sheryl Guy had forgotten to update something on her computer.

Not directly, of course. In a draft executive order obtained by Politico, her mistake is framed as part of a sweeping international conspiracy to hijack the election to Trump’s detriment. Dated Dec. 16, 2020, here’s how it articulates the mistake in Michigan’s Antrim County, where Guy served as county clerk.

“I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, find that the forensic report of the Antrim County, Michigan voting machines, released December 13, 2020, and other evidence submitted to me in support of this order, provide probable cause sufficient to require action under the authorities cited above because of evidence of international and foreign interference in the November 3, 2020, election.”

The document continues on to order that voting machines be collected and that an assessment of the devices be completed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — at the time, John Ratcliffe, a fervent Trump ally whose credentials for the gig were not robust. (He’d already helped amplify another conspiracy theory, that Hillary Clinton had originated the Russia probe.) Ratcliffe’s office was given 60 days to issue its report; a period that would extend well past the Jan. 20 date when Trump would be out of office. Should he still be planning on leaving

Last June, a legislative committee run by Michigan Republicans released a lengthy report examining the state’s election processes in 2020. It found no evidence that anything suspect had occurred. But it took special pains to address the situation in Antrim County.

“The strongest conclusion comes in regard to Antrim County,” it read. “All compelling theories that sprang forth from the rumors surrounding Antrim County are diminished so significantly as for it to be a complete waste of time to consider them further.”

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told The Washington Examiner that he nearly launched a Republican Senate campaign, but changed direction after talking directly to incumbent GOP senators. "They were all, for the most part, content with the speed at which they weren't doing anything," the governor said.

Sununu added that virtually every Senate Republican he spoke to intended to do nothing but obstruct until the next Republican presidency. "It bothered me that they were OK with that," he said.

During his White House press conference yesterday, President Joe Biden literally read Sununu's quotes while highlighting the challenges of dealing with GOP lawmakers who too often don't care about governing. The Democrat added:

"I did not anticipate that there'd be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn't get anything done. Think about this: What are Republicans for? What are they for? Name me one thing they're for."

The president had good timing. Not long before his press conference began, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fielded some questions from reporters, and NBC News' Leigh Ann Caldwell asked the Kentucky Republican what his party's policy agenda would be if the GOP takes back control of Congress.

Yet Americans are witnessing, in real time, the transformation of the GOP into an authoritarian party. A big driver of that transformation has been the consolidation of Donald Trump’s election fraud “big lie” into Republican Party dogma — a process of collective corruption similar to the one Orwell describes.

The Jan. 6 coup attempt, which this falsehood justified, accelerated the party's descent. A year later, with the House investigation of the Capitol riot proceeding, a new wave of extremist party loyalists — at the federal, state and even local level — want to help ensure Trumpism's success in the midterms and beyond......

Leaders who come into office with a criminal record, like Mussolini, or just under investigation, like Trump, know that making the party a refuge for those with flexible moral scruples hastens the acceptance of dogma and can help spread corrupt behavior......

But the GOP needs grass-roots support as well. According to a tally compiled by HuffPost, 57 local and state GOP officials attended the rally that preceded the assault on the Capitol. According to CBS News, more than 30 Republicans who were either at rallies outside the Capitol or breached its walls are now running for office, and 11 of them already enjoy Trump's endorsement. According to a Washington Post analysis, a total of 163 Republicans who publicly espouse the big lie are running for state positions, including 69 candidates for governor in 30 states and 55 candidates for the U.S. Senate. No matter the true number, this group will provide momentum in the quest to turn falsehoods into party truths.