Joe Biden is closing in on the 270 electoral votes he needs to defeat President Trump, according to Associated Press projections, with the critical battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin now called for Biden.

The latest: With those states and Arizona in Biden's column, one more — like Pennsylvania — would be enough to put him over the top even as the Trump campaign fights him with lawsuits and recounts.

President Trump is pinning his hopes — and presidency — on a wild, relentless war against reality and truth, falsely claiming several states are stealing the election by adhering to their laws, rules, and long precedents. 

Why it matters: Trump fears the election will be called today, perhaps first by Fox News, and that his effort to get the Supreme Court to intervene will fail, officials tell Axios. 

Senior White House and Trump campaign officials are complaining bitterly about poor internal communication, blaming colleagues, pondering what jobs they might try to get next year, and lashing out at their new enemy: Fox News. 

The state of play: Aides told Axios they're dreading the prospect of Fox calling Pennsylvania for Joe Biden, which could make the conservative network the first to give Biden 270 electoral votes.

The Trump campaign legal team is throwing everything at the wall in battleground states — a last-ditch effort to use the courts to freeze time in states where President Trump was ahead (but keep counting in key places where he appeared behind).

Why it matters: None of the legal actions was poised to change the outcome, but the effort could delegitimize the 2020 election in the eyes of millions of Trump supporters even if the final math based on legitimate counts show Joe Biden the winner.

The 2020 election outcome presents Facebook, Twitter and other online platforms with a worst-case scenario for misinformation management even as it takes some of the regulatory pressure off the wider tech industry.

Why it matters: Aggravated red state/blue state grievances look to usher in an open-ended era of partisan trench warfare online — but a split Congress shrinks the likelihood of new laws reining in tech's power.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are about to pour into the Georgia, now that control of the Senate — and the fate of the next president's agenda — hinges on runoffs for not one but both of the state's seats, set for Jan. 5.

Why it matters: If Joe Biden goes to the White House, the outcomes of these races will determine whether he can move aggressively to enact Democratic policy priorities and confirm his top cabinet and judicial nominees.

If Trump's presidency is about to end, an unprecedented golden era for big businesses could end with it.

Why it matters: Thanks to support from the president, Congress, the Supreme Court and the Federal Reserve reaching levels not seen in recent history — if ever — large companies have done a lot of winning.

The likelihood of a Biden presidency and a closely divided Senate means that nothing big is likely to happen in health care for at least the next two years.

The big picture: For all the time Democrats spent debating Medicare for All, competing public insurance options and sweeping federal controls over drug prices, the near-term future for health policy will likely be about gridlock and incrementalism.

1. Milestone: The U.S. exceeds 100,000 daily cases for the first time.
2. Politics: We're stuck in a post-election pandemic limbo.
3. Health: Cases are rising in 35 states — New challenges for the homeless.
4. Economics: Fed chair says economy will see "stronger recovery" with stimulus package
5. Sports: MLB's bleak short-term future — NBA's Toronto Raptors weigh temporary stay in U.S.
6. World: Europe's grim lesson about lockdowns.

One of President Trump's top allies publicly rebuked him on Thursday night for failing to produce evidence to support his unfounded claims that Democrats were stealing the election from him.

Driving the news: "We heard nothing today about any evidence," former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on ABC. "This kind of thing, all it does is inflame without informing. And we cannot permit inflammation without information."

In remarks from the White House briefing room Thursday night, President Trump bragged of Republican victories in the House and Senate before baselessly claiming that widespread voter fraud has caused his lead in the presidential race to "miraculously" slip away.

Why it matters: As Trump spoke, mail-in ballots that overwhelmingly favor Joe Biden continued to thin his lead in the must-win state of Pennsylvania. If Biden wins Pennsylvania, he will not need to win any of the other outstanding swing states.