this is "nightline." >> tonight, protesting a transition of power. defiant die-hards of donald trump. >> usa. >> rallying behind the president. >> what president trump is doing right now is legal. >> refusing to concede to joe biden. the president elect now pleading for unity. how the highstakes standoff may put the covid-19 roll out at risk. >> more people may die if we don't coordinator. >> plus, michael j fox on his darkest moment, how he bounced back and reclaimed his life. >> there's gratitude. >> and the healing power of love, pulling one man from the brink of covid. >> announcer: "nightline," will be right back. . now roomba vacuums exactly where you need it. hey google, tell roomba to vacuum the kitchen counter.

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through the end of his first term and hopefully to round two. >> she drove here to be with 10s of thousands of others like her at the million maga march. standing with president trump as he continues to contest the election that he lost two weeks ago. >> we are dealing with donald j trump he is a fighter. he is not going to back down. >> trump thrilling the crowd flashing a thumbs up as he drove by on his way to play a round of golf. >> she is part of a group called front row joes. nothing has convinced her that biden won the election. there's no evidence had that any voting system was deleted, votes were changed, votes lost or was in any way compromised. >> and?

>> so, what will it take to convince you that joe biden won this election fairly, and he in fact is our president elect? what does it take to convince you of that? >> currently you cannot convince me that joe biden got more votes than any other president in hit, including obama. you will never convince me of that, first of all. secondly, what president trump is doing right now is legal. and this is his legal right to investigate these allegations. >> and she will not accept the results until the very last legal challenge is exhausted. president trump, forgive me, he lost in every state that he lost by 10s of thousands of votes. >> okay, but that number is questionable depending on who you believe. and at this point, i choose to believe my president. >> despite the opposition, president elect biden and vice president elect harris are calling on trump to begin the transition process for the sake of the country. >> now is when the real work begins. the necessary work.

the good work. of getting this virus under control. >> it would make it a lot easier if the president would participate. i'm hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened before we get to january 20th. >> so far, trump and his allies in congress are only ramping up efforts to cast doubt on the election. georgia's ground zero where recount is under way after president trump lost the state by roughly 14,000 votes. the president's allies have focused the baseless attacks on republican secretary of state, he told the washington post that republican leaders including senator graham, hinted that he should toss legal ballots over inconsistent signatures in an effort to help president trump. >> this is extraordinary. a republican official who is a conservative republican in georgia saying he is being pressured by national republicans like graham, to toss out legal ballots. he is blowing the whistle on

what he is saying is an attempt to steal the election. >> the south carolina senator was recorded that he denied that allegation. i never said that, i said do you have power to require bipartisan verification of signature. if he has a problem with that question, he has a problem. >> the pair have called on him to resign over a false allegation of voter fraud. the president zeroed in on the georgia anecdotes amplified by tucker karlsson and blew them up in to baseless claims of widespread election rigging. >> mr. blalock was a mailman until he passed away in 2006, he cast a ballot in last week's election. >> it's not -- he did not vote. >> it was you? >> it was me. >> after legally signing her

ballot with her registered voting name. fraud, essentially. >> i know it and i knew it was not fraud. >> and an apology, one of the people that voted in last week's election is not dead. >> today the trump administration has filed 18 lawsuits in six states. case after case has been thrown out. in battleground michigan, where biden defeated trump by close to 150,000 votes, a judge bluntly shot down the trump campaign's request to suspend the count based on alleged lack of access for republican poll watchers. >> what i have at best is a here say affidavit. >> and in nevada, republican lawyers are arguing their poll observers were not close enough, and the judge pushing back at what point does it get ridiculous? >> they are bringing anything they can in to the courtroom.

and judge after judge in state after state, republican judge, democratic judge. you can hear it in the transcripts, with their voices, they are tossing them out. >> the coronavirus is continuing to ravage the nation in an uncontrollable rate. 1 million new cases recorded in the last week alone. bringing the total to a staggering 11 million. >> makes the biden transition difficult. it's not just happening right now, and the u.s. government is the most complex organization in the world. you can't just switch operators. it really needs to be seamless. >> that transition is more crucial than ever. now, with news of two promising vaccines that are over 90% effective. the logistical transition is a priority for the biden administration.

but trump continues to deny he lost. delaying any cooperation. his own appointees are asking for permission to share information with biden's team. >> it's our focus to save people's lives and anything that will slow that process or create any disruption is something that worries, that worries us appropriately. >> never theless, numerous republican leaders are continuing to support the president. >> i don't know if there's fraud. we have to investigate. >> we will continue to fight for the re-election, until all the votes legally cast are counted. >> republicans are not standing up to trump because they know he is not going away any time soon. he is still going to be a powerful figure and he will be able to make or break elections in the republican party. >> "nightline" reached out to every republican senator to discuss the president's denials and none were available for comment. as the president continues to dig in his heels, only a few in

his party are calling for the inevitable. a transition to biden to get under way. >> 200,000 people will die between now and inauguration. we have to get on it now. >> it's critical for other republican leaders to stand up and explain what actually happened. >> in some light, republican ohioan, like governor dewine is in hot water with the president. trump threatened dewine's 2020 election. saying it would be hotly contested. >> it's a painful thing to say. we have seen it time and time again. trump was a vindictive petty man will come after this them in their next election. >> even some of the president's most ardent supporters are trying to move on. >> in my brain, i have shifted gears and kind of moved on. >> this pastor leads the rfa evangelical church in raleigh, north carolina. he estimates that 90% of his

congregation voted for trump. >> like it or not, donald trump's policies are more in line with conservative evangelical theology than joe biden's is. >> he is skeptical of how the election played out. >> when you see what happened over the last four years. people scratch their heads and say, is this in a long line of attempts to remove trump from office. >> he said that the election has reminded him of what truly matters. >> god does have a plan. >> it's a message he is sharing with his congregation. >> it's my way of saying, man, it's time to move on. and stop being depressed about what happened in an election. it's not what we are called to do. >> it is a call that many trump

supporters are not willing to heed, at least for now. do you think we can get to that point as a nation that people on both sides can show the other side, grace? >> it would be nice, wouldn't it? it would be nice. but what i'm seeing right now is i don't know what that path would look like. and there's the others saying that time heals all wounds so maybe time will take care of this. >> and for more on the transfer of power and how this showdown impacts america. earlier this evening i spoke to abc news chief political analyst, matthew dowd. matt dowd, thank you for joining us. why have most republicans remained in lock-step with the president? >> it's less about the president and more about the represent are can base. and i think the republicans are afraid of the base. but the base is fully lined up,

it's election fraud. we don't believe anything that the mainstream media said. it's the facts and cheating and all that. the only person that manages them is the president. it's afraid of the base. >> as you know, we are in the middle of a terrible surge in the ongoing covid-19 crisis and the trump administration is not cooperating with the biden transition team. how much of a threat is that? >> it less of a problem that they have not provided the funds for the transition or the security briefings not being gotten. i think joe biden having been in the white house for eight years he is well aware of how the executive branch works. the problem is pandemic. every day that goes by when joe biden and his group of advisers are not intimately involved in how it will function come january is a day that it could make the pandemic worse, as joe biden said today, as the more they do it, the more lives that could be lost. >> matthew dowd, always grateful, my friend, thank you so much. >> great to be here, thanks byron. >> coming up, michael j fox in his own words.

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abbvie may be able to help. ♪ the eternal optimist is reconsidering everything. actor michael j fox out with a new memoire and revealing the moment he hit rock bottom andhow he refused to give up. ♪ from "family ties." >> how do i look? >> middle aged. >> to marty mcfly. >> hey, i need to borrow your hover board. >> michael j fox has been part of our lives his entire career.

>> are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a delorean? >> now the iconic actor is out with a new memoire, no time like the future. an optimist considers mortality. you may be america's biggest optimist, but i read the book and i felt it was like the testing of an optimist. >> yeah, it was something like a crucible that i went through in an unlikely way. >> he was diagnosed with parkinson's and his humor helps him deal with the disease. >> everyone knows i have it, and i have had it for -- >> more than half your life. >> more than half my life. i was diagnosed at 29, and i'm 59. it takes up space and it left me do other things like drive and golf and have friendships and travel. >> two years ago another health crisis threatened to leave him paralyzed.

>> i had a tumor on my spine. >> i remember when you had learned about the tumor and you had to make a choice. but it was not a choice. >> they said i could keep it from progressing so i had the surgery and it's been difficult. it's difficult to move, i can't, i can't golf like i used to. which is terrible. and i can't -- >> you are always a money player though. you always hit it off the first tee. >> i don't know who it was that said, any jerk can hit the second shot. >> and you write about feeling after that surgery, harrowing surgery, feeling a responsibility to the doctors and those that cared for you. >> i see how much they put in to it. it's not just a job. it's a calling. you know, six is or seven hours

and you know, there's no bathroom breaks. he is in my spine, spinal cord nor hours and hours. they say, don't fall, you could do damage, and you don't go do damage to me, he did the master piece on my back and i'm not going to wreck it for him. >> he began physical therapy to walk again. >> one step after the other, heel, transfer weight, the mechanics of it. i wrote about it in the book about my son's first steps and um, he is now 31. and we would send him across the room and tracy would be on the other side of the room and he would navigate around the furniture and surf along the coffee table and he would speed up and his footsteps would go quick and he'd fall in to tracy's arms and i said, the same thing happens now, only it's me. >> the worst scene behind him. he returned from a vacation to

star in a spike lee movie. >> i spent the first time alone since the surgery. i hit a tile and went down and shattered my arm. so i found myself underneath the phone waiting for the ambulance to come. lying on the floor with my broken arm and of all things, that was the thing that really set me off. >> that's bottom. >> that was bottom. because it was so useless and pointless and stupid and avoidable and everything that i had happened, i cannot say that i did not cause parkinsons, the tumor in my spine. but i did this. >> how can you blame yourself for that? >> everyone is being careful with me. i have to think before i walk. i can't just get up and go, i don't always control my direction and momentum. my daughter skyler came back with me from vacation because

she had though go to work. but she offered to take over and get me breakfast in the morning and i said no, i had will be fine. don't worry. don't worry. and next thing, she hears i'm in the hospital with my arm. >> the road to the recovery for broken arm and crushed optimism was tough. but fox eventually came out the other side remembering the words of his father-in-law. >> he would say, gets better kiddo, gets better. the last thing you run out of is the future. and he is, so he lived every day with gratitude and i realized, there's gratitude and then, you can sustain optimism. >> our thanks to george, you can watch the full interview on abc news.com. and up next, surviving covid-19, and seeing the finish line of hope. [ cheers and applause ] >> yeah! [ cheers and applause ] >> yeah! hritis is often unseen. because the pain you're feeling could be a sign of irreversible joint damage.

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we're made for. take a quick break,ite, jump on a quick call. next time you take a quick trip, how about this? take a second, take your time, and slow the fast down. go safely, california. ♪ and finally tonight, home is where the heart is. when susan and mark of highlands ranch, colorado got covid, susan contracted a mild case and mark fought for his life. susan reminding mark of his strength by making a poster,

pictures of his family and the more than 100 marathons and triathlons that he completed. >> i had fights with god. give me the chance. >> mark beating the odds. and back with loved ones. love never fails. that's "nightline" for this evening. you can catch our full episodes on hulu, we will see you back here same time. thanks for the company, america, goodnight. hulu, we will see you back here same time. thanks n s for the