The Strongman Con: How to stop worrying about Trump stealing the election

"People totally forget that the GOP lost the midterms by 8 percent," Kanefield notes — roughly the same as Biden's nationwide lead over Trump, the most stable lead in presidential polling history. "Losing the midterms was not good for the GOP. If they could have avoided that, they would have. They couldn’t avoid it. They lost."

The con is so powerful that every Facebook feed appears filled with at least one variation of "oh, Trump will just cancel the elections" or "you know, even if he loses, he won't leave." Thankfully, the first specious prediction is heard less the closer to November we get. U.S. elections are, for better or worse, fundamentally local affairs. Trump cannot suddenly decide to shut a nationwide election down without the military. And the military, a majority of whose members dislike Trump, has explicitly said it won't get involved in the 2020 election. Its leaders are still smarting from Trump using them as props in Lafayette Square.

Trump doesn't want you focusing on that, because it makes him look weak, and weakness is his kryptonite. He is very keen for you to fill your nightmares with overblown estimates of his support. "Being overestimated is how wannabe Strongmen appear powerful," says Kanefield. "It makes them feared and respected. Trump is first and foremost a conman. He wants his supporters to think he is invincible. He wants you to think that he can’t be stopped."

As for the second argument, that Trump would simply refuse to make way for an incoming president-elect — well, he can try all he likes, but his options would be very limited. Administration officials are already quietly preparing the ground for a transition. The Supreme Court, even with an extra conservative justice, would be hard pressed to simply stop a transition because Trump insisted. Remember, this is the highly-divided Supreme Court that just voted unanimously in favor of presidential electors voting the way their states tell them. Chief Justice John Roberts may be more right-wing than we remember, but he also cares about the court's legitimacy.

https://mashable.com/article/trump-election-democracy/