Trump confirms.
He tried to get help from foreign powers to boost his campaign. His AG is planning an October surprise to influence the vote. He has been trying to cheat the ballot via the USPS. He will call a lost election fraudulent. He will claim to have won even if he loses. There will be no peaceful transfer of power if he loses.
And he clearly believes he will lose.
Assuming he loses, he will use the courts to fight the loss. If the Supreme Court say he has lost he will turn to force. He has been strengthening the lawless militia. He is encouraging attacks on the press. The police have been practising the tactics of suppression.
It's as plain as day. He is an undemocratic authoritarian. He has no respect for the law. He celebrates the use of force. He has put in place likeminded people in the government who control the levers of power. His party supports him whatever he does. And he is POTUS. So the US is no longer a democracy unless it finds a way to oust him.
This is far too sophisticated to emerge from the mind of Trump. This is Putin's model of subversion and control, practised in Ukraine and Hungary.
US = the new Belarus. Unable to remove its dictator.