I think I've figured out Trump's entire election strategy.

If the early voting by midnight on Nov. 3 seems to favor him, he'll try to declare himself the winner and sue to stop the counting of any absentee ballots. On the other hand, a landslide against him on election night will be "a rigged election" and he'll sue for a recount. Either way he'll try to throw it into the courts, obfuscate and delay the outcome if it looks to go against him, and most importantly try to rile up his base against the process, just as the Bush 2000 campaign sent manufactured mobs of campaign staffers to besiege the Dade County Commissioners demanding that they end the recount and declare a winner.

Trump (and his Congressional lackeys) swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. There are few more important elements of that document than the election of our representatives, especially the President. Trying to cast doubt on the validity of the ballot is one of the most fundamental assaults on our democracy.

It's obvious that Trump is taking a page from his good friends Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Tayyip Erdogan, and Kim Jong Un. He doesn't want to be the elected president of the United States, he wants to be an unchallenged, autocratic ruler, unconstrained by laws and elections, unaccountable to the opposition party, the media or the public, free to enrich himself and his family from the public purse, a dictator for life.

The best way to put an end to his fantasy is by a definitive popular and electoral defeat on November 3. He may not accept it, but the vast majority of Americans who still believe in the rule of law will leave him no choice.