He has lied and flouted Democratic norms and the constitution since elected. To me, that is important.So jokes are your best evidence for conspiracy?And it has lived in your head for 4 years now without paying rent.
There is no way Trump could manage an usurpation of power - he does not have the support. Neither the army, nor the republican party, not even his voters would come to his side. There's a small number of loonies who would be very enthusiastic on such an attempt, but that's it. Just like there are people longing for communist revolution on the far-left.
I have never thought Trump was fit for office based on the temperament he displayed while campaigning and that's no secret. He hasn't done anything to convince me otherwise, either. Despite wanting to be wrong about him, he quickly set the tone on inauguration day by lying about the size of the crowd. He has only continued to reinforce the idea. I give people a lot of the benefit of the doubt when they screw up but not when one is the president and continues to play out this pattern.
His stating he would question the results of the election (without any real proof or case that there is rampant voter fraud) is damaging to the credibility of our system. We don't benefit from that. If he is truly concerned he should be taking steps to ensure election security (mail in ballots security) rather than suggesting unprecedented delay. He chooses instead to exaggerate focus on voter fraud (concerns not founded by his own voting integrity commission). To me, Trump has not done anything to establish credibility on this by consistently flouting democratic norms. (As well as lying about stupid and petty things as mentioned above.)
Just a few examples are "joking" (with people like Xi Jinping especially) about staying in office, belittling the first amendment (Condemning Kaepernick kneeling in protest and labeling him un American is one prominent example. Also sending in the military to shut down a protest for a photo op (Which retired Marine Corps General Mattis even criticized) claiming he has total authority in reference to states managing pandemic (10th amendment); ending lockdowns and forcing state schools and economies to open. It's up to the states on when to close/open (which I will say has probably not helped in managing pandemic as we have an imbalanced approach as a whole. I do think the federal gov. could have acted sooner to address pandemic or offered more consistent support to states but that is a whole other conversation. And it is still an example of him either flouting 10th amendment or just being ignorant.) I could go on and on but this is off the top of my head.
So when he suggests delaying an election, questioning the results (if he loses) and spends years "joking" about staying in office, I think it's reasonable to be concerned.
I think our system was set up specifically to prevent someone like Trump from taking total power. Because he demonstrates either little understanding of the framework or little respect for it. So, at this time I do not think he will be successful in what appears to be his autocratic ideations. But I do think he is just a symptom of much much deeper issue
in the US. He won't be the last. When it comes to Trump, many supporters demonstrate a lack of concern and excuse him or wave him off at every turn or they support him in these leanings. When he is gone the problem will still be there because he is the symptom of deeper issues. And to me it's a problem of complacency in maintaining our framework and way or an out and out flouting of it- those opinions now may be a minority but it grows if we are complacent. I'm not sure what the solution is exactly. But bringing attention to the issue is one thing we can do-- voicing that we do not accept this shift in our country and it needs to reverse.
And whether he would be successful in overstaying his term to me doesn't matter. I think it's screwed up to even have a president who flirts with the idea in the first place and questions our framework to bring doubt to attempt to legitimize his autocratic leanings. But I think it would be reasonable to be concerned even if it was a president I liked who made such comments. So I took issue with attempts to minimize this due to others complacency.
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