The answer, according to lawmakers, congressional investigators, party operatives, election officials and constitutional law experts, goes something like this:

" He will deepen distrust in the election results by making unsupported or hyperbolic claims of widespread voter fraud and mounting longshot lawsuits challenging enough ballots to flip the outcome in key states.

" He will lean on friendly county and state officials to resist certifying election results " a futile errand that would nevertheless fuel a campaign to put pressure on elected Republican legislators in statehouses and Congress.

" He will call on allies in GOP-controlled swing-state legislatures to appoint "alternate" presidential electors.

" He will rely on congressional Republicans to endorse these alternate electors " or at least reject Democratic electors " when they convene to certify the outcome.

" He will try to ensure Harris is denied 270 votes in the Electoral College, sending the election to the House, where Republicans are likely to have the numbers to choose Trump as the next president.