This will ruin your day. [Bold in original]
Step one: Trump decides to run, and obliterates the primary field .
While many Republicans are considering a presidential bid, some of whom are savvy operators, there isn’t one who looks remotely like they could defeat Trump in a presidential primary.
“If Donald Trump decides to run in 2024 again, he’s going to be the Republican nominee,” said one of those potential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
…Step two: Republican voter suppression measures have an impact .
… It’s entirely possible that we’ll see power struggles in state after state where local officials trying to administer fair and free elections are usurped by legislatures loyal to Trump who manage to to put a thumb — or a whole hand — on the scale in his favor.
…Step three: GOP state legislatures step in .
There could be a number of states where the Democratic candidate (Joe Biden, if he seeks reelection, or someone else) wins the majority of the vote, and the Republicans who find that outcome unacceptable simply refuse to approve it.
…Step four: Republicans in the House of Representatives take control .
If there were conflicts in Congress over which slates of electors to count, there are multiple ways you could have a major constitutional breakdown. …
Republicans control more state delegations than Democrats. And Trump would then become the 47th president of the United States.
…
This is the worst part (my bold):
But the opposite is also possible. At every stage of this scenario, it would be up to Republicans to prevent the worst from happening; Democrats couldn’t stop it, and not even the voters could, if the GOP is determined enough to steal the election for Trump. We await evidence that they wouldn’t be willing to do it.