It is a scenario that the US state department has warned about the world over: an incumbent politician in a democracy with weak institutions tries to hold on to power by casting doubt on an election that should have swept him out of office. 

Now, in a twist of irony, it is the United States that election experts and officials are worrying about — thanks to a global pandemic, record-low trust in government, an archaic electoral system and, most of all, a president who has demonstrated a willingness to shatter norms of governance. 

In his new book Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020, the Amherst College law professor Lawrence Douglas lays out exactly how such a scenario could happen, beginning late on the night of November 3. Most television networks call the election for the Democratic challenger Joe Biden — with the exception of Fox News. Donald Trump refuses to concede.