Donald Trump's strategy all the way along is pretty basic and has been used time and time again by authoritarian leaders when attacking democracy.
All you do is get people to believe that they have been wronged and that they are being lied to. That deomcracy can't be trusted and that, 'the people', have been betrayed.
Trump and his supporters have been muddying the waters for last four years and more. His and their aim has been to create a climate whereby it is difficult to obtain objective truth about anything. Sure, he has been aided by the way in which social media works but the entire, 'fake news', mantra was being peddled for a good reason.
Now he has it, he has the lie about the election fraud and the presidency being stolen from him and, more importantly, a shitload of people who believe the lie and are questioning the US democracy. This is his and America's, 'stab in the back moment'.
Who knows what will happen but it if enough people feel betrayed by democracy that they are willing to act, or even refuse to condemn those who do take action, well then you have the conditions ripe for civil war and dictatorship.
We must hope that the actions last night were an own goal and that support for Trump in the US has fallen massively as a result of what has happened. If not, if he retains the support and people continue to buy the lie and the victimhood then their democracy might be under serious threat.
The next two weeks will be interesting.