Donald Trump has so far posted five Tweets falsely claiming that he won the 2020 presidential election.

In the days following 3 November, as the results turned against him, his administration floated contradictory messages, demanding that certain states stop counting votes, while others continue.

Now, in the aftermath of a clear Joe Biden victory, Trump’s lawyers have filed lawsuits in several key states, attempting to overturn the Democratic process.

But how much of this is theatrics?

There are three broad sketches of what may take place in the coming weeks. The first, that the president consistently refuses to concede the election - but ultimately leaves the White House freely - is the most likely.

This also appears to be the preference of those close to the president, with one anonymous senior Republican official laying out his view of the contest.

“What is the downside for humoring [sic] him for this little bit of time? No one seriously thinks the results will change,” the official said.

“He’s tweeting about filing some lawsuits, those lawsuits will fail, then he’ll tweet some more about how the election was stolen, and then he’ll leave.”

This laissez-faire approach will eventually lead to the peaceful transfer of power, but could do a great deal of damage to political institutions.

“Trump's rhetoric of, ‘I won’, ‘they only won because they cheated’ or, ‘it was a rigged election’ does more damage, because it's communicating to his supporters not to accept this election,” said Dan Birdsong, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Dayton.

“For any democracy, there's a notion of legitimacy given to our elected leaders, so we have to have a belief in, and trust in, the electoral process across all democracies.”

If the loyal members of Trump’s base refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the incoming Biden administration, it could make unifying a divided nation even harder.

If such a tactic proves to be effective, questioning the validity of political adversaries - or the election process as a whole - could happen more frequently, which weakens democracy over time.

The second possibility, that Donald Trump refuses to concede the election and does not freely leave the White House, has stirred anxiety among some people, but may be far-fetched.

The president is unabashedly concerned with image, and being forcibly removed from office would be a bad look, to say the least.

“That it gets to a point where he is escorted out of the White House […] is something he probably wouldn’t want,” said Mr Birdsong.

Despite this, large numbers of Republican lawmakers are yet to turn away from Trump’s baseless allegations of foul play - or at least do so publicly.

While these officials would be unlikely to champion an attempted coup (the president refusing to give up power), it’s difficult to pinpoint where their support will end, as many still fear some form of political retribution.

This leaves the final scenario, which is the first Google suggestion to appear if a user types in “can Donald Trump”: the president, through various legal avenues, overturns the result and lays claim to four more years.

“That one makes my head hurt a little bit to think about,” said Mr Birdsong. “There's one theory out there that perhaps by blocking the certification of votes in some of the states, that it would then not be decided in the electoral college, but then go to the House of Representatives.”

Despite Democrats holding the majority in the House, the selection of the president is not an ordinary vote, but one that comes down to state delegation.

“And so, if you have a state that has more Republicans than Democrats in the House delegation, then even if that state voted for Biden, you could flip it to Trump,” Mr Birdsong said.

However, this strategy would require such a brazen play against the normal workings of U.S. democracy that it could hinder Trump’s ability to function as a president if he was able to remain in power.

Regardless, the damage would be done.

“This is a hell of a scenario,” said Mr Birdsong. “It's really hard to imagine the anger that would come out and the negativity that would come out […] It's something that you hear of in authoritarian regimes.”

While a cause for concern in the Biden camp and among Democratic lawmakers, the likelihood of this scenario coming to fruition is very small.

The Trump administration has already filed a number of lawsuits in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, most of which have been thrown out of court or appealed due to a lack of evidence.

One case saw Pennsylvania Chief Justice Thomas Saylor write: “Short of demonstrated fraud, the notion that presumptively valid ballots cast by the Pennsylvania electorate would be disregarded based on isolated procedural irregularities that have been redressed — thus disenfranchising potentially thousands of voters — is misguided.”

To make matters worse, Trump has also lost several lawyers along the way.

No matter the outcome of the next few weeks, the president has cast doubt on the election process in the minds of many of his supporters.

But it didn’t start with Trump - and it won’t end with Biden.

“Looking at the United States Republican Party, their shift preceded Trump,” said Mr Birdsong. “What I think Trump may have caused is maybe an acceleration of the trend.”