Trump was alleging fraud since the beginning, because it's a common belief among Republicans that the Democratic Party takes and maintains power primarily through fraud and criminal activity. Remember the narrative in 2016 was that the mainstream media and social media were all controlled by the globalist left taking orders from the Democratic Party, collaborating to "rig the election" for Hillary Clinton. Trump didn't mean that as a metaphor, he was literally accusing the Democrats of doing what he would accuse them of in 2020. Trumpists believe that it was only through the revolutionary power of their populist uprising that Trump was able to be elected at all... but it could happen again. Remember, people were literally accusing Hillary Clinton and the DNC of committing treason and claiming Trump was going to lock her up as soon he got into office (note the throughline between the DNC email leaks, Pizzagate and eventually QAnon is "Democratic Party/leftist/liberal corruption.")
Populism like Trump's is always driven by a persecution complex, the belief that the populists have been humiliated, wronged or cheated from their rightful destiny by some nebulous enemy within (be it Jews, immigrants, socialists, Democrats, what have you) and the promise from a strong leader of just retribution against that enemy through revolutionary action (and often violence.)
Of course, this is just a means of control. The Democrats didn't try to rig the election in 2016 and they didn't steal it in 2020 but people driven by irrational fear and hatred are easy to manipulate, because once you know your enemy is pure evil (literally they drink the blood of the children they rape for their satanic orgies and they're Marxists!) and that the system is always rigged against you and enemies within are everywhere, all decisions become simple. Trust God, trust the Leader, trust the Plan.
So no actual reason then, but genuinely, thanks for the summary.
Strange that Trump didn't take any practical steps whatsoever to investigate or stop all of this over the 4 years he was in power. If he actually believes all this stuff, you'd think he'd want to do something about it.... If.
I can't tell if he believes it or not. He convinced his base that mail-in ballots were a scam, then cried foul when all of the mail-in ballots came in for Biden. He launched innumerable lawsuits alleging fraud that were thrown out, then claimed the courts were against him. He tried to shake down Georgia's secretary of state to "find" enough votes to put him over Biden. His rhetoric absolutely encourages conspiracy theory but while he directly accuses the Democrats of stealing the election, he never directly calls for or condones violence, so his supporters call him a man of peace on one hand, and plan kidnappings and killings of government officials on the other.
It's impossible to tell with him. Maybe in our post-truth society where most people's reality is generated by abstractions and algorithms, it doesn't even matter.
I think it's possible to tell by looking at his actions. If he actually believed in 2016 that there was massive fraud, and a risk of the same happening again in 2020, he would have done something about it. If anyone believes he was sincere, the fact he took no action for so long in inexplicable. You'd think it would be a matter of vital, urgent concern.
The fact that he ignored the whole issue until it was convenient for him to do so again speaks volumes. So I think it's perfectly clear, he doesn't believe a word of it because he doesn't act as though he believes it, and none of the people in the Republican party who say they believe him actually act as though they do either. They are doing nothing whosoever to address he problem, because there's nothing there to address and they know this perfectly well.
Populism like Trump's is always driven by a persecution complex, the belief that the populists have been humiliated, wronged or cheated from their rightful destiny by some nebulous enemy within (be it Jews, immigrants, socialists, Democrats, what have you) and the promise from a strong leader of just retribution against that enemy through revolutionary action (and often violence.)
Of course, this is just a means of control. The Democrats didn't try to rig the election in 2016 and they didn't steal it in 2020 but people driven by irrational fear and hatred are easy to manipulate, because once you know your enemy is pure evil (literally they drink the blood of the children they rape for their satanic orgies and they're Marxists!) and that the system is always rigged against you and enemies within are everywhere, all decisions become simple. Trust God, trust the Leader, trust the Plan.