coup or con?

Donald Trump still has not conceded that he lost the election last week and babbles endlessly about "massive election fraud" that does not exist.

Should we be worried that this is the first stage in some kind of coup he's planning, as some of the more histrionic media is postulating?

Or is it yet another tapestry of Trump lies, yet another con to dupe his rubes?

In a smart essay published today in The New Yorker (link here), veteran Washington journalist Susan Glasser concludes it's far more likely to be yet another Trump con.

Some worry that Trump's con will damage America's democracy. I don't think so. The country survived Richard Nixon. It will survive Trump.

I think, however, that it could embolden wannabe dictators elsewhere in the world in the shorter term. If Trump can demonize a perfectly legitimate election, expect to see autocratic heads of state to do the same in the near future.