Planting Seeds of Doubt
For years, Mr. Trump had railed against contests in which he failed, disliked the outcome or feared he might be defeated.

He objected nearly two decades ago to the results of the Emmys and falsely claimed that President Barack Obama had not won the popular vote. He asserted that Senator Ted Cruz “stole” a primary victory from him in Iowa in 2016 and predicted, before he defeated Hillary Clinton that year to win the presidency, that the general election would be “rigged.” In the months leading up to the 2020 election, trailing in the polls, he again predicted that he would be cheated out of a victory, and refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.



https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-timeline.html