‘It’ll be bedlam’: how Trump is creating conditions for a post-election eruption

As the ex-president fans the flames of violence, experts and insiders say November will be a brutal test for US democracy

A bloodbath. The end of democracy. Riots in the streets. Bedlam in the country. Donald Trump has made apocalyptic imagery a defining feature of his presidential election campaign, warning supporters that if he does not win - and avoid criminal prosecution - America will enter its death throes.

The prophecies of doom, repeated ad nauseam at rallies and on social media, have raised fears that the former president is making an electoral tinderbox that could explode in November. While there has been much commentary assessing the implications of a Trump win, some experts warn that a Trump defeat could provide an equally severe stress test of American democracy.