With hours left until Election Day, 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is locked in a tight race with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Reuters spoke with Paul A. Beck, professor emeritus and Academy Professor of Political Science at The Ohio State University, to get his sense of the implications of a defeat or victory for the former president.

“If Trump is defeated, he will not accept the result and he will do everything possible to try to prevent this count, I think it’s January 5th of this year, when the presidential election votes are certified,” said Paul A. Beck. , professor emeritus and Academy Professor of Political Science at The Ohio State University, in an interview with Reuters.

“You can see, actually, from the things that have come out in the last few months and even after the 2020 contest itself, he tried to do everything to try to prevent this outcome. He will do that again, but not from the kind of position of strength he had in 2020 and 2020, early 2021.”

Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud in several states that Trump lost, while he and his supporters spread baseless claims about these current Pennsylvania elections.

Beck said voters have a choice between the status quo and “really radical changes at the national level.”

A Harris victory, he said, would bring “incremental change” from the Biden administration.

Instead, a Trump victory would bring about “colossal change.”

“I’ve referred to it in other interviews as burning the house down, actually,” Beck said.

“There would be almost nothing that could stop him from doing what he wants to do.”

During the campaign, Trump threatened mass deportation of illegal immigrants and punishment against his detractors.

A Harris victory could set the stage for a major legal battle.