The newsy portions of Donald Trump’s speech on Monday were those devoted to sex, and they might have overshadowed the most ominous elements of this particularly inauspicious speech.

Coming just hours after no fewer than six women publicly accused Trump of making unwanted sexual advances, it’s understandable that the public would focus primarily on Trump’s first public remarks regarding this new scandal. Perhaps more consequential, though, were his comments about the American system itself. This was an aggressive and conspiratorial speech attacking virtually every sector of society as corrupted and compromised by ill-defined global forces. Trump has given every indication that he is willing to lose ugly and to take as many elected officials and institutions down with him as he can. Thus, we must ask, what happens if Trump won’t let it all end on Election Day? What if he refuses to concede the race?

In his speech, Trump laid the groundwork to contend that his loss at the polls will be illegitimate. In the past, the GOP presidential nominee has asserted that a “rigged” system would result in a “stolen election,” but he had not previously claimed that the nature of American democracy is itself a fraud. That’s precisely what he did on Thursday.

Trump contended in his speech that Hillary Clinton and the “establishment” exist only to improve their own lots and to preserve the “illusion of democracy” in the United States. “Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich” herself, he averred. This isn’t normal. This is Marxian, revolutionary rhetoric.

Trump asserted that American influencers have subverted the American working class and empowered foreign governments—a condition that will be irreversible if he is not elected. “She should be locked up,” he contended, going irresponsibly further than he did when he promised to empower his Department of Justice merely to open an independent investigation into Clinton’s behavior at State. “This will be our last chance to save America,” he contended. “The system is rigged.” And to what end are the nebulous and malignant “they” rigging it? The same end sought by European Union officials against whom the people of the United Kingdom revolted this summer: “global government.”

This is the language of the paranoid. It is the kind of talk that undermines the legitimacy of republican self-government and emboldens radicals. It validates those with a persecution complex. It erodes faith in the sovereignty of the public, the autonomy of its elected leaders, and the mandate of its administrative officials. It’s not uncommon for partisans to flirt with the notion that their opponents may be conditionally without the authority of the public trust if they do not meet certain conditions they happen to favor. It is fortunately rare for office seekers to insist that the government they seek to run is itself illegitimate right now, and that its elected leaders are mere puppets of a nefarious cabal of elites and foreigners.

All this has led some to wonder if Trump could bring himself to concede to Hillary Clinton and to legitimize her victory, thus facilitating the peaceful transition of power in November. It is not as though Trump doesn’t have it in him to concede lost races. He did so after his loss to Ted Cruz in the Iowa primary when it was by no means guaranteed that his campaign would immediately recover with future victories. It’s entirely possible that a loss in November, as now seems likely, will be graciously endorsed by Trump and that he will urge his supporters to accept the public’s verdict. But what if Trump is agonizingly silent on the night of the election? What if that silence persists into the next day? What if he raises the specter of interference in the election or if he outright alleges that the results were falsified and Hillary Clinton is no legitimate president. What should Republicans do then?

It is unfortunate that these scenarios even merit contemplation. In this hopefully unlikely eventuality, Republicans in congressional leadership must be prepared to legitimize the results of the referendum on the presidential race. Continuity in the transition of government from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton administrations must be their paramount goal. Such a message can be clear and straightforward, and will not require that they cede any of their legitimacy to Democrats or to scold Donald Trump and his voters. Republicans in leadership would do well, however, to be prepared to pick up the slack if all this talk on the trail about the illicit nature of American self-government isn’t just fodder for stump speeches.

It’s regrettable that Trump has determined to spend the remainder of his campaign undermining the foundations of the republic, but Republicans cannot allow themselves to be complicit in this act of civic vandalism. They need to prepare for the worst on November 8. With luck and a little propriety on the part of the Republican presidential nominee, this contingency plan won’t be necessary.