If a dictator says he doesn't need votes to get elected, it means he's rigged the game.

Yes, exactly. I think he thinks he’s losing to Harris, and now spending more time on Plan B, which is a coup. And his coup strategy requires a massive number of people who absolutely and totally believe that he’s winning by so much that any Harris victory is (on its face) proof of fraud

At the very least It means he thinks he's rigged the game.

one of his henchmen already publicly announced “it doesn’t end with the election. It doesn’t end with an inauguration.”

true it also means the "voting is a useless formality"

I think it's more that he says really stupid things, and he does it a lot.