@cafechatnoir it's a definitional thing.

By definition the president is the one who earned the requisite votes.

A person can claim whatever trappings of the office they would like, without the votes, by definition they are not president. You could even be sitting in the important chair in the Oval Office, but if you have not been voted in, you're still not president, and not being president you don't have the authority to issue orders.

That's one reason people got so overblown about the idea that Trump wouldn't leave office. No, he doesn't have that option. We don't leave it up two individuals to decide for themselves whether or not they are president.

By definition, this is how the office works. Anything happening outside of that definition is not the presidency.