But...I never would have thought he would fire up a violent insurrection and stop at nothing to negate a legitimate election.

I mean....he stopped at a lot to negate the election.

He is, after all, not an especially brave or risk-taking person. He always wants other people to put themselves out there and do things on his behalf, more of a "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest" sort of guy. He's a "hide behind lawyers" sort of person looking for his own Roy Cohn that will do all the nasty stuff for him. Someone who just tells other people in general terms that they should prevent him from having lost the election, without getting his own hands dirty with taking measures on his own or giving direct orders.

Which meant that he was never going to "stop at nothing" to negate a legitimate election. He was never going to go far enough in trying to stay in power that he risked ending up in front of a firing squad (which is what happens to most failed attempts to acquire dictatorial powers) or knowingly facing down a lengthy jail term. He always was going to stop at the point where he could plausibly claim he was "just asking questions" or "just exercising my legal rights" or "just listening to what other people were saying," and never go down the road of ordering the Chairman of the JCOS to roll out the military onto U.S. streets.