If he'd defeated Palps, how did Palps become emperor?

It's like y'all didn't even watch the movie. It is completely clear that Palps plays with Windu like a toy. He is in control over move Windu makes. He guides his every decision and makes those decisions benefit the Grand Plan. Windu had no idea what was going on and was his puppet.

No, Rafael, dude-bro, Lucas ain't pope. The moment he sold it to Disney he lost the his papal authority.

It also contradicts the scene he put on screen. Windu may have won the duel, but he lost the fight and the war.

Palps won the fight and the war. If you don't understand this, you haven't actually watched the movies.

You're correct.

Rafael, dude-bro, you're completely wrong. Sidious won the fight and the war. What part of this is hard to understand? Watch the movies and this time actually pay attention.

Sidious became emperor. Mousse Window went out the window like the punk he was.

Fail. As I said above, Windu may have - on points - won the duel but he lost the fight. The fact that he went out the window like a punk proves this. It also proves that you are the one didn't watch the movie.

The war was over. Palps won and won completely. He could have killed Mousse Window at any time. The proof of this is that he did so as soon as Anakin fell to the Dark Side, Palps fired him.

Yes! Thank you. I've been saying this for 20 years. Palpatine did not spend all that time, trouble, effort and pain to just roll the dice on defeating Windu in a duel. He was capable of killing Windu at any time using the Force; as he subsequently proved.

As you note, he needed Anakin's supreme moment of crisis. He could only force that (ahem) by feigning weakness. He cut down the three of the four best duelists in the Jedi order in about ten seconds. He simply played with Windu until Anakin showed up. Palps had forseen this course of event. He merely had to prolong it until the climax.

I suppose, on points, Windu won the light saber duel. But that's irrelevant because he lost the fight and the war was lost before he entered the room.

(The writer gets it wrong - Order 66 was already in progress. Palps' death would have changed nothing.)