Trump suggests election delay to counter voter fraud

[Klaus]

Would he have the power to do that and for how long?

[jon-nyc]

No he does not.

[Klaus]

Who would need to decide that? Congress? What if he went crazy (or rather: even crazier) and, say, declared war status - would that give him power to delay election?

[jon-nyc]

Could the general election be postponed or canceled?

Only with enormous difficulty.

The date of the general election is set by federal law and has been fixed since 1845. It would take a change in federal law to move that date. That would mean legislation enacted by Congress, signed by the president and subject to challenge in the courts.

To call that unlikely would be an understatement.

And even if all of that happened, there would not be much flexibility in choosing an alternate election date: The Constitution mandates that the new Congress must be sworn in on Jan. 3, and that the new president’s term must begin on Jan. 20. Those dates cannot be changed just by the passage of normal legislation.

[jon-nyc]

No power to suspend the election. Even during the civil war (and in al of our foreign wars) we held an election on time.

[Doctor Phibes]

What I continue to find surprising about Trump is how freaking obvious he is. He really puts the 'Chav' in Machiavellian.

[Loki]

Not worth the time to dig in to unless your pro Trump or pro Biden and trying to do your part in electioneering.

No way the election will be postponed. Will the results take a long time due to mail in...you bet. Will it be apparent however Trump lost on election night, I suspect so.

[Klaus]

Let's say, hypothetically, that there'd be a very serious threat of large-scale vote manipulation, regardless of whether that threat is real or made up by Trump. Trump would have to break a few rules, but he does have control of the military, no? So under the assumption that Trump would be reckless enough, I would be surprised if there wouldn't be a path towards some kind of indefinite emergency powers.

[Doctor Phibes]

IMO he's touting this (yes, I used the word touting) in preparation for contesting the result if he narrowly loses in November.

[jon-nyc]

@Klaus - yeah of course if any person had sufficient backing from the military they could take over.

I don't see that as a risk in 2020. The bigger risk is Trump-friendly state governments attempting to invalidate whole classes of votes, putting up a competing slate of electors, or just never sending any, in order to throw the election into the house.

(note that an election in the house probably goes to Trump, because it isn't a straight vote of representatives, it's a vote by state delegation)

[Larry]

I am beginning to actually hope Trump does lose, so you Trump bashers get to see what happens when the Socialists get in piwer. That may be what it will take for you to pull your heads out of your asses.

[jon-nyc]

Biden isn't a socialist. I think we'll have to wait for 2024 to see that. Hopefully by then the GOP will have regained sanity.

[Jolly]

@jon-nyc said in Trump suggests election delay to counter voter fraud:

Biden isn't a socialist. I think we'll have to wait for 2024 to see that. Hopefully by then the GOP will have regained sanity.

Biden is anything his handlers tell him to be.

As for Trump role-playing the election...He's not doing that and we all know it. He's calling attention to fraud with mail-in ballots.

I despise mail-in ballots and believe they should be illegal.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Larry said in Trump suggests election delay to counter voter fraud:

I am beginning to actually hope Trump does lose, so you Trump bashers get to see what happens when the Socialists get in piwer. That may be what it will take for you to pull your heads out of your asses.

I've lived in countries with governments that are a lot closer to socialism than Joe Biden will ever be. It was great - there was this wonderful communal spirit as we stood around the stand-pipe to get our drinking water due to the drought, and we all had these lovely get-togethers at 4.30 pm when they turned off the electricity because the miners were on strike.

On the negative side, we ended up with Margaret Thatcher who was basically what Rand Paul would have been like if he'd been born a man.

[jon-nyc]

He's calling attention to fraud with mail-in ballots.

Phase 1 was a success.

[Larry]

Biden isn't the one who will be running things, because Biden is senile. The democrat party died already. It's not even a national party any more. It's just a collection of small factions, most of them Socialist.

If Trump doesn't win this country can kiss its ass goodbye. Doesn't matter much to me any more. I can get out. I just feel sorry for the ones who cant. But I will enjoy saying I told you so once you (the collective "you") get your wish.

[Larry]

"On the negative side, we ended up with Margaret Thatcher who was basically what Rand Paul would have been like if he'd been born a man."

That's funny! Lol

[Klaus]

@jon-nyc said in Trump suggests election delay to counter voter fraud:

I think we'll have to wait for 2024 to see that. Hopefully by then the GOP will have regained sanity.

I guess that would also be what I'd hope for. Hope that Biden doesn't do too much damage (he will almost certainly do some damage) and that the GOP will press the reset button until 2024.

[Larry]

All that said, I don't believe this country is stupid enough to elect Biden. Nor do I believe the polls that say he's ahead. I think he will get trounced so hard he won't know where he is... oh wait.... He already doesn't know where he is....

[jon-nyc]

@Klaus

It's the inside straight. Trump loses so big the GOP reels and fixes itself before the Democratic Party is completely taken over by the regressive left.

I don't think it's likely, but sometimes hope is all we have.