Link to tweet

Only the expiration of office and rules for succession (in the event no valid election occurs) is set in the constitution. The date of the election is set by federal law. But it isn't that simple.

If he squats one second longer, I won't have any hair left, I won't have any fingernails left, just put me in a padded tiny house and feed me through the window.

Oye!

This is the final straw for him and reeks of total desperation. The entire GOP is in cahoots and now is the Nero Party.

When do Americans plan to lock him up?

He has no power to do this, do not fall for the distraction.

Economy shrunk by 1/3!

suppress or shed doubt on the voting process.

You should make this an OP.

...is winning the next election.

The date the presidential election is held is set by an act of congress (law) that was passed a long time ago. It is the law of the land and can only be changed by another act of congress.

Beyond that, it gets complicated as to what happens if an election just doesn't get held or if it obstructed in a profound way.

The constitution sets a firm date for the end of a potus/vpotus term of office. Jan 20 at noon (I believe). So trump would be out of office regardless of anything else if (1) valid elections weren't held resulting in (2) a failure by the EC to award 270 votes to any one candidate., and (3), the house failed to vote on a potus before 1/20.

If 2 and 3 of those conditions hold, and the senate didn't elect a vp (the house elects the potus with one rep chosen by each state, but the senate chooses the VP) Pence would become potus on 1/20 for a full 4 year term.

Like I said complicated. Add to that that the house and senate roll their offices in early january, and we have a real mess. Could the gop senate appoint a vp ahead of the january rollover? If they can, it would effectively choose the next president. I guess scotus would have the final say here. Scary even if rbg wasn't back in a hospital.

Hoping that the chaos would save him somehow.

This was putins plan for 2016 if trump lost. Create such a mess constitutionally that it would degrade our democracy. That is his real objective. To destroy our standing and power in the world and reduce us to just another crazy town autocracy.

Trumps team has laid the groundwork for this in several ways. First, his attacks on mail in voting and the febrile lins to chinese hacking. Republicans are eating this up - even the ones who should know better. They believe russia is neutral and china is evil (well, 50% right). They really believe jina is trying to throw the election to biden, even though it is obvious they want trump.

Next, his henchman are positioning a shutdown of the usps for mail in ballots. They will likely try to collect and hold ballots from urban areas until after the election on "grounds". It would be dead stupid easy for the postal inspector to do this. Illegal yes, but who is going to charge them?

Barr specifically wouldn't say that the election can't be postponed. That means they are going to try to order it postponed hoping enough states will obey to cause confusion. Confusion is their ally.

He is pre-positioning dhs to cause havoc on election day in key areas.

They plan on doing their very best to steal this election, but at the very least they plan to make a world joke of our election system. It's a message to any country that strives for free and fair elections. Your time will come. There is no shining city on the hill to advocate for you. You are on your own.

Trump's regime is one memo away from ruling by decree. He has mentioned it, so someone brought it up to him (he can't filter, he just repeats things he hears when he feels like it).

That means barr is working on it and they will spring it at the last moment. They know it takes time for the courts to react, and that scotus takes even longer.

It's hard to hold an election when you have blackwater troops holding m16's in front of polling places, or when feds swoop in on election night and seize ballot boxes.

All it says is the candidate must get a majority of the APPOINTED electors in order to be declared the winner.

"The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President,"

The key term there is electors appointed. They are appointed before the election. Each state gets one for each rep and senator it elects.

That fixes the majority of those appointed at 270 since the total number of congress critters is 538.

In Michigan, parties hold conventions before the election to choose electors. These names are submitted to the state SOS. When the state SOS certifies which candidate won the popular vote, that candidate's list of names are appointed as the state's electors. thus, electors aren't officially appointed until after the election.

Edit: I think we need a clear cut definition of what "appointed" in the 12th Amendment means.

There is NO requirement that a general election for specific candidates be held to appoint electors. It can be done by vote in state legislatures.

States could and presumably would still appoint electors regardless of whether an election was held. Not having 538 appointed isn't really a question.

The number they are allotted is fixed and exists before the election. States could easily vote to modify how electors are appointed befor the college meets. No state will want to go unrepresented. Some will end up appointing eectors in opposition to how the citizens would have or did vote.

Like I said. It gets complicated.

He'd be impeached by lunch end removed before end of day for this suggestion.

Plus, this would certainly bring out all of the patriots against government overreach that we hear so much about.

The US economy shrunk by 1/3, that's the headline, except it's not the headline in most places now, his distraction about delaying the election is.

And his goal is to destroy confidence in mail in voting so more people in Dem areas will opt to stand in line to vote instead of the easier and safer mail in.