US Election & Presidency

Oh dear.....

https://twitter.com/gabstargardter/statu...48800?s=21

I bet he didn't wash his hands either......Not Trump I mesn

So with the upcoming Presidential primaries being postponed I think Trump could use Covid 19 as a reason to "justify" cancelling the U.S. election altogether and staying in place without actually winning a second term. Anyone else had this same thought ?

(15-03-2020 20:23 )Stemmw Wrote:  I think Trump could use Covid 19 as a reason to "justify" cancelling the U.S. election altogether

The US president has a lot of power, but not that much power. There's no legal way he could do it. The US constitution would need to be revised and that needs votes by Congress and the individual states.

He'd have to resort to something totally illegal, like staging a military coup. Maybe just about theoretically possible if he claimed it was a dire national emergency and he could get the army to back him.

Nice, he'll likely start the second US civil war right in the middle of a pandemic....if he did stage a military coup probably will also ask the Mexicans to back him as well

(16-03-2020 02:19 )Scots Napoleon Wrote:  

(15-03-2020 20:23 )Stemmw Wrote:  I think Trump could use Covid 19 as a reason to "justify" cancelling the U.S. election altogether

The US president has a lot of power, but not that much power. There's no legal way he could do it. The US constitution would need to be revised and that needs votes by Congress and the individual states.

Obviously he couldn't just cancel it, but would that include postponement for a few months if the situation warranted it?

According to the US Constitution (20th amendment), presidential terms terminate every 4 years at noon on 20 January. Since the election is due to take place in November, it therefore could be postponed by a couple of months without the constitution having to be amended. However, this is still something that only Congress can do. Trump can't do it himself, as the constitution specifies that only Congress can change a federal election date.

I can't see Congress agreeing on it even if Trump suggested but I get the feeling the tangoed one will bypass Congress anyway and cancel it...

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(16-03-2020 07:47 )Scots Napoleon Wrote:  According to the US Constitution (20th amendment), presidential terms terminate every 4 years at noon on 20 January. Since the election is due to take place in November, it therefore could be postponed by a couple of months without the constitution having to be amended. However, this is still something that only Congress can do. Trump can't do it himself, as the constitution specifies that only Congress can change a federal election date.

Could they possibly vote and bring it forward, get it over and done with in say, September if WHO was to say they had evidence the virus was likely to resurface in November?....

Trump signs a $2tn rescue package