# Trump calls for delaying the election
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [July 30, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829 "2020-07-30T13:14:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/61 "2020-07-30T20:25:33Z")
I just sent that to her. Thanks. 🙂
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Most of mine voted trump because of “never hillary” or the fact trump had R next to his name- yours voted for Clinton? 🤨
Ummm, no. Where would you get that idea?
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/62 "2020-07-30T20:38:10Z")
It’s funny that Trump is claiming that with the pandemic, it’s not safe for people to vote. The fucking idiot held a rally in Tulsa (RIP Herman Cain) and had expectations of Woodstock like crowds.
This is just one more example of Donald Trump being full of shit. His words don’t have any gravity.
Trump doesn’t know what his job is, or who he works for. He thinks he can decree things, and that they will therefore be. The dude is a complete sociopath, and not smart to boot. But since he’s supported by every bootlicking Republican in the land, it wouldn’t suprise me if the Republicans tried to help their King with this.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/63 "2020-07-30T20:51:03Z")
> [@asahi](#):
>
> Republicans may have to accept the will of the people
Oh, that’s gonna hurt.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/64 "2020-07-30T20:58:05Z")
Exactly. What we used to call “preemptive capitulation”. His next move will be to pull out completely because:
1. Health reasons
2. To spend more time with his family, or
3. “I refuse to participate in a rigged election!”
And will leave Pence with his dick hanging out, the GOP in complete disarray, and possibly precipitate a constitutional crisis. But the man is always about chaos, so it will be his final “fuck you” to the country.
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/65 "2020-07-30T20:59:03Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#):
>
> Except that the new Senate would elect a President Pro Tempore. I count 34 Democrats, 2 Independents, and 30 Republicans who would still be there. What stops Bernie Sanders from finding two Democrats to join him in announcing, “Either you elect me, or we vote for a Republican”?
Per the 12th Amendment, the Senate can only elect the VP from the two highest VP electoral vote getters.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/66 "2020-07-30T21:03:38Z")
This opinion piece on the Washington Post aged wonderfully:
> **[Opinion | Joe Biden accused Trump of trying to delay the election. He should...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/24/joe-biden-accused-trump-trying-delay-election-he-should-know-better/)**
>
> The baseless accusation is clearly over the line.
> Former vice president Joe Biden’s unfounded [accusation](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/24/joe-biden-donald-trump-delay-election) Thursday that President Trump wants to delay November’s election was not only clearly over the line but also unmasks how low the supposedly moderate Biden will go to win.
>
> Biden said in an online fundraiser, “Mark my words, I think he is going to try to kick back the election somehow.” As the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden surely knows that Trump cannot and will not delay the election. The election date is set in law; Trump cannot change it without Congress’s consent. The election itself is run by the states, not the federal government, so there’s no bureaucracy Trump could corral to implement any order delaying the vote. Such an order would surely be challenged in court, and it’s inconceivable that the Supreme Court would uphold such a blatantly unconstitutional act.
>
> Nonetheless, Biden chose to taint the president essentially with a charge of treason. One would hope that this baseless statement could be excused as just another one of Biden’s increasingly frequent verbal hiccups. But Biden said other things Thursday night that show he believes Trump is a disloyal wannabe dictator.
I wonder if the author Henry Olsen will arrive at the logical conclusion to his words given what Trump said–that he is in fact a traitor to the United States and a “wannabe dictator” (that Trump is too stupid to know he needs Congressional approval is besides the point, I think).
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/67 "2020-07-30T21:09:49Z")
Wow! I’m sure Henry Olsen will follow in the steps of other current conservative thinkers and apologize for his errors.
Heh. Just kidding, of course.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/68 "2020-07-30T21:11:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> And will leave Pence with his dick hanging out, the GOP in complete disarray, and possibly precipitate a constitutional crisis. But the man is always about chaos, so it will be his final “fuck you” to the country.
I wouldn’t mind too much if he ends up in the White House basement, raging at all the people he believes betrayed him, sort of like some other guy back in the mid-40s.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/69 "2020-07-30T21:15:04Z")
Henry Olsen’s response is on Washington Post’s website today. “President Trump’s [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288818160389558273) Thursday morning suggesting that the [November election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-floats-idea-of-delaying-the-november-election-as-he-ramps-up-attacks-on-voting-by-mail/2020/07/30/15fe7ac6-d264-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpelection-920am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&itid=lk_inline_manual_2) should be delayed is more than reckless and irresponsible. It is the single most anti-democratic statement any sitting president has ever made. It should be immediately, forcefully and vocally repudiated by every conservative and Republican.”
> **[Opinion | Trump’s suggestion to delay the election is the most...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/30/trumps-suggestion-delay-election-is-most-anti-democratic-thing-any-president-ever-said/)**
>
> Every conservative should immediately, forcefully and vocally repudiate Trump's statement.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/70 "2020-07-30T21:25:12Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> I wouldn’t mind too much if he ends up in the White House basement, raging at all the people he believes betrayed him, sort of like some other guy back in the mid-40s.
To whom do you refer?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/71 "2020-07-30T21:25:31Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Exactly. What we used to call “preemptive capitulation”. His next move will be to pull out completely because:
>
> 1. Health reasons
> 2. To spend more time with his family, or
> 3. “I refuse to participate in a rigged election!”
What? Those are all loser reasons!
If Trump pulls out of the running, he’ll announce that he’s doing so because he’s accomplished everything he set out to do, has made America great again, and no longer needs to be the greatest President this country has ever had.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/72 "2020-07-30T21:28:04Z")
Wow! Good for him. Feels like he should apologize to Biden, though, as well.
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/73 "2020-07-30T21:28:18Z")
"I have voted Republican in every presidential election since 1980, including voting for Donald Trump in 2016. I wrote op-eds and a law review article protesting what I believe was an unconstitutional investigation by Robert Mueller. I also wrote an op-ed opposing President Trump’s impeachment.
But I am frankly appalled by the president’s recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election. Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate."
This is Steven Calabresi, Co-Founder of Federalist Society.
> **[Opinion | Trump Might Try to Postpone the Election. That’s Unconstitutional....](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/trump-delay-election-coronavirus.html)**
>
> He should be removed unless he relents.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/74 "2020-07-30T21:28:35Z")
Short dude, German I think, looked a bit like Chaplin’s Little Tramp in a military uniform…the name’ll come to me at some point…
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/75 "2020-07-30T21:32:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Henry Olsen’s response is on Washington Post’s website today. “President Trump’s [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288818160389558273) Thursday morning suggesting that the [November election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-floats-idea-of-delaying-the-november-election-as-he-ramps-up-attacks-on-voting-by-mail/2020/07/30/15fe7ac6-d264-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpelection-920am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&itid=lk_inline_manual_2) should be delayed is more than reckless and irresponsible. It is the single most anti-democratic statement any sitting president has ever made. It should be immediately, forcefully and vocally repudiated by every conservative and Republican.”
I can’t read the whole essay because of the paywall. But give me the spoiler; after declaring that Trump has made _“the single most anti-democratic statement any sitting president has ever made”_ and that it _“should be immediately, forcefully and vocally repudiated”_ does Olsen go on to tell people they shouldn’t vote to re-elect Trump? Because if he didn’t then to hell with his phony outrage.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/76 "2020-07-30T21:43:07Z")
The problem is, the damage has been done: a sitting president has put it out there, and with a not-so-insignificant portion of the voting population, this will become a normal talking point. It’s an idea that has been introduced into mainstream political culture. It’s simply a question now of whether this point gets amplified, and when.
For people who’ve been whistling in the dark the past 4 years, telling others to calm down and that things aren’t as bad as they seem, and asking where are the death camps, you’re missing the point. Democracy dies slowly. Nobody predicted that Trump could just snap his fingers and send tank convoys into San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago on January 20, 2017.
Instead, he’s doing what people correctly feared: that he would act undemocratically and erode confidence in our ability to govern ourselves as a country, and that far too many people would encourage his behavior openly or tacitly.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/77 "2020-07-30T21:45:03Z")
I just heard on cspan that Trump is no longer running tv/radio ads in Michigan.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/78 "2020-07-30T21:50:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> does Olsen go on to tell people they shouldn’t vote to re-elect Trump? Because if he didn’t then to hell with his phony outrage.
Narrator: He didn’t.
In fact he immediately launches a “both sides” rant about the protests and “cancel culture”. He also doesn’t apologize to Biden, though he does bring up his former article:
> (in fact, I assumed it was unthinkable, which is why I [strongly criticized](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/24/joe-biden-accused-trump-trying-delay-election-he-should-know-better/?itid=lk_inline_manual_8) Biden in April when he claimed without evidence that Trump would try to delay the election)
Of course, anyone not in the Trump cult can see that Biden had all kinds of evidence at his disposal; his basic personality made this almost inevitable.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/79 "2020-07-30T21:52:48Z")
The most infuriating thing to me is the fact that he has absolutely zero interest in the job of president. I’m pretty sure he absolutely loathes 98% of it. The _only_ reason he cares about the election is because he must always win. That’s it, the whole deal right there.
(The 2% that he likes is the fact that he gets to be at the top of the news every.fucking.day. This is also why I go a little nuts when people make references to him having plans or ideas or standards or goals or any thoughts about anything in the entirety of creation other than his pathologically immature obsession with being the center of attention.)
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-calls-for-delaying-the-election/916829/80 "2020-07-30T22:01:17Z")
> [@Stoid](#):
>
> The most infuriating thing to me is the fact that he has absolutely zero interest in the job of president. I’m pretty sure he absolutely loathes 98% of it. The _only_ reason he cares about the election is because he must always win. That’s it, the whole deal right there.-
And he has to win because if he loses because it would prove to the ghost of Fred Senior that Donnie is just as much of a loser as his alcoholic brother Fred Junior.
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