US President Donald Trump could use emergency powers to extend his term in the White House. A senior Democrat, James Clyburn has said the president may attempt to hold onto office should he lose November’s election. The House majority whip said he believes Trump has no intention of peacefully transferring power to presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Clyburn informed CNN and said, “I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue to hold onto office”. Point to be noted that Trump floated the idea last week of delaying the upcoming election due to the widespread coronavirus. He also suggested that the vote should be postponed until people can properly, securely, and safely vote.
President Trump posted a message on Twitter and claimed the 2020 election could fall foul to voter fraud, with millions of Americans set to cast their ballots via postal services due to the coronavirus. Most experts have since cast doubt on those claims, citing previous research showing that voter fraud in the US is extremely rare. It is noteworthy that the studies by Arizona State University in 2012 and 2016 found only 10 cases of voter impersonation fraud nationwide from 2000-2012. Trump has also repeatedly claimed that he would have beaten former rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 popular vote were it not for the millions of people who voted illegally. The Washington Post analysis of 2016 said there were just 4 cases of voter fraud. Those 4 cases include 3 people who attempted to vote for Trump twice.
Legislators across Capitol Hill have slapped down the suggestion that the election could be delayed. Sen. Marco Rubio said, “Trump can suggest whatever he wants. The law is what it is”. It is important that any move to delay the 2020 election would require an act of US Congress. It means both the Senate and the House of Representatives would need to sign off on it. Some advisers have suggested that the vote could be delayed and sought to portray a confident mood within the president’s re-election campaign team, despite dire polling readings. Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows informed CBS on Sunday and said, “We’re going to hold an election on 3 November and the president is going to win”.