Donald Trump voiced the idea to postpone the presidential election. He motivated this by the fact that in the context of a pandemic and a large percentage of voting “by distance” it would be impossible to control the honesty of the vote count. When the president realized that he had made a report, he explained that the elections must be held on time. But Trump has openly stated that he is afraid of fraud in the Democratic-controlled states. That is why it is worth postponing the elections to a later date when the usual local election commissions will calculate everything correctly. Many experts rushed to speculate about the likelihood of postponing the election and Trump’s hidden motives. But MK responsibly declares: even if ponement of the elections were in the power of Donald Trump, he would never have made such a decision.
The American electoral system is good for its stability. For example, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant knew the date of presidential elections in 2020. And we know the exact day of the election of the President of the United States in 2200 – then the election will fall on November 4. Of course, this is provided that the United States, and indeed our entire civilization, will still exist by that time.
One way or another, elections in the United States are a constant thing. They were not canceled during the war with Britain in 1812 (yes, the Americans then had no time for Napoleon at all).
Elections were held during the Spanish flu epidemic, World War II, and even during the Civil War – albeit only in those states controlled by the northerners.
So Trump would not have been understood, to put it mildly, if he had decided to postpone the elections.
However, Trump could not have moved the election by any decision of his own. Even if he declared a state of emergency in the country, he still would not have enough power to just take and postpone the elections, say, for a year.
The US Constitution does not specify a clear date for elections, although voting is traditionally held “on the first Tuesday after the first Monday” in November (this is a strange wording, but it de facto guarantees that the elections will not take place on the 1st).
However, the country’s main law states that Congress has the right to appoint a single election day. And Congress really could have moved the vote a month or two, only the House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats who will never take such a step.
But let’s say, purely theoretically, that the Democrats, for some unknown reason, are ready to postpone the elections. Let’s say that the Republicans, who immediately rejected the idea of their president, suddenly changed their minds. Then they … still won’t have the opportunity to postpone the elections until 2021. That is, it is technically possible, but even on a theoretical level, such an assumption seems absurd.
If elections are not held until January 2021, chaos ensues in America. The fact is that the Constitution does not stipulate a specific date for the elections, but the term for the expiration of the president’s powers is very specific. Trump’s term expires at noon on January 20, 2021, and if by that time the president is not elected, then his term will not last – the country will simply be left without a leader.
What will happen then? America has established a very clear order of succession to the presidency. If the current head of state cannot fulfill his duties, then the vice president takes his place.
Here’s just the problem – Mike Pence’s term expires on the same day as Donald Trump. In total, the country is left without a president, vice president, and concurrently – the chairman of the Senate.
But the United States is a well-thought-out country, they even provided for the possibility of incapacity for both the president and the vice president. Then the speaker of the House of Representatives becomes the leader of the country. At the moment, this post is held by the Democrat Nancy Pelosi. But – you already guessed what will happen next – her term (like all other congressmen) expires in January 2021.
And, in general, already at this stage it is clear what chaos threatens America – without the House of Representatives. For example, according to the Constitution, the country’s budget cannot be adopted. But these are trifles – we are still interested in who is next in line for the presidency …
And the next one is not even the leader of the majority, but the interim president of the US Senate. This post is essentially formal and only gives the right to establish the rules of procedure for meetings, but in the event of total anarchy, it is the interim President of the Senate who becomes the head of state. Now, this post is held by Senator from the state of Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley.
But the most interesting thing is not even that. If the 2020 elections are not held on time, then Republicans will lose their majority in the Senate. In January 2021, 34 senators will end. Most of them are Republicans, so if the elections are postponed, as well as Chuck Grassley’s transition to the presidency, the Democrats will have 35 senators versus 29 for the Republicans. If anything, this number of votes will be enough to create a “super-majority”, that is, in fact, to pass the laws the democrats need without discussion. And then only President Grassley’s endless veto can stop them.
In general, it is time to stop this flow of madness.
And it is so obvious how impossible this scenario is. No one will ever go to such shocks, much less will Trump, who in this case will lose all chances of re-election. So the US elections will take place on November 3rd. “MK” responsibly declares this to you.
