Covid-19 quite likely to spread in US. Will Trump try to use it to cancel election?

[bobbieinok]

There's a claim by noted scientist it will affect 40%+ of population

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It's hard to know what will happen. Even if a lot of people get it,

we don't know how sick they will get. What I worry about is that His Lardship has cut quite a bit from the CDC, so if the epidemic does get bad it might not be handled very well.

[apcalc]

3. Fortunately in PA this year I can vote by mail if needed.

[applegrove]

9. Mortality rate is about 2 to 3% right now.

[Ms. Toad]

2. I'd be suspicious of that claim.

Especially by an unnamed "noted scientist." Even the 1918 influenza only affected 20-25%of the population.

Trump can't cancel the election. Elections are run by the states.

[Turbineguy]

6. Trump cannot

cancel the election without permission from Congress.

[Eyeball_Kid]

11. Not true. You might want to review the Patriot Act.

Trump has made minor incidents into "national emergencies". My word of warning is to NEVER believe that Trump is bound by law, tradition, norm, or a two scoop limit of ice cream. He will do anything to cover his ass.

The Dem winner in the general will have the proven ability to cut Trump down to size, to insult and emasculate him and to give his legion of rah-rahs the image of an effeminate, doughy, whiney, tyrannical cry baby. Trumpers want their Superman, so Trump spends hours a day in the make-up chair to deliver to them a bill of goods.

The Dems want disillusioned Trumpers who can no longer believe in their fantasy because Trump is completely exposed as a fake, a liar, and a fraud who behaves as if a strategy will emerge after he recklessly shakes things up.

Facts won't work, nor can Trump be treated with the dignity that comes with the office. The Dem's attack must be emotional and metaphorical. It can be done, and once it's done, Trump's house of cards will crumble, and fast.

But that's all a best case scenario, because there's this law passed called the Patriot Act. Take a look.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Please cite the specific provision in the Patriot Act

that permits him to cancel elections.

[dware]

17. There are none.

I'm getting sick and tired of these doomsday scenarios, this comes up every time there's an election since Clinton, by both sides.

You are absolutely correct, the Mango Menace cannot cancel the elections, there is no provision in the Patriot Act for such a thing.

[Ms. Toad]

18. I know. That's why I asked for a cite.

The Patriot Act is a horrific piece of legislature - and it does give Trump far more power than he ought to have. But cancelling the election is not one of those powers.

I get so sick of us sounding like the chicken little Republicans (especially since we've been the target of this kind of nonsense from them - and properly ridiculed them for it).

[dware]

19. +100. nt

[onenote]

4. no.

[dewsgirl]

5. I imagine he will use it to

inflict all matter of suffering amongst us.

[Eyeball_Kid]

7. Trump would use a fallen tree limb to cancel the election.

He can't wait to find the perfect excuse when it's late summer and he's getting his ass kicked.

The day of the acquittal was the day when the Trump movement hit its peak. Because of his natural ability to fuck everything up, he'll go way over his skis, as they say, believing that the nation has given him permission to be an asshole. Eventually, the League of Cowards (aka Republican Party) will lose their ability to shield their complicity and will have to behave "awoke." This will only because the nation will turn its eyes to THEM, and wonder, out loud, when they'll snap out of it. But that won't be until summer, IMO, because 1. Trump will continue to be an asshole in whole new ways, and 2. They'll start getting fidgety when they see, from out of the mist, the long, swift arms of the Grim Reaper of Election Defeat heading straight for them and picking up speed, its scythe's long, curved blade ripping the wind like the scream of a hurricane.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. You just got a heart from me, for your amazing and right-on post! Thank you! n/t

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Won't go far, and way too early to estimate the impact of C.virus yet, IMHO. In any event, ...

don't want period anything...but every yr alone in America, there are quite a few deaths from the flu...

results in “about 250,000 to 500,000 yearly deaths” worldwide, Wikipedia tells us. “The typical estimate is 36,000 [deaths] a year in the United States,” reports NBC, citing the Centers for Disease Control.

...

They canceled elections for the above yet either. Elections will go on, and also (I think someone said it already) the states are the ones regulating this issue of elections...

[Dennis Donovan]

10. Here's the thing about Trump...

The sky's the limit. Always expect the craziest extreme actions from him.

Whether he'll be able to use this as an excuse is a different matter, depending on what the virus actually does. It's hard to imagine this turning into a 1918-esque flu that kills millions worldwide. But, it's early.

[Runningdawg]

13. I don't think he will cancel the election because of it

But he most certainly would use it to his advantage, paying people who have it to spread it through DNC chapters, GOTV locations, election boards and candidate headquarters nationwide.

[former9thward]

20. What a CT

[Tarc]

15. This is QAnon-like silliness that doesn't belong in the DU

Begone, please.

[customerserviceguy]

16. I doubt that

but it may well depress turnout, and especially caucusing for those in the states where that is the way that delegates are chosen.

We have enough food stored to weather out a couple of months of hunkering down if need be.

[former9thward]

21. Who is the "noted scientist"?

Why is he/she unnamed? With no link?