Presidential elections in the United States are scheduled for 3 November, but Donald Trump has all the resources to sabotage the electoral process.
That’s what The New York Times writes about.
The media cites several key scenarios. For example, Donald Trump can use the pandemic to declare a state of emergency in major state cities. This will make it impossible to hold elections.
In addition, Trump’s protégé as Attorney General William Barr may announce a criminal investigation against Democrat Joe Biden, as there are enough reasons for this.
Finally, Donald Trump may simply refuse to recognize the vote of the Electoral College by “occupying” the White House until his inauguration on 20 January.
As Washington-based lawyer Mark Elias said, not a day goes by without discussing with senior officials the possibility of Donald Trump’s election being disrupted.
Elias, who works with Democrats, argues that the most likely of the worst scenarios is to obstruct voters by imposing a state of emergency with the deployment of National Guard forces and severe restrictions. Such measures could be taken in major cities that usually support democrats.
“Since 2016, Donald Trump has shown that he is always willing to sacrifice our basic democratic norms for his personal and political interests”, – said Bob Bauer, Biden’s senior adviser. – “We assume he may well resort to any tricks or schemes he may use to hold on to his presidency.”
These kinds of scenarios seemed unrealistic, but the situation has changed, the paper notes. First, Jared Kouchner, the president’s son-in-law and advisor, admitted that he was “not sure” about the timing of the vote. In addition, Donald Trump himself continues to criticize the very possibility of voting by mail, citing inevitable falsifications.
At the same time, Tim Merto, Director of Communications at Trump’s headquarters, said that Democrats were simply afraid of retaliation for years of their own refusal to recognize the 2016 election results, citing so-called “collusion with Russia.
“Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams, and the entire Democratic Party refused to accept the results of their elections, and for years they’ve been putting forward conspiracy theories about collusion with Russia”, – Merto said. – “Now Joe Biden’s allies have formed real conspiracy committees, where they are developing new false reports to further undermine our democracy. They’re wasting their time. As President Trump has repeatedly said, elections will be held November 3.”