2020 ELECTION

Eight Reasons Trump Doesn’t Need to “Cancel the Election”

Spoiler alert: He’s got election fraud working for him already.

March for voting rights, Dec. 10, 2011. Occupy Wall Street joined the NAACP as thousands marched in midtown Manhattan to defend voting rights. Photo by Michael Fleshman. Licensed Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.

As the election season grinds on, more blue-leaning voters seem concerned that Trump will “cancel the election.”

I don’t doubt that there are moments when Trump likes the idea of being a dictator or some kind of “president for life.” After all, he’s joked about it multiple times. But then, he has a history of both bluster and contradiction, so it’s hard to know how seriously to take him at any given moment. He could very well be fine with walking away after a single term to pursue other narcissistic projects that don’t demand as much of his time. For what it’s worth, Melania would mostly likely be thrilled if she didn’t have to put up with four more years.

Concerns about an “imperial presidency” are real, of course. The office began accruing more staff and power under FDR, and the burgeoning accelerated as time went on, especially after 9/11. This trend has plowed forward regardless of which party holds the White House, and no branch of government has attempted to check it in any meaningful way. Roll-backs have not been even lightly entertained, let alone undertaken. For this reason, Trump is the most powerful president in US history simply for…