Now that the trial results have blown up in the faces of the American Left, we have to ask, what will they try next?

The Manhattan (or the Atlanta, or the Florida, or the D.C.) show trial was supposed to be the ultimate anti-Trump weapon, the death-blow that would halve his electoral support and leave his MAGA followers reeling. But this, needless to say, failed to happen. Trump has raised a record-breaking $200+ million since his conviction. Immediate polls revealed a wash: 26% were more inclined to vote for him, while 27% were less inclined. This has remained the case since. Polling in swing states remains in the upper 40s. The ruling transformed his most avid supporters into howling banshees and his mild or lukewarm bystanders into open supporters. Even the mouth-breather element of the voting population has concluded that sometin’ jus’ ain’t right roun’ here. Having transformed a multi-billionaire into an underdog, the lefties are looking more and more to be the Vlad Putins of American politics.

So now they’re desperate. They need to come up with something, and what will it be?

We’ll get to that. But one thing we can leave out is that perennial favorite, calling off the election.

We hear this every election year, from one side or the other. It has been said about Reagan, about Clinton, about George W., about Obama, about Trump, and now about Biden.  But it never happens.

It never happens because (apart from it being political suicide) there is no provision in U.S. law for calling off a presidential election.

Article II, Section I of the Constitution covers election procedures.

Clause 2 Electors

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Clause 3 Electoral College Count

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate...

Clearly, there is no provision here for “suspending an election” or anything similar. Beyond that, it’s more than evident that control of national elections is in the hands of the states. So SloJoe would need to turn to the state governors to save him. While Hochul, Newsom, and Shapiro might be eager to obey, can anybody picture DeSantis, Noem, or Youngkin doing the same?  

What’s that you say? Martial law? The federal response to an emergency of nationwide scope is embodied in the National Emergencies Act of 1976. There’s nothing about elections in there either. While a president would have vastly expanded powers in a national emergency, there would also be strict limits. Congress and the Supreme Court would both remain active with nearly full powers. If any attempt at shutting down a national election were made, we could depend on both to act (though Justice Roberts might have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming), if only to defend their status under separation of powers.  

So there it is. We can set any such possibility aside, and in fact we ought to. Repeating such claims – and I have seen them repeated ad nauseum in recent weeks -- simply frightens the naïve, alarms the ignorant, and encourages sufferers of the conservative disease of rampant defeatism to whine even louder. It accomplishes nothing, informs nothing, and can do a lot of harm in a critical and fraught election season.

All that said, I’d like to see Biden try.  We’d end up with the president selected by red states and only red states, which would be fine by me.

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