This has been discussed in lots of different places by people both smart and let’s charitably say, not so smart.

My feeling is that electoral-vote.com has covered this from every reasonable angle imaginable and has the right of it.

You can read all of the links in about 10 minutes and then have a pretty clear, mostly objective picture of what can, could, and can’t happen. And why.

Can Trump Postpone the Election
and
Can Trump Postpone the Election II
and

Scroll this link to the middle of the page with the question starting
electoral-vote.com

Q: I very much appreciate you continuing to respond to the questions of what happens if there’s no election.

In short, there is no way to do this that would benefit Trump or the Republicans.
…
They also cover a related issue:
There are, in the end, five ways that Donald Trump might try to stay in office beyond January 20, 2021:

- Actually win the election
- Stop the elections from being held - see above - won’t work
- Game the Electoral College - There is no scheme that ends with Trump getting a second term; there are too many counter-moves available for the Democrats, particularly at the Electoral College level.
- Muddy the results, and then get the courts to step in: Possible. Not terribly likely. (read the whole paragraph at the link)

- Stage a coup: Even if Trump were to declare martial law, that does not suspend the Constitution, and thus does not change the deadline for the end of his first term. (read the whole paragraph at the link)

update 6/22/20 - There were some recent stories about Greg Palast’s book.

He “warns that Joe Biden’s chances against Donald Trump are worse than the polls suggest because millions of Democrats will have their votes thrown out on Election Day. Moreover, many of those voters will have no idea that their votes were purged and therefore not counted.”

What he doesn’t explain is how.

Debunked, again by electoral-vote.com, very quickly here . See the third question down.

last update 7/5/20 - newsweek ran an article on 7/3 How Trump Could Lose the Election—And Still Remain President

once again, electoral-vote.com took it apart pretty easily. It’s the question that begins “Q: My sister and mother are convinced Trump will figure out a way to steal the election…”

this is the last time i’ll update this article because these are nothing but clickbait stories. they aren’t even what ‘trump is thinking of doing’.

further, these ‘what ifs’ are getting more and more inaccurate in their assumptions and interpretations of what’s in the constitution and various state laws. They are implausible in their construction and not worth anyone’s time.

august 5, 2020, yet another story about stealing the election that is quickly dispatched.