A concerning chain of logic

[Bondor]

Talking with friends, the huge likely impact of Covid 19 is coming clear: economy crash, hospitality industry crash, health care system overwhelm, supply shortages, travel restrictions, gatherings restricted and canceled... it seems likely that the US govt will declare emergency, which I believe grants them martial law powers.

1-what are the odds that this crew will relinquish those powers once they have them?
2-what are the odds that the election proceeds unimpeded?

Getting really scared here.

[beachbumbob]

1. zero chance. elections can be handled by mail

[Laelth]

4. Not zero chance.

Very low probability, I admit.

IMO, COVID-19 deserves a national emergency designation, and that may endow the executive branch with the powers that concern you, but, to date, no national emergency—neither the Civil War nor WWI nor WWII— has ever stopped an election. I don’t see why it would in 2020.

[EndlessWire]

5. I'm not saying you're wrong

but, I want people to stop thinking that just because we never had it happen before that it cannot happen now. We never had a pRes like this one, and we need to think in terms of what HE will do, not what our late Constitution would have guaranteed us.

We've never seen a Repub Senate who would say, yeah, he did something illegal, but it didn't hurt us much, so we don't care. Never had a Senator say, I didn't convict because he got his hand slapped, and he's learned his lesson. Did you ever think that the US Senate would act in such a cowardly fashion?

With Putin setting up to be equal to President For Life Xi, Donnie Two Scoops is going to be hot to follow, and this epidemic will give him the opportunity to NOT LEAVE OFFICE. He can and probably will call off the election after he takes steps (a little closer to November) to restrict our ability to get to the polls. Want to vote by mail? Tough. US Postal Service probably will not fulfill this fantasy, even if offered. If you want this, better change to Vote By Mail now. And then worry whether your ballot gets counted.

So much to worry about.

[Bucky]

2. There will be an election.

I hope, but don't know, if Trump will lose. But the worst case scenario for this virus has it burning itself out as a problem in the next 2 months. By the end of April it will be a crisis we survived despite Trump's bungling.

[EndlessWire]

6. I don't think so.

Sorry, don't mean to offend, but this crisis will not be over in two months. We are looking at 2021 before we can get the upper hand.

[Newest Reality]

3. Be very concerned...

I don't know if scared helps.

I would say, what were the odds that Trump was going to be removed from office by way of impeachment?

This is a topic that most people would rather avoid or merely react to. It seems that the concerns are justified about what would happen when an obvious authoritarian who does not respect the rule of law and his sycophants are able to utilize any special powers in an emergency, martial law being one of them.

I'm curious what other's think and maybe they will chime in here. I think we have a better chance if more of us are aware of this kind of threat and giving it due consideration. Leaving it in the background makes it seem even more ominous and foreboding.

Thanks for bringing that up, though.