“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump wrote. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

Well, that sent Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi into a fury.

So can President Trump delay the election without Congressional approval? Well, actually...yes.

It's called Directive 51.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a very easy context for Directive 51 which was a presidential directive signed on May 4th, 2007. The directive gives the president special powers during times of a “catastrophic emergency”, like an international pandemic.

Directive 51 can be used in case of a “catastrophic emergency” which is defined by any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the US population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions. It is also used to keep “continuity of government, meaning a coordinated effort within the Federal Government’s executive branch to ensure that National Essential functions continue to be performed during a (as defined above) catastrophic emergency.

Here’s the specific part about a President postponing elections due to a “catastrophic emergency.” When the directive was signed the liberal website slate.com wrote specifically about this issue. Just change the nuclear attack to an international pandemic.

Note section (6):

The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. The National Continuity Coordinator, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive departments and agencies.

President Trump isn’t going to use the directive but he sure is going to use it to drive Democrats bonkers.