Defend the Constitution—Reject Any Threat to American Elections

On the fifth anniversary of January 6, 2021—a day that permanently stained our democratic history—Donald Trump publicly joked about canceling presidential elections. This was not humor. It was a threat. And it demands an immediate and unequivocal response from Congress. The United States Constitution does not allow presidents to cancel elections. Ever. Article II of the Constitution and the Twelfth and Twentieth Amendments establish fixed presidential terms and the lawful transfer of power. Congress—not the president—sets the date of federal elections by statute. No individual, no matter how powerful or popular, has the authority to override the will of the people. Any suggestion otherwise is unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and profoundly dangerous. January 6, 2021 was not a misunderstanding or a protest gone wrong. It was the result of deliberate lies about elections and open contempt for constitutional limits. Five years later, joking about canceling elections signals that the lesson was never learned—and that the threat has not passed. Every member of Congress swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath was not to a party, not to a president, and not to political convenience. It was to the Constitution and to the American people. Silence in the face of this rhetoric is not neutrality. It is acquiescence. If Congress does not clearly and publicly reject any suggestion that elections can be canceled, postponed, or ignored, then you are failing your constitutional duty. History will not judge kindly those who saw authoritarianism approaching and chose comfort over courage. Stand up now—before jokes become policy, before norms become optional, and before democracy becomes something Americans only read about in history books. The Constitution is not self-enforcing. It depends on you.