Concerns that the incumbent American president may explore all possible means to ensure he does not have to vacate the White House any time soon were raised afresh this week with Mr Donald Trump hinting at the possibility of delaying the election, due in November, because of the coronavirus epidemic.

While American law allows wide latitude to the state and local governments in the conduct of a Federal election, the date of the election is cast in stone as the first Tuesday of November, which means this time around polling will take place on 3 November.

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The inauguration of the next President will take place on 20 January 2021. There is no precedent for the Presidential election to be delayed; during wars and calamities the process has followed the same calendar.

As the New York Times noted, “Mr Trump is facing about as dire a run-up to a presidential election as any incumbent could imagine: the worst quarter in the economy on record, an unceasing health crisis, protests nationwide and a country paralyzed by the lack of a financial recovery plan with no solution in sight ~ all compounded by his own inability to curtail his behaviour.”

Some days ago, Mr Trump had made it clear that he would not go quietly if he lost the election, after raising concerns that mail-in voting would be sabotaged. Now, he has raised a fresh bogey. Despite being told by his campaign officials that tabulation of votes may not be completed on 3 November, Mr. Trump has tweeted, “Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months or even years later!”

His Democratic rivals are concerned that he may claim victory based on same-day tallies without waiting for the count to be completed. Whether any or all of this will really happen or will be allowed to happen by the United States Congress and the people of the country is in the realm of speculation.

But the muted responses of his Republican colleagues to the statements of Mr. Trump could suggest either that they are not taking them seriously or that they are taking them so seriously that they have been shocked into silence.

For it is now well known from White House leaks that Mr Trump has often discussed with associates whether the election can be delayed and been told unequivocally it cannot without a Constitutional amendment. His continued flirtation with the idea, and this time on a public platform, is bound to cause some alarm.

For some time at least, the embarrassment of Americans who have often flaunted their country’s democratic virtues is likely to continue.