"States run elections in the United States. This is guaranteed by the Constitution. Trump’s strategy is to use illegal means (threatened criminal punishment against state officials) to compel authority the Constitution doesn’t allow. A president cannot legitimately create by force powers that the Constitution specifically denies him": https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/state-sovereignty-and-trumps-war-against-the-constitution "Authoritarian takeovers happen in periods of popularity, not when you’re unpopular and are in a state of physical and mental decline."