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The official seat of the US Supreme Court in Washington
Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / AP
When and how Donald Trump wants to turn on the US Supreme Court for his victory, the US President did not reveal on election night.
But he announced: "We will go to the Supreme Court. We want all voting to end."
Trump has been stirring up doubts about the legality of the vote for months and is targeting postal votes.
In the past few weeks he had repeatedly claimed, without evidence and contrary to scientific research, that postal voting would encourage fraud.
Because of the corona pandemic, a record number of postal voters was expected.
Since the counting of absentee votes in contested states like Pennsylvania is likely to drag on for days, the trend may still turn in favor of Joe Biden.
Trump apparently wants to prevent that through the Supreme Court.
"We don't want them to find ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list," Trump said now.
He had previously repeatedly called for an election result to be determined that night - and is now drawing the Joker Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court, six of the nine judges are considered conservative - three of whom Trump has appointed.
The news site "Axios" had already reported on the weekend, citing three unnamed sources, that Trump had discussed plans with confidants that, if he had a lead on election night, he could declare himself the winner before the end of the vote count.
Trump had rejected the report as "wrong".
Now it has actually come to this: Before a result is certain, Trump has claimed the election victory for himself.
The Supreme Court made Bush President in 2000
The Supreme Court already intervened in a narrow US election - in 2000: Whether the Republican George W. Bush or the Democrat Al Gore would become the next president depended only on the results of the Florida count.
The legal battle over the result and recounts dragged on for a month, before the Supreme Court in Washington.
After that, Gore admitted defeat.
Bush secured the votes of the Florida electorate, won by 537 votes - and became president.
Whether the Supreme Court would accept any kind of lawsuit from Trump this time - and how he would decide if necessary - is completely open.
At this point in time, Trump's announcement is first and foremost a tactical move: He wants to create facts ahead of time.
Politicians in Germany accuse Trump of undemocratic behavior.
The fact that Trump claims victory in the presidential election before all votes are counted leads to a "critical, dismaying situation," said FDP leader Christian Lindner on ZDF.
"This is the beginning of a dramatic conflict situation in American democracy with unforeseeable consequences not only for the American people, but beyond - also for the world and therefore also for us in Europe," warned Lindner.
The left-wing external expert Gregor Gysi also sharply criticized Trump's approach.
"That is really undemocratic," said Gysi on ZDF.
"He wants to stimulate people."
Gysi criticized Trump's announcement that the counting of votes would be stopped by a court.
The president has "done neither himself, his country, nor humanity a favor".
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as / dpa / AFP