Trump can’t delay the vote, but he can try to spoil it

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us //link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/21060819.51682/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9ib3Bpbmlvbg/582c8673566a94262a8b49bdBf13bcdc8 This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an absentee ballot of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Trump [can’t delay]( the election, but he can [ruin it](. - Americans have an [unhealthy skepticism of health officials](. - It’s time to [break up Facebook](. - Are you sure you want to [gamble on Bitcoin](? Take his words seriously, and maybe also literally. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America Trump’s Election Threat Is Hollow But Scary Back in April, Joe Biden suggested President Donald Trump might try to delay November’s election. Trump’s campaign [called]( Biden’s warning “the incoherent, conspiracy theory ramblings of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality.” Three months later: The fury this tweet inspired led Trump’s campaign to [say]( the president was simply “raising a question” about delaying the election. But you see how this slippery slope goes: One day it’s a conspiracy theory, the next day you’re just asking questions about it, and pretty soon you’re in the Supreme Court arguing for it. This “just asking” is basically like when you tell your crush you’re only joking about wanting to kiss them … unless??? The fact is, [Trump can’t delay the election on his own](, Cass Sunstein reminds us. Only Congress has that power, and the House is controlled by Democrats who probably wish the election was yesterday. To their great credit, Senate Republicans showed no interest in helping Trump on this one either. But what Trump can do, Bloomberg’s editorial board notes, is take what he once called Biden’s conspiracy theory and remold it into a far darker one of his own, one about an election being stolen from him by dastardly Antifa postal workers or something. It’s completely baseless, but some 30% to 40% of the country will believe him, and [the election’s legitimacy will be in doubt](. On a day when former presidents of both parties [eulogized]( John Lewis for his heroic efforts to [strengthen]( American democracy, the current president was whacking at its foundations with a sledgehammer. Further Democracy-Assault Reading: Trump’s push to spend pandemic relief money on a new FBI headquarters looks an awful lot like [an effort to help out one of his hotels](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board  Bonus Election Reading: Kamala Harris’s presidential ambition is [the very thing that makes her a good veep pick](. — Jonathan Bernstein New Coronavirus Symptom: Impatience America’s pandemic failure has many causes, but insufficient testing capacity and public skepticism of health experts are high on the list. Both are on grim display in this Michael Lewis dispatch from Humboldt County in California, where one heroic nurse has watched [public attitudes about fighting the disease deteriorate](, even as cases rise. You almost can’t blame people; many of us dutifully quarantined for months, only to see all that precious time wasted by governments that never figured out how to reopen safely. Now Covid-19’s resurgence means we may have to shelter in place again. Faye Flam suggests [full lockdowns shouldn’t be necessary this time](, given what we know now about the disease. To make it work, though, we’ll still need clear communication from health officials, good data and good planning — all of which remain in short supply. Big Tech in Big Trouble Congress called Big Tech executives to testify yesterday about their very large bigness. Mark Zuckerberg took the opportunity to [throw]( his rivals under the bus, arguing they were the ones who were too big and that Facebook is just a poor little social network struggling to make ends meet. Don’t buy it, writes Tae Kim. Facebook and its subsidiaries, including Instagram, have far too much power over the advertising and media industries. [Facebook should be broken up](, maybe starting with a spinoff of Instagram. A somewhat more sympathetic Big Tech company these days is Intel, if only by virtue of how badly it’s doing. The chipmaker is bleeding market share and market valuation to rivals. Congress is considering throwing some cash Intel’s way to help it compete, but Noah Smith argues [this will be money wasted](. Bankrolling up-and-comers, and enticing Taiwan’s TSMC to locate more factories in the U.S., would do much more good. Telltale Charts Hedge funds are [kayaking into the choppy waters of Bitcoin](, but there are big, scary whales in there, warns Lionel Laurent, that could tip your hedge-fund-kayak right over. Anheuser-Busch InBev will have to sell a whole lot more beer to [cut into this debt pile](, writes Andrea Felsted. Further Reading Grim GDP and jobless-claims numbers [hammer home the need for more stimulus](. — Mohamed El-Erian At least America’s investment banks are [in better shape than Europe’s](. — Elisa Martinuzzi New UPS CEO Carol Tome has [quickly made her mark](. — Brooke Sutherland Kodak has once again [captured the zeitgeist just enough]( to spark a short-term rally in its stock price. — Matt Levine It’s hard to get jazzed about buying an electric car when rapid obsolescence [makes their resale values plummet](. — Anjani Trivedi China appears to realize [rejecting the world’s recycling was a bad idea](. — Adam Minter Trump’s inability to pick a side has left it [powerless over Libya’s civil war](. — Bobby Ghosh ICYMI Australia is having a [winter coronavirus surge](. Oh, the [things you’ll see on private jets](. Almost 30 million Americans [didn’t have enough to eat last week](. Kickers Emus [banned from hotel for bad behavior](. (h/t Zoe DeStories) Learning music [won’t make children smart](, a study has shown. Nature tends to [break into cubes](. These birds [never touch the ground](. Note: Please send ice cubes and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](.  Like Bloomberg Opinion Today?  [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access]( and get much, much more. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022