I’m pretty sure terms are set by the constitution, the exact date they end on might not be.
But you’re not gonna get a constitutional amendment through, and there isn’t a clean way to push those terms too far into the new year. Whenever they expire, if there’s no election you’re back to a Democrat controlled congress picking.
And only congress can move or reschedule an election in the first place. The House doesn’t have an incentive for that. Even Senate republicans would have an easier time keeping their seats and keeping control just by letting the election move forward, rather than creating a terms ending problem they then have to break further laws to solve.
If it some how does happen, Democrats not only get to pick the president. But they get the power to immediately call a new election.
There just isn’t really a non-coup way for Trump to delay or cancel the election that doesn’t dead end with a democrat in the White House and an election happening.
Leaving what?
You’ll have one group conducting themselves under the rules, and most of the bureaucracy following suit.
Just “staying” would basically be a seperate group insisting that they are instead the ones in charge.
Essentially two governments with two presidents clashing over which one is real. Which is civil war/coup territory.
Anything else requires assuming that any and all opposition just goes along with Trump declaring himself president and democracy over.
There’s very little reason for anyone but Trump, most of the GOP, and maybe ICE to go along with that.
Trump’s gonna fantasize about this, and they’ll keep mentioning it. But it’s incredibly unlikely to happen because it’s a much bigger, riskier can of worms than anything he’s done before.
This is what happens if the election is still scheduled before the end of terms, but doesn’t deliver a result. Like no states assign electors. Or those electors refuse to vote.
If there’s an executive order or law passed delaying the election in total past the date where the presidential term ends. Then it goes to the order of succession.
The former pretty much requires convincing each individual state to neither vote, nor assign electors by other means. Including Democratic controlled states and states where control is split across branches.
Even though they all need to hold state and local elections anyway.