Originally Published: 30 JUL 20 16:14 ET

Updated: 30 JUL 20 17:08 ET

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN

(CNN) -- On the one hand, this is banana republic stuff, that a President, who the evidence suggests is losing his bid for reelection, would suggest delaying the election, as Donald Trump did Thursday morning.

That's not what we do here. In the US there are presidential elections every four years, even in times of war and pandemic, and the loser accepts them.

The other living presidents get that. Most of them gathered in Atlanta on Thursday, as Trump was questioning US democracy, to hear Barack Obama's eulogy for John Lewis, who fought for the right of people to participate in US democracy.

On the other hand, this is just another Trump distraction.

His tweet came a few minutes after the government reported the US economy had its worst quarter on record. Ever. In history.

Trump's entire case for reelection is the economy. The pandemic, which he has failed to seriously address, is destroying the economy.

I've written before about Trump's wash-rinse-repeat strategy of lobbing explosive controversies in one direction to divert attention from something exploding everywhere else. Is this that? Who knows.

We know for certain that Trump cannot, on his own, delay the election.

Election Day in November is set by law, and that's controlled by Congress. Even his Senate enabler Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Election Day is set in stone.

Inauguration Day in January is set by the 20th Amendment. And the Constitution is unchangeable between now and then.

Does Trump want President Pelosi? Even if the election were delayed, an honest read of the 20th Amendment suggests the speaker of the House would become temporary president if no one qualifies for the full term at noon on January 20. There is some disagreement here, because Sen. Lamar Alexander says his understanding is the Senate president pro tempore, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, would take over. Regardless, it would not be Trump.

Back in April, when the President's son-in-law sort of teased delaying the election and then Joe Biden predicted Trump would try to move it, the Trump campaign called it the "incoherent, conspiracy theory ramblings of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality."

Pretty much.

However! One thing that should certainly happen as we move toward Election Day is that every Cabinet member who appears before Congress or sits for an interview, and every federal official, should just be asked -- to make sure they agree with custom and law -- to acknowledge that the current presidential term ends January 20 at noon, as the Constitution states.

No harm in an insurance policy against incoherent ramblings. But when you pay very close attention to the words of administration officials, you begin to wonder.

Attorney General William Barr, for instance, was asked this very question Tuesday during his first congressional oversight hearing in more than 18 months.

Here's the exchange between him and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat:

JEFFRIES: Now you just testified that there's no mechanism for a president to contest an election that has clearly been won by the opponent. Mr. Attorney General, what will you do if Donald Trump loses the election on November 3, but refuses to leave office on January 20?

BARR: If -- well, if the results are clear I would leave office.

JEFFRIES: Do you believe that there is any basis or legitimacy to Donald Trump's recent claim that he can't provide an answer as to whether he would leave office?

BARR: I really am not familiar with these comments or the context in which they occurred. So I'm not going to give commentary on them.

(That last bit refers to Trump's recent interview with Fox News, in which he refused to say he'd accept the election results).

Barr said both exactly what he should say -- that he would leave office January 20. And also exactly the wrong thing -- "if the results are clear."

According to the 20th Amendment, it doesn't matter if the results are clear. One January 20, if no one qualifies for president, the old president doesn't just carry on in office.

Trump has already laid the groundwork to question the legitimacy of the election. Barr is known, at this point, for seeming to say one thing before Congress and then doing something else entirely.

In fact, they're not unlike the words Trump used in that interview with Chris Wallace.

WALLACE: But can you give a, can you give a direct answer you will accept the election?

TRUMP: I have to see. Look, you -- I have to see. No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time either.

Whether this is a distraction from the pandemic and the sour economy and everything else that seems to be going wrong or the seed of a full-blown transfer-of-power crisis is not yet clear.

It is certainly clear that the idea of losing power is very difficult for Trump to stomach and the idea that voters would reject him is not something he'll accept. The question is whether he tries to ignore the Constitution and the law, which say voters will pick the next president in November and that person takes office in January.