President Donald Trump kicked up a new storm Thursday with a suggestion to delay November 3 elections until people can vote “properly, securely and safely” in view of the Covid-19 epidemic, which has killed more than 150,000 Americans, including a former presidential candidate Herman Cain.

Trump’s suggestion was part of his ongoing opposition to broadening the use of mail-in voting that is being actively discussed to encourage people to cast their votes in the polls. He has alleged it could lead to large-scale fraud, despite the fact he himself and many of his aides have voted by mail in the past.

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???,” President Trump wrote in one of the many tweets he went out Thursday morning.

The push back from critics was instantaneous. “Never in American history—not even during the Civil War and World War II–has there been a successful move to “Delay the Election” for President,” wrote Michael Beschloss, an expert on US presidential history.

Ellen L Weintraub, a member of the Federal Election Commission, questioned a president’s authority and power to do change the election date. “No, Mr. President. No. You don’t have the power to move the election. Nor should it be moved. States and localities are asking you and Congress for funds so they can properly run the safe and secure elections all Americans want. Why don’t you work on that?”

Republican leaders have also disputed the president and one of them told a reporter elections dates are set in stone.

Other critics suggested President Trump’s suggestion was another of his attempts to distract attention from the rising death toll and infections from the Covid-19 epidemic, which is raging through the souther and western parts of the country in a resurgence partly triggered by lapses in mitigation efforts.

Herman Cain, a restauranteur who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 (lost it to Mitt Romney), fell to Covid-19 related complications after weeks in hospital.

“Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away,” said an announcement on his website. “We all prayed so hard every day. We knew the time would come when the Lord would call him home, but we really liked having him here with us, and we held out hope he’d have a full recovery.”

Dan Calabrese, the writer of that, post confirmed to the Washington Post that Cain had died of Covid-19.

Though it was not known where and how he was infected, less than two weeks before his diagnosis, Cain had attended Trump’s election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where many on the president’s campaign staff had tested positive for the infection.

“Herman Cain embodied the American Dream and represented the very best of the American spirit,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany wrote in a tweet. “Our hearts grieve for his loved ones, and they will remain in our prayers at this time. We will never forget his legacy of grace, patriotism, and faith.”

By Thursday morning, 150,765 American had been killed by the coronavirus and more than 4.43 million been infected.