Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Sunday he believes Trump is "trying to put a cloud over the election" because he doesn't plan to leave office if he loses.

The big picture: Clyburn told "CNN's State of the Union" that "the American people had better wake up" to Trump, who he said has taken on strongman tactics. Clyburn compared Trump to Mussolini and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is akin to Hitler.

Driving the news: It comes after Trump suggested delaying the election in a tweet on Thursday,claiming without evidence that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud. That power lies exclusively with Congress, per a Washington Post breakdown of the issue.

What he's saying: "I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue to hold onto office,” Clyburn said.

• "I know a little bit about history, and I know how countries find their demise. It is when we fail to let democracy, and the fundamentals of which is a fair unfettered election, and that's why he is trying to put a cloud over this election, floating the idea of postponing the elections."