McConnell publicly pours cold water on Trump’s election delay scheme
President Trump spewed more misinformation via Twitter this morning, once again unleashing an attack on mail-in voting which he incorrectly claimed will lead to mass voter fraud. This time though he took his deranged anti-democratic rhetoric to a new low by suggesting that the November election be delayed in order to make sure Americans can “properly, securely, and safely vote.”
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???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
The suggestion is completely untenable and the president’s rationale is utter nonsense. If the president really cared about letting Americans “safely” vote he would be supporting mail-in voting, not smearing it. His concerns about fraud are illegitimate and intentions suspect.
Most likely he wants to delay the election because he’s afraid he is going to Joe Biden, a valid concern given the current polls and his botched handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. By pushing back the date he could perhaps buy himself time for an economic rebound or vaccine breakthrough which could in turn buoy his chances at the ballot box. Since it’s Donald Trump one also can’t rule out the possibility that in his twisted head he envisions a scenario where he pushes back the election indefinitely and remains in power like a tinpot dictator.
Regardless of why Trump wants to move the election, he cannot. The Constitution ensures that only Congress can move election day and the Democratic control of the House of Representatives stands as a staunch firewall against the president’s scheme. And while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo inaccurately stated today that the Department of Justice will have a say in the matter, not all Republicans are on board with the president.
Senate Majority Mitch McConnell was asked about Trump’s tweet by Max Winitz of WNKY 40 and bluntly shot down the election delay idea.
“Well, never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions, and the Civil War have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time, and we’ll find a way to do that again this Nov. 3,” said McConnell. Winitz then asked if the date was “set in stone.”
“That’s right. We’ll cope with whatever the situation is and have the election on November 3 as already scheduled,” said McConnell.
It’s surprising to see the odious Mitch McConnell defend the Constitution for once and now we wait to see how Trump responds to this public repudiation. The smart money is on “not well.”
JUST IN: Here is the @senatemajldr’s response to the question about changing the date of the election. @wnkytv @NBCNews @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/Z0nWrsoktl
— Max Winitz (@MaxWinitz) July 30, 2020
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