President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested the November election may need to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, sparking a media firestorm.
In a tweet, Trump for the first time directly confirmed Democrats' long-held fears that he would try to cancel or delay the 2020 vote.
- Trump repeated his warnings that widespread mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic would rig the election against him, and floated the idea of waiting to hold the election "until people 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
In April, Trump denied he had ever "even thought of changing the date of the election."
The reaction: The president's suggestion instantly made headlines and provoked strong bipartisan reactions.
On the left, many commentators, like British journalist Carole Cadwalladr, were ready to declare the end of American democracy.
Bye bye democracy. You had a good run. https://t.co/GJKdonyR5B
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) July 30, 2020
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and other Democratic politicians responded with defiance.
The general election will take place on November 3rd. Period.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) July 30, 2020
We aren't going to delay an election just because this impeached President's poll numbers are falling. https://t.co/MeTI5MB9kd
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and a vice presidential contender, noted Congress is the only branch of the federal government that has the constitutional power to change Election Day.
- A March report by the Congressional Research Service, aka Congress' think tank, said states could also do so under their own laws.
“The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.”
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) July 30, 2020
— The U.S. Constitution https://t.co/cbuERgYuK0
Some speculated Trump was simply trying to distract from fresh government data that shows a record economic collapse or from the COVID-19-related death of Herman Cain, one of his campaign surrogates and a former Godfather's Pizza CEO.
On the right, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, similarly joked that now would be a good time to publicize any bad news, according to a reporter.
“If you’ve got any bad news to get out, today would be a good day to do it after this tweet,” @LindseyGrahamSC just now at Judiciary Committee heading, after @maziehirono brought up THAT tweet from POTUS.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) July 30, 2020
Graham later joined a number of others Republicans in gently disagreeing with the president's proposal, reportedly saying, "I don’t think that’s a particularly good idea."
Sen. John Barrasso, a Pennsylvania Republican, also pooh-poohed the idea of rescheduling the election during an appearance on Fox Business.
Fox Business' Stuart Varney to GOP Senator John Barrasso this morning: "What do you think? Delay the election?"
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) July 30, 2020
Barrasso: "No, we're not going to delay the election... we will NOT delay the election." https://t.co/i7lEke1siu
Andy McCarthy, a National Review editor and Fox News contributor, called Trump's tweet "self-destructive" — but also cited a recent column he wrote dismissing fears the president would refuse to leave office if he lost reelection as "rubbish."
POTUS's 'delay' talk is so gratuitously self-destructive. The date for counting electoral votes is fixed by congressional statute. Only Congress could change it. All the 'delay' tweet does is fuel the paranoia I addressed last week ... https://t.co/PdDV2c3lVn
— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) July 30, 2020
Mollie Hemingway, an editor at The Federalist, said "the media" and the left are the real threat to a peaceful transfer of power.
Given what they've put the country through since November 2016, the groups that need to be asked if they will accept an election loss in November 2020 are the media, Democratic politicians, and other Resistance activists.https://t.co/wf4H8U7iZa
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 30, 2020
Trump, apparently unfazed by the furor he'd unleashed, pinned the controversial tweet to the top of his Twitter profile.