President Trump on Thursday dodged questions about his tweet raising the idea of delaying the November election, and instead sowed doubt about the validity of…
President Trump on Thursday dodged questions about his tweet raising the idea of delaying the November election, and instead sowed doubt about the validity of what happens in November.
Trump was asked multiple times how serious he was when he tweeted about pushing the election back amid the coronavirus pandemic, something he does not have the authority to do.
The president downplayed the substance of the tweet, pivoting to exaggerated claims about mail-in voting and suggesting the November election will be “rigged” months before it has even occurred.
“I don’t want to delay. I want to have the election,” Trump said during a press briefing at the White House. “But I also don’t want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn’t mean anything. That’s what’s going to happen… that’s common sense.”
“Smart people know it,” he added. “Stupid people may not know it.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that mail-in ballots are rife with fraud, despite experts saying that there is no evidence of meaningful voter fraud in mail-in voting. He has threatened funding to states that look to expand mail-in voting in order to ensure that citizens can vote safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Critics have viewed the president’s charges as an attempt to cast doubt on the credibility of the election result before it happens.
