Trump Called Out for Pulling a 180 on Mail-In Voting: ‘Someone Told Him He’s Scaring Elderly Supporters’
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President Donald Trump was ripped on Tuesday after he pulled a 180 over his concerns about mail-in voting in Florida.
President Trump U-turned on his original warnings by tweeting, “Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True.”
“Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA,” he added.
Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2020
Political commentators ripped Trump’s change of heart, noting that a number of Republicans had warned the president that he could be scaring Republican mail-in voters into not voting.
Allow me to translate: someone told him that he’s scaring his elderly supporters in Florida away from vote-by-mail and it’s gonna hurt him so hence this. https://t.co/mPAlUlfpiV
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 4, 2020
There have long been a number of Republicans worried that President Trump’s attacks on vote by mail would depress GOP turnout in states with high levels of mail in voting. https://t.co/XHJ0w9NU9z
— Dan Merica (@merica) August 4, 2020
Trump making sure his supporters know mail-in voting is now perfectly fine in Florida, where he’s currently down by 6 points https://t.co/77M6S0FQNd
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 4, 2020
In 2018, Trump tried to say that the election-night results of the Senate and gubernatorial contests in Florida should stand because “fraud” was narrowing the Republicans’ leads as absentee votes were counted. https://t.co/9oe57FnNSH
— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 4, 2020
Trump: Vote by mail is rife with corruption. People can literally take ballots out of mailboxes and mess with the election. Foreigners can impersonate voters to upend the vote…. But not in Florida.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) August 4, 2020
That’s quite a 180. Comes as local Rs are freaking out Trump will kill their mail turnout in key states. https://t.co/4rwqS7VVwO
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) August 4, 2020
They’re going to have to do this in every battleground in the country, because the fact of the matter is, it is political malpractice to suppress your own voters by undermining faith in the electoral system. https://t.co/wTBRhhHGIs
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) August 4, 2020
It’s ok in Florida, not in California https://t.co/R0mdiAEr3p
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) August 4, 2020
The way Florida processes mailed ballots is not markedly different than many other states. But in Florida, there are aging Republicans who may not want to go to the polls. Perhaps he’s now realizing he’s eating away at his own base. https://t.co/QfszZ8DIW2
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) August 4, 2020
Lots of older voters in Florida vote by mail. And extensive research shows voting by mail is “Safe and Secure, Tried and True” across the entire country. https://t.co/fyIfhwDAyx
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 4, 2020
So now mail in voting is good, in a state he badly needs with a large elderly population https://t.co/yyxI2rwVja
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) August 4, 2020
Apparently, the Florida GOP has finally convinced the President that his recent attack on mail voting has jeopardized his chance to win the crucial state of Florida. What a ridiculous circus he leads. https://t.co/mYF1NJSJnc
— David Jolly (@DavidJollyFL) August 4, 2020
Wait, so it’s ok in Florida? But a massive fraud everywhere else? https://t.co/gU9ZgMQBRl
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 4, 2020
1) Florida is fast at counting mail ballots.
2) Florida is filled with seniors.
3) If Trump discourages Republicans from voting absentee there during a pandemic, Biden wins the state, and thus the whole election, ON ELECTION NIGHT.
4) Ergo, the below tweet. https://t.co/Uben7QTbs8
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) August 4, 2020
When you realize Republicans vote-by-mail too: https://t.co/fEm2Y2DCn6
— Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) August 4, 2020
Last week, President Trump criticized “disastrous” mail-in voting in New York, while in April he said, “I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting.”
Twitter even placed a warning label on one of President Trump’s tweets in May after he posted, “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.”
“This will be a Rigged Election,” he declared.
Axios’ Jonathan Swan warned this week that President Trump’s mail-in voting commentary could “really backfire,” arguing, “Who do you think are the people who are going to be persuaded by the president saying mail-in voting is a fraud, it’s completely illegitimate? It’s not gonna be Democratic voters. They don’t listen to him, they tune him out, the believe everything he says is false. It’s Republican voters.”
