Conservatives Rebuke Trump’s Proposal To Postpone 2020: ‘No Reason to Delay Our Election, End of Story’
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Conservative media figures and several of Donald Trump’s political allies have broken with the president over his suggestion to postpone the 2020 election.
On Thursday, Trump went on a lengthy new attack against mail-in voting that concluded this statement, which the president pinned at the top of his Twitter feed as of this writing:
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
Trump’s tweet was met with instant criticism, with numerous political followers calling it an act of authoritarianism, saying he has no constitutional power to reschedule the election, and deeming it evidence the president is worried about his re-election prospects.
Delaying the election is an unprecedented idea for America, so Trump’s tweet quickly made waves across the media and came to the attention of many conservatives. So far, there’ve been quite a few GOPers and Trump allies who’ve distanced themselves from the president’s idea, if not, disowned it outright.
.@GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy, asked about Trump’s election tweet: “We should go forward with our election … No way should we ever not hold an election on the day that we have it.”
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) July 30, 2020
Mitch McConnell has told station WNKY in Kentucky, “”Never in the history of the country, through wars and 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 November third.”
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) July 30, 2020
Another day Republican senators have to run away from reporters asking about an insane presidential tweet
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) July 30, 2020
There is no reason to delay our election, end of story. The process is secure, and I encourage all Ohioans to make their plan to vote by November 3rd, either by mail, or in person in a safe, socially distanced manner.
— Steve Stivers (@RepSteveStivers) July 30, 2020
While I share the president’s concern about fraud in elections that use mail ballots as the primary source of voting, I do not support delaying the November election.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 30, 2020
Moving Election Day would seriously jeopardize the legitimacy of the election. Federal, state and local officials need to continue to work hard to ensure that Americans can vote safely, whether by voting early or on November 3.
— Rep. Dusty Johnson (@RepDustyJohnson) July 30, 2020
When asked if the November election should be delayed a spokesman for @SenRickScott said this: “No.”
— Gary Fineout (@fineout) July 30, 2020
Reminder: Election dates are set by Congress. And I will oppose any attempts to delay the #2020Election. https://t.co/ptjG86YiF6
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) July 30, 2020
There is absolutely no reason to delay this election, and it is not going to happen. It’s incumbent on us to ensure safe and secure elections, and that’s exactly what the Congress has been doing.
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) July 30, 2020
Sen. Ted Cruz said: “Election fraud is a serious problem we need to stop it and fight it, but no the election should not be delayed.”
Sen. Marco Rubio said of Trump tweet: “I wish he hadn’t said that, but it’s not going to change: We are going to have an election in Novembe”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 30, 2020
No, the election should not be delayed. It’s not the president’s call. But everyone should worry about vote-by-mail count becoming slow-motion disaster in Nov/Dec. Just look at New York CDs. Great potential for chaos/division on national scale.
— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 30, 2020
This is not an idea anyone, especially POTUS, should float. Our democracy is based on elections in which everyone knows the rules and they apply to all. Election Day is and will be Nov 3, 2020. Mr. President – please don’t even pretend to mess with this. It’s a harmful idea. https://t.co/bbBJbkNigV
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 30, 2020
