Wall St. Journal Ed. Board Blasts Trump Idea to Delay Vote: If He Thinks Election Will Be Rigged, ‘He Should Reconsider His Participation’

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President Donald Trump’s suggestion to delay the 2020 election was met with a frosty response from the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

The board, while asserting that the president’s tweet introducing the prospect was nothing more than a trial balloon, nonetheless blasted the idea.

“Mr. Trump’s defenders are correct that he was merely raising the issue,” the board wrote. “But delaying the Nov. 3 elections is a dreadful idea. Only an act of Congress can change the date, established in 1845, and there is no chance it will do so now. Lincoln ran for re-election amid the destruction and displacement of the Civil War.”

The editorial board went on to dismiss Trump’s notion that the election will be “rigged” because of wide mail-in voting.

“If he believes that, he should reconsider his participation and let someone run who isn’t looking for an excuse to blame for defeat,” the board wrote.

Still, much of the editorial board’s piece was critical of voting by mail, and argued that Trump’s concerns shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand — even if his proposed solution missed the mark.

“If the presidential result is close in one or more states amid the kind of problems displayed in New York, either candidate surely will sue, making the Florida ‘hanging-chads’ recount in 2000 look like a kindergarten exercise,” they wrote.