On Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with host John Dickerson.
During the segment, Dickerson asked Meadows about President Trump’s controversial tweet about delaying the November 3 election.
“Did the president ask you or anybody in the administration to look into the idea of delaying the Election Day?” Dickerson asked.
Meadows replied:
Listen, all of this that we’re talking about comes down to one thing – universal mail-in ballots. That is not a good idea for the country. We don’t have to look any further than New York to see what a debacle that mail-in ballots have been when we have weeks and weeks of delay of who the winner is. Can you imagine if that is with the President of the United States?
“So he didn’t?” Dickerson pressed.
“He has not looked at delaying any election,” Meadows said. “What we will do is if we try to transform this and start mailing in ballots all across the country, all 50 states, what we will see is a delay because they’re just not equipped to handle it.”
Dickerson wondered if it was “a responsible thing” for “the president to wing out an idea about delaying the election without looking into it.”
Meadows responded, saying that “it was a question mark,” and that it was “responsible” of the President to bring up the idea that an attempt to get “100% universal mail-in ballots” could be problematic.
“So we’ve got to make sure that we do this in a proper way, where we promote absentee ballots, we make sure that a ballot goes from an individual to the ballot box without someone else having the ability to conduct a fraudulent effort,” Meadows concluded.
On Thursday, President Trump tweeted about delaying the November 3 election: “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???”
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
Aside from the backlash the president received from Democrats, members of the Republican Party also broke into the conversation.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) offered perhaps the most succinct rebuttal, tweeting: “No, it’s not even a question. No delays.”
No, it’s not even a question. No delays.
We should demand safe and secure elections.
If you requested an absentee ballot, you should use it. And states should not use universal mail-in, which is indeed vulnerable to mistakes and abuse. https://t.co/gttmGnC1hB
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) July 30, 2020
The congressman added: “We should demand safe and secure elections. If you requested an absentee ballot, you should use it. And states should not use universal mail-in, which is indeed vulnerable to mistakes and abuse.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that in the entire history of the United States – “through wars” and “depressions,” etc – a “federally scheduled election” has never been delayed, and that it will not be delayed this year.
According to Politico, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated in part: “He can suggest whatever he wants. The law is what it is. We’re going to have an election that’s legitimate, it’s going to be credible, it’s going to be the same as we’ve always done it.”
Later, President Trump sent out a follow-up tweet calling out the “LameStream Media” as it pertains to universal mail-in ballots:
Glad I was able to get the very dishonest LameStream Media to finally start talking about the RISKS to our Democracy from dangerous Universal Mail-In-Voting (not Absentee Voting, which I totally support!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
The general election will be held on November 3.