One of the big stories this morning is that Donald Trump suggested delaying the 2020 election. A CNN headline is typical: "Trump floats delaying election despite lack of authority to do so."
So what is the basis of this outrage? Turns out Donald Trump did a single tweet:
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
From this the media emphasizes:
- The standard talking point that there is no election fraud in the United States and an all mail ballot is no different than absentee balloting so there's no problem switching to an all mail ballot system.
- Donald Trump doesn't have the authority to do this. Maybe he's going to defy the law and constitution?
As far as I can tell all Donald Trump did is make a suggestion. The suggestion wasn't even in any sort of official setting. But to the media any suggestion made by Donald Trump is considered to be a fait accompli, official policy, and something he is driving to implement.
Yet Donald Trump didn't say going to do this unilaterally. Presidents make proposals all the time which they know perfectly well they can't implement unilaterally. The State of the Union address is largely a list of legislative proposals from the President. Nobody screams that the President is going to steamroll over Congress. But in this case he will?
This story is part and parcel of the media narrative that Trump is an authoritarian and/or dictator (odd he hasn't shut them down if he were) and that he doesn't intend to leave office if he loses the election, instead proclaiming himself dictator. And what is the evidence of this? Essentially zero. Trump did mention a third term at one of his rallies a year or so ago. This is after a few bloggers had suggested that there needs to be a way to punish (Democrats in) Congress for refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of his election. This was similarly a throwaway line at a rally, not a serious proposal.
So here we again see the media creating a controversy. Donald Trump never said he would unilaterally postpone the election but the media chose to interpret his statement that way because it shows him in the worse light.
