Trump Dodges Questions About Delaying Election

Asked multiple times how serious he was when he suggested delaying the November election, President Trump "dodged" the question at his Thursday press briefing, per the Hill. Instead of answering directly, he continued to suggest the election will be invalid if held as scheduled, due to the number of people who are likely to vote by mail. "I don’t want to delay. I want to have the election," he said. "But I also don’t want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn’t mean anything. That’s what’s going to happen … that’s common sense. Smart people know it. Stupid people may not know it.” But even Republican lawmakers are decrying Trump's tweeted suggestion that the election be pushed back; Mitch McConnell said Thursday that it will be held "on time."

"Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don’t want to see a crooked election," the president continued at the briefing. "This election will be the most rigged election in history if [widespread mail-in voting] happens." But Fox News notes that a second tweet Trump made after his original suggestion Thursday seemed to indicate he was just trying to raise awareness: "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!)." As for how he feels about his chances come November, Trump said "fake polls" are showing him trailing Joe Biden. But "I think we’re doing very well," he said. Some are suggesting Trump's election delay comments could simply be an attempt to distract from the bad economic news that had been released shortly before he made them. (More on Trump's suggestion here.)