MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Tuesday evening accused President Donald Trump of engaging in “jihad” against mail-in voting that is becoming “dangerous” and “insidious.”
“The president has gone on this jihad against mail-in voting that is, to me, bizarre, but also dangerous and irresponsible and really quite insidious,” Hayes said on his primetime show. “Now, traditionally, vote-by-mail has not been a particularly divisive or partisan issue. Utah uses it. Oregon uses it. The president of the United States used it. Republican campaigns tend to encourage it among people.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has said that Democrats will try to frame the issue as “voting at home,” told Hayes that she thinks even the president has no idea what he is doing.
“I don’t know what he’s doing, and I don’t know if he knows what he’s doing. But what he’s doing is not right,” she said.
Pelosi also argued that absentee ballots have benefited Republicans.
“The fact is, as a former Chair of the California Democratic Party, I can tell you Republicans have always enjoyed much success with vote-by-mail,” she sad. “The absentee ballots have never been a good moment for us over time. So, they know how to use the mail for their voting. And there’s no scientific study that says one party or the other benefits from it.
Pelosi then insisted that voting during the coronavirus is a “health issue,” and it is “more important to give people an option that is not a risk to their lives, as well.”
“But, this is now a health issue. We talk about saving lives, testing; the livelihood, the economy; and the life of our democracy, vote-by-mail,” Pelosi said. “Now, people have to choose between their health and their vote. That shouldn’t be the case. We should always be removing obstacles of participation to the vote.”