CNN: Jared Kushner’s bizarre comment
05.14.2020 / By Frida Ghitis
CNN: Jared Kushner's bizarre comment
(CNN) – When Jared Kushner speaks in public, very often he reveals the most dangerous truths about the Trump administration. The latest jaw-dropper came on Tuesday, when the son-in-law and top adviser to President Donald Trump casually cast doubt on whether the next presidential election will absolutely take place, as scheduled, and as mandated by law, on November 3.
Listen closely. His phrasing alone hints at what should be among every American’s worst fears. In an interview with Time magazine, he was asked if he was willing to “commit that the elections will happen on November third.” Kushner’s reply: “I’m not sure I can commit one way or the other, but right now that’s the plan.”
Kushner can’t commit? “Right now” that’s the plan? At best, the statement oozes arrogance, disdain for democracy; at worst ignorance of the law: the US Constitution.
This last — ignorance of the law — is what some found most striking. It was noted by the prominent conservative commentator Bill Kristol in a widely publicized tweet in which he noted Kushner’s “utter lack of understanding of his very subordinate role in our democracy.” (In fact, neither the President nor his staff can postpone the election, even in an emergency, according to a 2004 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.)
Is Kushner ignorant of the law, or did he let us know about the swirl of ideas being batted around in a nervous White House? …
Can the election be postponed? The experts say it cannot, “No laws passed by Congress have delegated these powers to the president, even in an emergency, so Congress is the only entity that has the power to change the date of the election,” noted Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, in the Washington Post.