De Blasio Blasts 'Tyrant' Trump Over Election Delay Musing
NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio rattled off a litany of bad news greeting New Yorkers on Thursday: the nation's worst-ever GDP hit, 150,000 coronavirus deaths, the looming expiration of a $600 unemployment benefit and continued gridlock over a stimulus bill.
Then, to top it off, he centered on President Donald Trump's tweet that morning suggesting delaying the Nov. 3 election.
"Let’s be plain: this is the act of a tyrant," de Blasio said.
De Blasio's comments during his daily briefing added to a storm over Trump floating an election delay.
Trump claimed, without evidence, that mail-in voting will lead to an inaccurate and fraudulent election.
"Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" Trump tweeted.
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
Let’s be clear: this is the act of a tyrant.
The election is less than 100 days away. It WILL happen. But we need to protect our democracy. https://t.co/VRZBjLNK11
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 30, 2020
Recent polls have Trump trailing Democratic candidate Joe Biden in several key states.
De Blasio often swipes at Trump during his briefings. But his critiques on Thursday added up to cohesive plea for decisive actions on matters affecting New York City.
The city and its residents badly need help from another round of federal stimulus, de Blasio said. Senate Republicans' inaction on the bill isn't gridlock, it's sabotage, he said.
And Trump's "dithering" has done nothing to help, de Blasio said.
"Literally a few sentences out of Donald Trump's mouth would change the reality of the U.S. Senate," he said. "All he would have to do is care enough to say the Senate must provide that unemployment support for everyday Americans, the Senate must put that money in to revive our economy, bring us back, help cities and states be whole. If he just said that, it would happen — and he will not say a word."
This article originally appeared on the New York City Patch
