It is not the first time that the specter of presidential interference in the elections has been raised. Last month, during a discussion of actions that could threaten the ability of some Americans to vote safely during the pandemic, the alleged Democratic candidate Joe Biden told donors at a fundraising event virtual: "Mark my words, I think he will try to roll back the elections, find reasons why they cannot take place."
At the time, President Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh refuted this claim, with a characteristic smear of Biden. He called this claim "inconsistent and theoretical ramblings of the conspiracy of a lost candidate who is out of touch with reality". Trump himself has declared that he has no plans to postpone the election.
So why, when the question was asked of Kushner, did he refuse to exclude it? Why did he not just dismiss the question as absurd? After the social media storm that followed Tuesday, Kushner tried to clarify his statement later today. Hear the wording of his follow-up statement. "I did not participate in any discussion on the modification of the date of the presidential election and I am not aware of it."
Is there a reason why he couldn't just reassure America: the election will not be postponed? A senior official told CNN that there are no conversations in the White House about the date change because it is the decision of Congress.
Can the election be postponed? Experts say it cannot: "No law passed by Congress has delegated these powers to the president, even in emergencies, so Congress is the only body that has the power to change the date of elections "Sylvia Albert, director of voting and common cause elections, noted in the Washington Post.
The 1875 law which established that polling day takes place "the Tuesday following the first Monday in November" flows from the legislation of Congress and not from the Constitution. This means that Congress has the power to change it. Could Trump persuade Congress to do it? Republicans in the Senate could follow, but Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, would never allow it.
At least one powerful Republican senator, the chair of the Rules Committee, Roy Blunt, closed the idea. "We had elections in the middle of the civil war and in the middle of the Second World War," he said, "I see no reason to change the elections."
Election Day is not in the Constitution, but this document establishes the end of the current presidential term: January 20, 2021. That's when Trump's presidency will end, unless he wins re-election. .
The postponement of the elections would indeed be the longest of the long plans, but one can see the theoretical appeal of Trump. Postponing the election may or may not help save time to get the economy out of its rut, but discouraging participation - especially in democratic states - may prove more useful.
More than 80,000 Americans have died in a pandemic which, according to surveys, shows that most Americans believe he has mismanaged it. With 30 million people suddenly unemployed and the economy plummeting, polls show him chasing Biden nationally (albeit ahead in some key battlefield states). There is no doubt that Trump will do almost anything he thinks would help him dominate and save his re-election.
When Kushner, exuding unearned authority, explained why he couldn't "go one way or the other", he recognized that there could be problems for voters going to the polls in November .
This raises a critical problem. Trump cannot postpone an election, but he may be considering other options anyway. Already, voters are struggling to vote in certain primaries. Trump is work transparently to block postal votes, wrongly claiming that the votes cast are full of fraud. It's a lie.
If there is any question that an election could take place in a normal fashion in November - and there certainly are, as the coronavirus travels an unpredictable path across the country - the administration and Congress must give top priority to ensure that mail- in voting can be done smoothly.
American democracy depends on the need to prevent Trump from playing in any way with the right of citizens to vote easily on November 3.
Kushner has just informed us that the administration cannot consider anything sacrosanct - not even an assurance that election day will go as planned - as he plows towards the end of this catastrophic presidential term.
