Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) says Americans will likely face “obstacles” to voting, but is encouraging them to “press on in what is the most important election of our lifetime.”
During an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, Booker was asked if he is “convinced” that the presidential election will be fair.
“Well, I think that we’ve already seen a president do things that are unprecedented, and it’s not Barack Obama giving a critic of Donald Trump,” Book responded. “It’s Donald Trump doing everything from turning armed forces on peaceful protesters in front of Lafayette Square.”
“Donald Trump attacking the postal service the way he is in the days before an election. This is a time where we’ve seen so many norms trashed by this president,” he added.
Booker said there is a “credible belief” that America’s democracy is being “stress tested like it never has before.”
“And so there may be dirty tricks from this president, we’re already seeing right now, again, with the post office,” Booker said.
Still, he encouraged Americans not to be deterred by potential obstacles to voting, “I learned from parents and grandparents that obstacles will always be put up. But our determination to surmount them is what’s important. And so I hope Americans are not deterred and press on in what is the most important election of our lifetime.”
Watch the video below:
“I really believe we’re at a point in America where we need to…generate a revival of civic grace.”
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 20, 2020
.@GStephanopoulos speaks one-on-one with Sen. @CoryBooker about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and taking on Pres. Trump in November. https://t.co/HxcgqzisGB pic.twitter.com/Q8x73ECp18
President Donald Trump has been accused of “sabotaging our Democracy,” as IJR reported. Congressional Democrats have raised concerns that the president is trying to bleed the postal service of funds to hamper its ability to deliver mail-in ballots on time to be counted in the November election.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said, “I happen to think, as you know, Trump is a pathological liar. He lies all of the time. But, I gotta say, I gotta admit, the other day he was very honest.”
“He said, ‘Look, we want to kill mail-in balloting. We don’t want millions and millions of people to be able to cast their ballots through the mail. So we’ll destroy the Postal Service, we’ll defund it. They can’t vote,'” he continued.
Sanders was referring to comments made by Trump, where he appeared to suggest that he was opposed to funding to the postal service because that would allow “universal mail-in voting.”
In an interview on Fox Business, Trump said, “They want $25 billion for the post office. Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work so it could take all of these millions and millions of ballots.”
“Now, in the meantime, they aren’t getting there. By the way, those are just two items. But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it,” he added.
For his part, Trump has denied that he is trying to sabotage the postal service to help his electoral prospects, as IJR reported.
“No, I’m just making it good,” he said when asked about claims that he was trying to sabotage the postal service. “I jokingly say, but it’s true, I want to make the post office great again. OK?”
