Barack Obama appears to slate Donald Trump at civil rights icon John Lewis’s funeral
Barack Obama indirectly Donald Trump for his numerous complaints about the upcoming election at the funeral for civil rights icon John Lewis.
Barack Obama appeared to criticize Donald Trump for his numerous complaints about the upcoming election at the funeral for civil rights icon John Lewis.
The former president gave the eulogy at the late Representative John Lewis’ funeral Thursday and earned a standing ovation for hitting out at Trump, who called for a delay in the election hours earlier in a tweet.
‘We may no longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting,’ Obama said at the funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Obama went on to say that ‘those in power’ are putting the election’s integrity in jeopardy ‘by closing polling station, and targeting minorities, and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision
‘Even undermining the Postal Service in the run-up to the election that’s got to be dependent on mail-in ballots so that people don’t get sick.’
His condemnation, while not specifically naming Trump, seemed to be aimed at his successor who has repeatedly complained about mail-in ballots.
‘With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” the president tweeted Thursday morning. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???’ Trump tweeted Thursday, earning him considerable blowback from within his own party.
It was also nearly the 70th time Trump has publicly complained about mail voting since late March, according to The Washington Post.
The president’s tweet also came in the wake of a grim report that showed the country’s economy has fallen almost ten percent from April through June, the biggest decline since the government began releasing such data 70 years ago.
According to the US constitution, Congress has the power to regulate the ‘time, place and manner’ of the election, although it does not provide the president with such privileges.
The 20th amendment also calls for the end to the president and vice president’s four-year terms on January 20, regardless of whether an election is held.
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