All the way back in the middle of April, former Vice President Joe Biden issued a warning to his supporters. “Mark my words,” he said at a virtual fundraiser. “I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held.”
Fox News hosts collectively lost their minds, openly mocking the claim as alarmist and unfounded. Among them was Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney, who smirked at the time as he reported, “Joe Biden making a 2020 prediction. He thinks President Trump is going to push back the election. What’s that about?”
Then came Thursday morning’s tweet from the president: “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???”
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So how did Varney react on his show? Mostly by repeatedly noting the adverse effect he believed the tweet was having on the stock market while at the same time defending the idea and even pushing Republican officials and lawmakers to endorse it.
First, Varney interrupted his guest, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), when he denied that the presidential election could be moved. “Hold it, Mr. Senator, I do apologize for interrupting you, but if we have mail-in balloting the way it’s scheduled now, there is absolutely no way you will get an election result on Election Night or even in the first few days,” the host said. “That means confusion and endless challenges. That is a mess!”
When Varney again asked Barrasso if the election should be delayed, as Trump has suggested, Barrasso replied, “No, we’re not going to delay the election, Stuart. We’re going to have the election completed and voting completed by Election Day.”
Later, he brought in RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who was a slightly more receptive audience for his push. But even she told Varney, “The president obviously understands that that’s done by Congress, constitutionally,” before pivoting to what she views as a “huge problem right now with mail-in voting across the country.”
“I guarantee problems in November,” Varney said. “I guarantee that if things stay the same, there’s no way that you’re getting a result on Election Night or even the first week after the election. You with me on this?”
McDaniel agreed, arguing that “people want to vote in person” and sounding more open to the idea of delaying the election than she did before she started talking to Varney. “This is frightening and it’s going to affect us in November,” she added. “We are in uncertain times in this country. We need to have certainty in our elections.”
