Rahm Emanuel: If Trump can vote by mail it should be ‘standard’

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday that if President Trump can vote by mail, it should be standard for all Americans. 

“I just want a presidential standard for every citizen in the United States,” said Rahm, who was White House Chief of Staff under former President Barack Obama, on ABC’s “The View.”

“You want to mail in your ballot to Florida and stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Great, I’m all for it; everybody else gets the same thing that the president gets. Either we’re all in this together or we’re not,” he added. 

“I just want a presidential standard for every citizen in the United States.”@RahmEmanuel weighs in on the possibility of mail-in voting for the presidential election in November, saying he wants “to make sure the Americans have a right to have a vote.” https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/Ywk3o1MFUA

— The View (@TheView) May 14, 2020

Trump, who changed his residence to south Florida during his first term as president, has said he mailed in his ballot to vote in the state’s Republican primary election in March from the White House. 

Rahm’s comments come as there are increasing concerns about in-person voting in the Nov. 3 presidential election due to the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats have pushed for mail-in voting as a way to prevent large crowds at polling locations, but President Trump and his allies have expressed concern over potential voter fraud that they believe could ensue. 

The debate about mail-in voting also comes as the U.S. Postal Service is hemorrhaging money and could go bankrupt this fall due to decreased use because of the pandemic. House Democrats allocated $25 billion in direct funding for the agency in the $3 trillion stimulus package they introduced this week. 

“I know the president, who shall not be named, wants to preserve the right for the Russians to have a vote here,” Rahm said. “I just want to make sure the Americans have a right to vote too.”