Former President Donald Trump has made a surprising admission that he plans to vote early in Florida, despite previously spreading baseless claims for years that the practice is suspect and fraudulent. In a recent interview on Fox & Friends, Trump stated, “Voting early, I guess would be good but people have different feelings about it, but the main thing is you’ve got to get out and you’ve got to vote, and I’ll be voting early.”
Trump’s stance on early voting has been contradictory throughout the years. While he is now encouraging supporters to vote early, he has also criticised the practice in the past. During a rally in Pennsylvania last month, he referred to early voting as “stupid” but still urged his supporters to participate in it. This inconsistency has been a recurring theme in his campaigns, where he alternates between criticising and endorsing early voting.
Interestingly, Republican officials and activists appear to have followed suit in changing their tone on early voting post-2020. RNC chair Michael Whatley, for instance, has encouraged GOP supporters to participate in early voting, a stark contrast to Trump’s previous claims of mail-in voting leading to fraud. Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, has also been actively promoting early voting as part of the “Protect the Vote” tour.
This shift in tone comes after Trump’s controversial remarks in the 2020 election, where he raised concerns about the integrity of the election due to early voting and mail-in ballots. Despite his claims, Trump himself voted by mail in primary elections in 2020, while opting for in-person voting in the presidential elections of 2016 and 2020.
In conclusion, Trump’s decision to vote early in Florida marks a significant departure from his previous rhetoric on the subject. The evolving stance within the Republican party towards early voting reflects a broader shift in attitudes post-2020 election.