Atlantic It published an article claiming that former President Donald Trump had promised Christian supporters that he would end the election if he were to become president in 2025.
AtlanticBrian Klass I have written:
Former President Donald Trump told a group of supporters yesterday that if he is elected president, he won’t have to vote again. “You won’t have to vote anymore,” Trump said at the Turning Point Believers Summit in Florida. “The problem will be solved. It’s OK. My beautiful Christian people, you don’t have to vote anymore.”
Trump’s comments mark a stunning departure from American democratic norms: Rarely has a major party presidential candidate directly stated a desire to invalidate elections — a notorious feature of authoritarian regimes.
This comment can be interpreted in at least two ways. First, Trump could be suggesting that there will be no future elections if he comes to power. He may be imagining himself as America’s Xi Jinping, a dictator for his own China. Praise regularlyis a leader who has declared himself “president for life.” But as always, Trump’s remarks left plenty of room for plausible deniability. A second, and slightly more generous, interpretation of his remarks is that Trump believes that his presidency has entrenched many pro-Christian policies in the U.S. government and that future elections will not realistically allow him to undo the changes he has made to the country. Either interpretation leads to the same conclusion: Trump is openly signaling his authoritarian intentions, hoping to sever the connection between voters and government policies.
There is actually a third possibility, or rather probability: Trump may have been mocking Christian voters, who are generally wary of participating in electoral politics, telling them that if he won the election, his vote would be so secure that they would no longer be needed to overcome possible Democratic fraud.
Trump was speaking at a “Believe and Vote” event aimed at encouraging Christians to get involved in the democratic process.
Below is Trump’s full remarks.
We will protect innocent lives, we will restore freedom of speech in this country. And I will make our elections secure. As I said, our goal is to one day vote with paper ballots, proof of citizenship, and something called voter ID. (Applause.) When I negotiate with the Democrats, I always negotiate with them on this. I say, “If we’re going to fix our voting laws, we have to start with voter ID.” Everybody says, “No way!” and the discussion doesn’t go any further. I say, “We need voter ID. It’s called voter identification.” And they say, “No, we’re not going to do it.” There’s only one reason why they do that. Because they want to cheat. There’s only one reason. At their national convention, they’re going to put voter tags that are bigger than their chest, depending on who’s, whose chest they’re talking about. Anything bigger than this, I like this. It’s all recorded: name, serial number, middle name, past addresses. Otherwise you can’t get into the Democratic National Convention. But when it comes to voting, one of the most important things you can do, probably the most important thing in many ways, is that you don’t want to approve voter ID. That’s because they want to cheat. But until then, the Republicans have to win. We have to win this election. This is the most important election we’ve ever had. (Applause.) We want a landslide victory that can’t be rigged. If you want to save America, get all your friends, family, and acquaintances together and vote. Vote early, vote absentee, vote on Election Day. I don’t care how, but you’ve got to get out and vote. And I say again, Christians, get out and vote. Just this once. (Applause.) You don’t have to vote anymore. Four more years and we’ll figure it out. We’ll solve the problem. You don’t have to vote anymore. My beautiful Christians. Christians, I love you. I’m not a Christian, but I love you. Get out there. Get out and vote. Four more years and you don’t have to vote anymore. We’ll figure it out. You don’t have to vote anymore.
Atlantic They are also responsible for the “idiots and losers” hoax, an unfounded claim that Trump has mocked veterans and fallen soldiers in the past – a claim that has been refuted by nearly a dozen witnesses, including some who dislike Trump.
The idea that Trump would somehow end the election fits into Democrats’ messaging that he is a “threat to democracy” — a message that conservatives believe contributed to the dangerous, rancorous political climate that led to the assassination attempt on Trump earlier this month.
Ironically, Klass argued on MSNBC in 2021 that many Trump supporters are “so deep in a hole of conspiracy theories” that it’s nearly impossible to “de-brainwash” them.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
