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You are here: Home / Politics / Trump tells West Palm Beach audience that if he’s elected, they won’t have to vote again

Trump tells West Palm Beach audience that if he’s elected, they won’t have to vote again

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Trump West Palm Beach
POSTED 02:13 am Saturday; UPDATED 9:30 am 6:29 pm 11:45 am Sunday, Eastern

As he wrapped up a speech in West Palm Beach on Friday, Donald J. Trump urged the gathered group of Christians to “get out and vote.” He continued:

Vote just this time, you won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years.

You know what? It’ll be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore…

You got to get out and vote. In four years you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good you’re not gonna have to vote… (emphasis added)

The speech location: “The Believers’ Summit” hosted by the conservative organization, Turning Point Faith.

Text of Trump's speech

According to this July 5th letter-to-the-editor at the (Tucson) Arizona Daily Star, the Florida conference isn’t the first time he’s told rally goers “after November, you won’t need to vote anymore.”

The Washington Post corroborates that comment, noting that Trump made similar remarks at a Christian conference in Washington, DC, in June.

Daniel Ziblatt, a professor of government at Harvard, told the Post:

I can’t think of a major candidate for office in any democracy on Earth since at least World War II who speaks in such overtly authoritarian ways, Not Victor Orban in Hungary, not Recep Erdogan in Turkey. Nowhere.

It fits in with the December 2023 interview where Trump told Sean Hannity he wanted to be a dictator only “on day one.”

He also hinted at this theme in March:

“The most important day in the history of our country is going to be November 5,” Trump said. “Our country is going bad. And it’s going to be changed on November 5, and if it’s not changed we’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Note to news organizations: stop “interpreting” Trump’s statements

When people tell you who they are and what they plan to do … believe them. Trump has been frank about his love affair with authoritarian leaders. This is the clearest signal to date that the unsuccessful coup attempt on January 6, 2021 will be followed by another attempt in 2029 should he return to the White House.

Trump is also known for inconsistent messaging. Earlier on Friday, he told Fox and Friends:

“My instruction: We don’t need the votes, I have so many votes.”

The New Republic: “Perhaps it’s another example of the former president and convicted felon’s cognitive decline.”

Initial mainstream news reports were cursory, with a notable exception:

There’s been more headline news as Saturday moved on, illustrating, perhaps, the lack of depth in the weekend newsrooms (to be kind).

Do Christians vote at a reduced rate compared with non-Christians?

I found one research paper that showed a positive correlation between religion and voting (rather than Trump’s claim). And people who attend church services regularly voted for Trump more than Biden in 2020.

In Britain, researchers have demonstrated that there is “greater political engagement among religious individuals, but especially among the Christian population, which also affects their turnout in elections.”

Ditto Australia.

If Trump is speaking, the odds are good that his claims are untruths. For another example, rampant voter fraud is a GOP myth. Stoking fear and grievance is their modus operandi.

Politicians at all levels of government have repeatedly, and falsely, claimed the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections were marred by large numbers of people voting illegally. However, extensive research reveals that fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Watch the speech (or just this portion)

The YouTube clip starts just before Trump explains that the audience will not need to vote again after 2024.

h/t Gernot Wagner, Mastodon and Memeorandum.

 
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The stakes in November have never been more urgent, nor the choices more extreme.

Remember: you are not voting for one person. You are voting for a team.

I’m voting for Team America not Team Russia-Hungary-North Korea.