{"id":35209,"date":"2024-07-29T11:58:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T18:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=35209"},"modified":"2024-07-29T11:58:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T18:58:43","slug":"itll-be-fixed-trump-tells-supporters-no-need-to-vote-in-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/29\/itll-be-fixed-trump-tells-supporters-no-need-to-vote-in-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;It&#8217;ll Be Fixed!&#8217;: Trump Tells Supporters No Need to Vote in the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/former-us-president-and-2024-republican-presidential-candidate-donald-trump.jpg?id=52979995&amp;width=1200&amp;height=400&amp;quality=90&amp;coordinates=0%2C73%2C0%2C270\" alt=\"Former US President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Republican nominee Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a far-right Christian rally in south Florida on July 26, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0(Photo by Chandan Khanna\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Republican nominee&#8217;s remarks, at a Christian rally in Florida on Friday night, drew scrutiny from critics who view him as a threat to democracy.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/edward-carver\">EDWARD CARVER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jul 27, 2024 (CommonDreams.org)<a href=\"https:\/\/giving.commondreams.org\/-\/XKQWGZVR\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republican nominee&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>&nbsp;on Friday night told rally-goers at a far-right Christian event in West Palm Beach, Florida that they needed to vote &#8220;just this time&#8221; and wouldn&#8217;t need to do so after four more years, raising concern from critics about his commitment to democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Christians, get out and vote!&#8221; the former president told attendees of the event, hosted by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/mar\/02\/far-right-youth-group-turning-point-charlie-kirk\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">far-right<\/a>&nbsp;youth advocacy group Turning Point Action. &#8220;Just this time. You won\u2019t have to do it any more, four more years, you know what? It&#8217;ll be fixed! It&#8217;ll be fine. You won&#8217;t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Get out\u2013you gotta get out and vote,&#8221; he added. &#8220;In four years, you don&#8217;t have to vote again. We&#8217;ll have it fixed so good, you&#8217;re not gonna have to vote.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump: You have to get out and vote. You won\u2019t have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won\u2019t have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won\u2019t have to vote again. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DBGcBr3Wht\">pic.twitter.com\/DBGcBr3Wht<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Acyn (@Acyn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Acyn\/status\/1817007890496102490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 27, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump&#8217;s words left some ambiguity as to his intentions, but the implication that further elections wouldn&#8217;t be necessary once he took office raised alarms, especially given his history of pro-authoritarian remarks and his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election that he lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When we say Trump is a threat to democracy, this is exactly what we\u2019re talking about,&#8221; Caty Payette, communications director for Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.),&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/catypayette\/status\/1817009504149483996\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie Phang, an&nbsp;<em>MSNBC<\/em>&nbsp;host, interpreted Trump&#8217;s remarks to mean that he would try to remain in power indefinitely, if reelected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In other words, Trump won\u2019t ever leave the White House if he gets reelected,&#8221; she&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KatiePhang\/status\/1817056963777228941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann read Trump&#8217;s comments the same way,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KeithOlbermann\/status\/1817008482966515780\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writing<\/a>: &#8220;Oh. Trump just cancelled the 2028 election.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though Trump&#8217;s Friday remarks received attention on social media, they were not initially well covered by major U.S. news media outlets.&nbsp;<em>The Guardian<\/em>, a U.K.-based newspaper with a large U.S. presence, did&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/jul\/27\/trump-speech-no-need-to-vote-future\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cover<\/a>&nbsp;the story, drawing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/moltencore\/status\/1817205508152918271\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">praise<\/a>&nbsp;from social media users, several of whom&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Halcyon270\/status\/1817033028134142157\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called for<\/a><em>The New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>The Washington Post<\/em>&nbsp;to cover the story. The&nbsp;<em>Times<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/27\/us\/politics\/trump-votes-christians.html?smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obliged<\/a>&nbsp;late Saturday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Trump&#8217;s remarks didn&#8217;t dominate the U.S. media cycle, it may be because they weren&#8217;t taken seriously. But experts on authoritarianism warn against such complacency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Trump has worked very hard to condition Americans to accept authoritarianism as a superior form of government,&#8221; Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian based at New York University,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/onpoint\/how-authoritarian-leaders-dismantle-democracy-trump-orban-netanyahu-meloni-by-ruth-ben-ghiat-2024-06-1-2024-06\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a><em>Project Syndicate<\/em>&nbsp;last month, saying it was part of &#8220;an emotional re-training.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-dictator-day-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pledged<\/a>&nbsp;in December to be a dictator on &#8220;day one,&#8221; if reelected, though he said he wouldn&#8217;t be a dictator after that. He has in the past expressed admiration for strongmen around the world, and has framed his 2024 campaign as one of retribution, even calling his opponents &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/13\/us\/politics\/trump-vermin-rhetoric-fascists.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vermin<\/a>.&#8221; He and his allies have threatened to prosecute their political enemies\u2014political figures and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-schedule-f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bureaucrats<\/a>\u2014if they take power in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A German observer, pointing to his own country&#8217;s history, pleaded with Americans to take the Republican nominee&#8217;s proclamations seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;My German grandparents&#8217; generation didn\u2019t take Hitler&#8217;s manifesto&nbsp;<em>Mein Kampf<\/em>&nbsp;seriously at the time,&#8221; Stefan Rahmstorf, a prominent oceanographer at the University of Potsdam,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rahmstorf\/status\/1817087267229311100\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;on social media in response to Friday&#8217;s night remarks. &#8220;They paid a devastating price for that. I strongly recommend taking very seriously what Trump says.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics of the religious right also noted the audience to which Trump made the remarks, warning that Trump was calling for a Christian nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s talking to &#8216;my beautiful Christians&#8217; here. And saying they won&#8217;t have to vote again,&#8221; Andrew Seidel, a civil rights attorney and author of a book critical of Christian nationalism,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AndrewLSeidel\/status\/1817016564467511556\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;on social media. &#8220;This is not subtle Christian nationalism, he&#8217;s talking about ending our democracy and installing a Christian nation.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right in the middle of Trump&#8217;s controversial remarks, he appeared to say that he&#8217;s not a Christian, and&nbsp;<em>The Guardian<\/em>&nbsp;initially reported it that way, though the newspaper later amended its article to remove the reference. Others didn&#8217;t hear it that way. Trump said &#8220;I am *A* Christian,&#8221; drawing out the indefinite article, Seidel&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AndrewLSeidel\/status\/1817041543020036360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In either case, Trump made his love for his Christian audience clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I love you, Christians, I\u2019m [unclear word] Christian, I love you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many Christians seem to love Trump back. A Pew poll from April\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2024\/04\/30\/voters-views-of-trump-and-biden-differ-sharply-by-religion\/\" target=\"_blank\">showed<\/a>\u00a0that more than 80% of white evangelicals support the Republican nominee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/edward-carver\">EDWARD CARVER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Edward Carver is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/edward-carver\">Full Bio &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican nominee Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a far-right Christian rally in south Florida on July 26, 2024. \u00a0(Photo by Chandan Khanna\/AFP via Getty Images) The Republican nominee&#8217;s remarks, at a Christian rally in Florida on Friday night, drew scrutiny from critics who view him as a threat to&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/29\/itll-be-fixed-trump-tells-supporters-no-need-to-vote-in-the-future\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35209"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35210,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35209\/revisions\/35210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}