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IT’LL BE FIXED!  
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Edward Carver
July 27, 2024
CommonDreams
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_ Trump Tells Supporters No Need to Vote in the Future _

Republican nominee Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a
far-right Christian rally in south Florida on July 26, 2024., Chandan
Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

 

Republican nominee Donald Trump
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rally-goers at a far-right Christian event in West Palm Beach, Florida
that they needed to vote "just this time" and wouldn't need to do so
after four more years, raising concern from critics about his
commitment to democracy.

"Christians, get out and vote!" the former president told attendees of
the event, hosted by the far-right
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youth advocacy group Turning Point Action. "Just this time. You
won’t have to do it any more, four more years, you know what? It'll
be fixed! It'll be fine. You won't have to vote any more, my beautiful
Christians."

"Get out–you gotta get out and vote," he added. "In four years, you
don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not
gonna have to vote."

Trump's words left some ambiguity as to his intentions, but the
implication that further elections wouldn'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.

"When we say Trump is a threat to democracy, this is exactly what
we’re talking about," Caty Payette, communications director for Sen.
Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), wrote
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media.

Katie Phang, an _MSNBC_ host, interpreted Trump's remarks to mean that
he would try to remain in power indefinitely, if reelected.

"In other words, Trump won’t ever leave the White House if he gets
reelected," she wrote
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Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann read Trump's comments the same
way, writing
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just cancelled the 2028 election."

Though Trump's Friday remarks received attention on social media, they
were not initially well covered by major U.S. news media outlets. _The
Guardian_, a U.K.-based newspaper with a large U.S. presence, did
cover
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the story, drawing praise
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media users, several of whom called for
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Times_ and _The Washington Post_ to cover the story. The
_Times_obliged
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late Saturday morning.

If Trump's remarks didn't dominate the U.S. media cycle, it may be
because they weren't taken seriously. But experts on authoritarianism
warn against such complacency.

"Trump has worked very hard to condition Americans to accept
authoritarianism as a superior form of government," Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a
historian based at New York University, told
[[link removed]]_Project
Syndicate_ last month, saying it was part of "an emotional
re-training."

Trump pledged
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to be a dictator on "day one," if reelected, though he said he
wouldn'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 "vermin
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He and his allies have threatened to prosecute their political
enemies—political figures and bureaucrats
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power in 2025.

A German observer, pointing to his own country's history, pleaded with
Americans to take the Republican nominee's proclamations seriously.

"My German grandparents' generation didn’t take Hitler's manifesto
_Mein Kampf_ seriously at the time," Stefan Rahmstorf, a prominent
oceanographer at the University of Potsdam, wrote
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in response to Friday's night remarks. "They paid a devastating price
for that. I strongly recommend taking very seriously what Trump says."

Critics of the religious right also noted the audience to which Trump
made the remarks, warning that Trump was calling for a Christian
nation.

"He's talking to 'my beautiful Christians' here. And saying they won't
have to vote again," Andrew Seidel, a civil rights attorney and author
of a book critical of Christian nationalism, wrote
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media. "This is not subtle Christian nationalism, he's talking about
ending our democracy and installing a Christian nation."

Right in the middle of Trump's controversial remarks, he appeared to
say that he's not a Christian, and _The Guardian_ initially reported
it that way, though the newspaper later amended its article to remove
the reference. Others didn't hear it that way. Trump said "I am *A*
Christian," drawing out the indefinite article, Seidel argued
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In either case, Trump made his love for his Christian audience clear.

"I love you, Christians, I’m [unclear word] Christian, I love you."

Many Christians seem to love Trump back. A Pew poll from April showed
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that more than 80% of white evangelicals support the Republican
nominee.

Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of
informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the
world a better place.
 

Edward Carver is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
 

* Trump
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* Fascism
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* Christian right
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