Republican nominee Donald Trump on Friday night told 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 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 on social 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 on social media.
Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann read Trump's comments the same way, writing: "Oh. Trump 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 the story, drawing praise from social media users, several of whom called forThe New York Times and The Washington Post to cover the story. The Timesobliged 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, toldProject Syndicate last month, saying it was part of "an emotional re-training."
Trump pledged in December 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." He and his allies have threatened to prosecute their political enemies—political figures and bureaucrats—if they take 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 on social media 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 on social 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.
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 that more than 80% of white evangelicals support the Republican nominee.
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Edward Carver is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
