Over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cryptically told a crowd of his followers that they wouldn’t have to vote again if he is elected president later this year.
Trump’s statement only compounds concerns about his plans to curtail democratic rights should he return to the White House, political commentators and historians have noted.
In his comments at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump claimed he was a Christian — likely an attempt to pander to the Christian nationalism that has taken hold of his far right base.
“Christians, get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore,” Trump said during his Friday night speech.
Seconds later, he said that things will “be fine” if he’s elected, adding “you won’t have to vote anymore.”
Trump reiterated the claim for good measure.
“You gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again,” he said.
Commentators noted that Trump’s statement serves as further evidence of his authoritarianism — along with his vow to be a temporary dictator if he’s elected and his demand in 2022 for the “termination” of the Constitution to unlawfully reinstate him as president.
“Candidly, I don’t completely understand what he means. I don’t want to have to worry about what he means. It’s yet another reason why we’ve got to make sure he doesn’t get reelected,” said Pete Buttigieg, who is currently the secretary of transportation in the Biden administration and an option to be Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s vice presidential nominee.
“HE IS ANNOUNCING THAT HE WILL BE A DICTATOR,” wrote Yale history professor Joanne Freeman on the social media website X. “Please don’t look away. This is real. This is here.”
“I have studied dictatorship for decades and this is it. … Trump will never leave office if he wins in November,” said NYU history professor and expert on authoritarianism Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
Some Republicans tried to defend Trump’s comments, claiming they were not meant to be taken seriously.
“I think that was a classic Trumpism, if you will. … Obviously, we want everybody to vote in all elections, but I think he was just trying to make a hyperbolic point that it can be fixed as long as he gets back in office,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) told ABC News. “Classic Trump right there.”
The Harris campaign denounced Trump’s words, noting that he has displayed a pattern of anti-democratic beliefs and actions.
“Our democracy is under assault” by Trump, a statement from the campaign for the Democratic candidate for president said, citing, among other items, Trump’s refusal to accept his election loss on January 6, 2021.
“This campaign, [Trump] has promised violence if he loses, the end of our elections if he wins, and the termination of the Constitution to empower him to be a dictator to enact his dangerous Project 2025 agenda on America,” the statement went on, adding that Trump “wants to take America backward, to a politics of hate, chaos and fear.”
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