Here’s what Trump told a Christian group on Friday, July 26, 2024, during an hour-long campaign speech:
“We have to win this election, most important election ever. We want a landslide that’s too big to rig. If you want to save America, get your friends, get your family, get everyone you know and vote. Vote early, vote absentee, vote on Election Day. I don’t care how, but you have to get out and vote. And again, Christians, get out and vote just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.”
(Quoted from PolitiFact here.) What did he mean when he said if he’s elected, they won’t have to vote anymore? It’s very open to interpretation. To Kamala Harris it sounded like a “promise to end democracy,” and many other Democrats heard it that way, too (see story here). Others, particularly Republicans, disputed that interpretation.
But when Reuters asked the Trump campaign, a spokesman skirted the question, responding with a canned statement about “uniting the country” (see story here). And when Trump appeared on Fox host Laura Ingraham’s show on Monday, July 29, he “gave a meandering answer that didn’t answer the question;” eventually, he explained it was about turnout:
“Christians are not known as a big voting group. They don’t vote, and I’m explaining that to ‘em. You never vote. This time, vote. I’ll straighten out the country, you won’t have to vote anymore. I won’t need your vote.”
(See story here.) That, itself, is less than perfectly clear, but it could mean something like “I won’t be running again, so I want your votes this one last time.” But those aren’t his words, those are my words, and a merely theoretical interpretation. The fact is, I don’t know what he meant.
Vanity Fair zeroed in on Trump’s refusal to clarify his words on the Ingraham show. (Read their article here.) “At first, Ingraham offered him the opportunity to backpedal and assure people he has no intent to interfere with future elections. … But the ex-president declined the lifeline.”
When Ingraham tried again, he veered into “lack of voting by gun owners,” and by now “Ingraham basically started begging” Trump to rebut Democratic attacks. She said, “It’s being interpreted—as you are not surprised to hear—by the left as, well, ‘They’re never going to have another election.’ So can you even just respond—”
Trump, after complaining again about Christian turnout, responded, “Don’t worry about the future. You have to vote on November 5. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore. I don’t care, because we’re going to fix it. The country will be fixed and we won’t even need your vote anymore, because, frankly, we will have such love, if you don’t want to vote anymore, that’s okay.”
Nowhere in this word salad was a simple clear statement that he has no intention of ending elections, nor any explanation of what “fixing it” means. Which means you have to read this according to your own instincts.
Just a few days later, Trump wouldn’t say whether his running mate is ready to serve as vice president (see story here), which isn’t a difficult job, as the role is largely ceremonial. He also declined to say whether a white cop who killed a black woman should have immunity (see that story here).
For Trump, this is all part of a larger pattern of refusing to be pinned down. But with the question about future elections up in the air, would you trust him to “protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution”? I sure wouldn’t; after all, he didn’t on Jan. 6, 2021.