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Given Donald Trump’s apparent discomfort with being described as a threat to American democracy, it’s tempting to think the former president would be cautious when talking about voting and elections. And yet the Republican is doing largely the opposite.
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly said that he and his political operation “don’t need” votes — a curious comment from a candidate for public office — which has dovetailed with his latest comments that his Christian supporters “won’t have to vote anymore“ if he wins a second term.
It was against this backdrop that the GOP nominee sat down yesterday with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, who offered Trump multiple opportunities to clarify matters and explain what he meant. It didn’t go especially well.
The host began by saying Trump’s critics are “attacking” him for “ridiculous reasons,” adding, “They’re saying that you said to a crowd of Christians that they won’t have to vote in the future.”
Of course, “they” are saying that because Trump really did tell a Christian audience that that they won’t have to vote in the future.
Nevertheless, the Republican initially responded by talking about his popularity with Christian voters, before shifting his attention to Jewish voters. Eventually, he doubled down on his controversial comments, explaining that Christians “won’t have to vote anymore” after he’s done “straightening out the country.”
It appeared as if the Fox anchor simply wanted Trump to say that he supports democracy and future elections, but the former president apparently didn’t get the hint.
On the contrary, he largely echoed the same point all over again, saying that his “simple” message to Christian voters is, “You have to vote on November 5th. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore.” At that point, Trump added, “We won’t even need your vote anymore.”
It would’ve been very easy for him to say, “Of course we’ll have elections in the future, and of course Americans will be encouraged to participate in their own democratic system.” But that’s not what he said — despite having opportunities to do so.
Following up on our coverage from yesterday, one possible interpretation of Trump’s rhetoric is that he wants the public to believe that by the end of his prospective second term, his far-right vision will be so entrenched in the American system that it will be effectively election-proof.
MAGA world will endure for the indefinite future, the argument goes, so whether the Republican’s followers vote or not in 2028 will be irrelevant — because there will be nothing Democrats can do to reverse what’s been done.
The less charitable interpretation is that Trump envisions a future without elections.
For his part, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas insisted on Sunday that the former president was “obviously making a joke“ with his controversial comments. At no point during Trump’s interview with Fox’s Ingraham did he say he was kidding.