Trump raises eyebrows for telling Christians they 'won't have to' vote again after him
Former President Donald Trump raised eyebrows during a recent speech at a conservative Christian event when he told Christians they won't have to vote anymore if they re-elect him for a second term this November.
"I don't care how, but you have to get out and vote," the 2024 GOP nominee said at Turning Point Action's Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, last Friday. "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," Trump said.
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"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."
A Wall Street Journal clip of the remark that went viral omitted the last part of his comment that said, "We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote," a fact to which X CEO Elon Musk drew attention on Monday.
"Hmm," Musk tweeted simply, retweeting the WSJ clip side-by-side with the longer version, suggesting that Trump was obviously joking.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2024
The Harris campaign joined multiple mainstream media outlets in framing Trump's comments as a threat to democracy.
"When Vice President Harris says this election is about freedom she means it. Our democracy is under assault by criminal Donald Trump," Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer said, according to ABC News.
"Donald Trump wants to take America backward, to a politics of hate, chaos, and fear — this November America will unite around Vice President Kamala Harris to stop him," he added.
The Trump campaign pushed back, with spokesperson Steven Cheung saying in a statement that Trump "was talking about the importance of faith, uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt."
The wider context of Trump's speech, which spanned for about an hour, included warning of what he presented as the Biden administration's antipathy toward Christians and Jews.
During other portions of his speech, Trump portrayed Harris as a radical leftist who would "appoint hardcore Marxists to the Supreme Court who will shred our Constitution and all of our religious liberties."
Trump also characterized Harris supporters generally as "militantly hostile to people of faith," and made an apparent reference to a politically weaponized Department of Justice under Biden that has been targeting Roman Catholics especially.
"I don't know how a Catholic can vote for the Democrats, because they're after the Catholics almost as much as they're after me," he said.
Trump also presented Harris' positions on issues such as body-mutilating trans procedures being performed on minors or men in women's sports and locker rooms as absurdly liberal.
"Can you imagine? What are we doing?" Trump said when he brought up the trans issue. "You know the whole world is laughing at us — you do know that, right? We've gone whacko."
Trump reiterated his commitment to religious liberty worldwide, and noted during the conclusion of his remarks that America "has always been a nation built, won and sustained by Americans of faith."
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
