Former President Donald Trump stirred controversy over the weekend when he told a group of evangelical supporters that they wouldn't "have to vote anymore" if he won the 2024 presidential election.
While many Trump critics saw this as a pledge by the former president to rig or even block future elections from taking place, Washington Monthly writer Bill Scher believes that Trump was actually referring to a get-out-the-vote plan that Scher describes as simply "bonkers."
"Last month I pieced together the bonkers story of how Trump ousted Ronna McDaniel as chair of the Republican National Committee at the urging of Turning Point CEO Charlie Kirk, because she was resisting Kirk's proposal to run point on GOTV," writes Scher. "Some Republicans suggested Turning Point's plan to raise $108 million for his group to boost voter turnout in three states smelled like a 'grift,' yet Trump gave it the green light."
Scher then connects the dots to the fact that Trump was speaking before a Turning Point audience over the weekend, which makes him think that the former president's comments about voting were related to Kirk's plan.
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"The Turning Point strategy is premised on the notion that many 'low propensity' voters are disengaged Christians," writes Scher. "Trump echoed this belief in his remarks. Before he said 'you won't have to vote anymore,' he said, 'Christians have to vote, you know. I don't want to scold you. But do you know that Christians do not vote proportionately. They don't vote like they should. They're not big voters."
The trouble with this, argues Scher, is it's just not true, as evangelicals actually make up a disproportionate percentage of the vote compared to their share of the population as a whole.
Added to this, Scher argues that Trump handing off this kind of operation to Kirk, whose organization does not have a good track record for voter turnout, is flat-out insane.
"It's really crazy to shiv your party chair -- and install your inexperienced daughter-in-law in her stead -- in order to give more responsibility to people with no track record of success," he writes. "Part of the plan cooked up by Turning Point was to have Trump speak at a conference for conservative Christians, lecture them about how they don't like voting, and tell them even if they don't like voting, just do it this one time."
