Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday repeatedly prodded former President Trump over his comments at a conservative Christian summit, where he told attendees they won’t have to vote anymore after November.
Trump did little to push back on the backlash over his remarks, as some Democrats have suggested the former president was saying there would be no more elections if he won. Instead, Trump repeatedly argued his comments were because Christians do not vote in large numbers, and he offhandedly questioned Jewish voters who support Democrats.
“That statement is very simple. I said vote for me, you’re not going to have to do it ever again. It’s true, because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group,” Trump said.
“This time vote. I’ll straighten out the country, you won’t have to vote anymore. I won’t need your vote. You can go back to not voting,” he added.
“You meant you won’t have to vote for you because you have four years in office. Is that what you meant?” Ingraham asked.
When Trump did not directly answer, Ingraham pointed out that some liberals were interpreting Trump’s original remarks to mean there would not be another election. Trump said he had not heard that criticism previously, and he repeated his argument that Christians tend not to vote in large numbers.
“Christians do not vote well. They vote in very small percentages. Why, I don’t know. Maybe they’re disappointed in things that are happening,” Trump said. “I say, 'You don't vote. I’m saying go out, you must vote.' But I said to the Christians in the room, thousands of them. I said typically, Christians do not vote.
“Don’t worry about the future,” he continued. “You have to vote on Nov. 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 ... We won’t even need your vote anymore because, frankly, we will have such love.”
Trump on Friday addressed Turning Point Action's "Believers Summit" in Florida. He urged Christians to back him for a second term in a race against Vice President Harris and closed out his remarks by urging attendees to vote in November.
“You won’t have to do it anymore … You got to 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,” Trump said.
Some Democrats, including the Harris campaign, jumped on the remarks as a sign Trump would rule as an authoritarian and do away with elections if he is victorious. They have similarly highlighted Trump's comments that he would only be a dictator for one day if reelected to enact sweeping energy and immigration changes.
“When Vice President Harris says this election is about freedom she means it,” Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.
Others have pushed back on that interpretation, including former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield.
“I think he is saying I won’t be on the ticket either way, so who cares,” she posted on the social platform X. “Which is hideously damning in its own right, cause this is what the Republican Party has turned itself inside out and shredded its credibility for — to become a stan account for this one awful, narcissistic guy.”
