“I don't care how, but you have to get out and vote,” Trump told the crowd at Turning Point Action’s Believer’s Summit. “Christians get out and vote. Just this time. You won't have to do it anymore.”
“In four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians,” Trump added during his 70-minute long speech. “We'll have it fixed so good. You're not going to have to vote.”
When people tell you who they are, believe it. Trump is going all in on christofascist authoritarianism. There will be no American democracy if he wins. People really need to set aside minor differences, participate in volunteering for Democrat campaigns, and vote blue. This needs to be spread wide and far via social networks, and any attempts to minimize it should be met with forceful condemnation.
Trump doesn't care about Christians or Republicans. The deal is, he gets to be the center of attention and above the law. In exchange, he does whatever the Republicans want. He's too shallow, entitled and stupid to be passionate about anything except his image.
I'm like 80% sure Trump doesn't want to end democracy. He just wants more attention, power, and to protect himself when he goes out after 4 years. He said what he said here not because democracy will be over, but because he can't serve another term as president anymore, and he literally doesn't care what happens after as long as he's setup well, so "christians don't have to vote anymore", since he'll not be involved anymore.
That said, the people he does favors for or listens to want to end it as much as possible.
If he stopped talking after the first paragraph then there is room for interpretation. The second paragraph about having this things "fixed" makes it pretty clear what he means.
If he'd be smart, he'd say "we'll have done such a good job governing that almost everyone will be convinced and vote republican anyway, so Christians don't need to go out anymore"
This dumbass has made enough career ending faux-pas and declarations as to disgrace a dozen or so Congresses worth of politicians, and yet here we are. The desensitization is complete, he can just flatly announce his intention of ending democracy in the middle of an incoherent tirade, and people will cheer.
It really helps understanding how past autocrats got into power.
Look, some part of me is still hoping Trump has a real “come to god” moment in which he realizes that he really needs to take responsibility for what he’s done. I’ve never hoped that Trump had a disastrous presidency, but I was always prepared for it.
And quite honestly, I’m not sure Trump /wants/ to be president so much as he does wants “immunity” for his crimes and he realizes he can become filthy rich abusing his power. I don’t think he wants any of the real responsibility
The way I see it, they think Trump "won" in 2020 so they don't even have to vote right now. Your work here is done, Christians, take a nice vacation on election day.
People are taking this as an authoritarianism warning sign--that he'll end democracy--but that's the baby version of events. How do we know he doesn't plan to just end the world by starting WW3? Or by executing everyone he doesn't like (e.g. evangelical Christians who he has said in private to many people that he can't stand them)?
He says he only needs to be a dictator for one day. There's only so much you can do in one day. Starting WW3 by sending out the nukes is one of those things.
This is where Project 2025 enters the chat. They plan to use Schedule F to change the classification of civil servants and make them political appointments. Then instead of just top people that swap out to help the new administration meet goals, they swap out thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of civil servants with fascist friendly bodies looking to rubber stamp anything Trump wants to do.
So they could replace prosecutors all over the country with no "appetite" for prosecuting anyone aligned with Trump. Good luck bringing anything about voting rights before a court, unless it's how Republicans should have won despite a complete lack of evidence. They plan to dismantle the EPA, NOAA, education and on and on. He will have the power to do anything his dementia riddled brain can think up. And taking power back after handing it over to a fascist regime using Project 2025 as the play book is going to involve another civil war.
He already tried a coup once. He's incompetent, but give him four years...
(Of course, very possible he just keels over dead by then, but Vance is more competent. Or at least, he'll listen to Daddy Peter Thiel who'll tell him what to do.)