From Donald Trump during a rally in Florida:
I'm not Christian.
I'm sure he meant to say "I'm a Christian," but his mind's not really all there these days. Alternatively, this is what's known as a Kinsley gaffe, where you accidentally tell the truth.
This was all part of a passage in his speech where Trump told the crowd they would never have to vote again if he won in November. This is being interpreted as a promise to end democracy, but no fair reading supports this. It was just a normal Bizarro world blend of Trump's narcissism and his ego. He's never really cared whether his fans vote for anyone else as long as they vote for him, and that's what's going on here. He's telling them, just vote for me this one time and that's all that matters. In four years America will be so great you won't have to bother voting again.
Or, who knows? Maybe he's promising the rapture will come on his watch and God will do all the voting after that. With Trump these days you really never know for sure.
Trump: You have to get out and vote. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won’t have to vote again. pic.twitter.com/DBGcBr3Wht
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2024
I might be the only person commenting who agrees with Kevin here.
Folks looking for Trump's anti-democratic tendencies can certainly read into things here, but a fair listening to me suggests its more like he is talking off the cuff in that Trump bizarro conversational style about how great his 2nd term will be or maybe something about how after this election you won't need to vote for me. You kind of have to WANT it to mean that he will not be countenancing elections after a next term to get to that conclusion. Dude really does "own the Libs..."
He was, according to his own words, the best president ever for four years. So why the fuck couldn’t Christian’s stop voting in 2020?
yup.
He's being used. It's not Trump we have to worry about per se. But who ever will be pulling the levers of power behind the curtain if he manages to win. Project 2025 is the real threat. Trump is just a means to that end.
Full statement:
My beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm not Christian. I love you.
He's plugging "Christian" into his rote template to appeal to whatever group he's wooing, while being truthful (!) that he's an outsider. E.g.
My beautiful Mormons. I love you Mormons. I'm not a Mormon. I love you.
My beautiful crypto bros. I love you crypto bros. I'm not into crypto. I love you.
He screwed up when he used "Christian" because that's a majority, and he always want's to claim membership in those groups.
????. He's in a state of constant pandering. The promises and lies are going to get so much worse.
I think you nailed that @Dana, nicely done. That explanation makes sense out of what is otherwise a pretty weird statement. Plausibility is not PROOF, but it sure has the ring of being right.
Dana-
You crystalized my old man ramblings about Trump
It's all about branding
Trump looks at "Christians" as a brand of religion that has existed for thousands of years. this is the reason why he believes there will not have to be another election after 2024.
I fervently believe that he wants a family member to be his VP (particularly Junior)
If there is no election in 2028 who ascends to the throne? Yup, he would prefer another Trump. Who would object to that on the GOP side? No one! Why? Laura holds the purse strings for the RNC. Who better to influence republican thinking than her? "Allow Trumps to run the government or no more funding for you"!!!!!
This way the Trump "brand" stays front and center for the American people to idolize and worship.
The problem here is that Donald has seriously over played his hand. The old guard republican party either doesn't vote, or they vote Dem - just to get rid of the trump stench. DJT is laying it our there for Don Jr, Eric then Barron as the line of succession, and the old guard is now showing signs of out right rebellion.
Kamala Harris has energized the Democrats in a way I haven't seen since JFK. I hope her VP pick at best adds to the energy and at worst doesn't diminish the energy
Seems to me that Trump does not know how to handle Kamala now that he is the old man in the contest and he is pandering to anyone and everyone.
????
I'm in agreement with John Scalzi, who wrote:
The most charitable reading of that is that Trump is saying his next administration will be so popular that whomever succeeds him will win the vote in such an overwhelming landslide that Trump’s most fervent followers don’t have to rouse themselves to leave their couches. But inasmuch as his last administration was such a failure that he ended up being voted out, he then attempted sedition to overturn a fairly decided election, and he’s already admitted to planning to be a dictator “on day one” if he gets back in, if you buy into that most charitable reading you are, at best, a dimwitted child. Trump is monologuing his evil plans here, because he has no sense and can’t not. You can most assuredly believe he means it.
" In four years, you won’t have to vote again"
Did anybody see this reported on mainstream media? Just checked some of them, didn't see anything.
because every nitwit in the lamestream media thinks they'll be safe as part of trump's pravda or die sturmer.
in reality, of course, most of them will be dead or incarcerated. even the foxnews & oann ones.
It took a while, but there is finally a fairly lengthy story up on the WaPo site (though it's largely a regurgitation of he said/she said quotes and, at least at the moment, it's found as a subhead to a more prominent story). There's also one in the NYT, though not on the front page of the site but buried in the Politics section.
It was on the front page of the Guardian, and accurately and meaningfully reported there.
Oddly, if you just paste that quote into Google you get all kinds of mainstream media links. WaPo, ABC, CBS, CNN, Guardian, Politico, Reuters etc.
Can't find anything on Fox News though.
Yes, but people don't read news by pasting quotes from my comments into Google. The question is whether people that read online sites like CNN and ABC in the normal way would actually see anything.
Yes. Quite a bit, actually. Assuming you consider the Washington Post, The Guardian, The Atlantic, CNN, MSNBC and too many others mainstream media. You need to get out more.
You are an idiot.
It is now on their pages, but when I checked earlier it wasn't on the front page or the politics page of any of CNN, ABC or CBS. They took their time to get there.
I honestly don't know why you bother to post things like this.
As you note, Emperor Tang has a habit of vague, threatening comments like this. As you note, you don't actually know what he means.
So - serious question - what do you actually mean to convey with this?
So you're certain it is unfair to read his words as being in-line with his other authoritarian actions. But beyond dismissing a plain reading of his words, you just don't know what he did mean.
With that kind of mental flexibility, I think you may be ready for a SCOTUS appointment.
Of course Trump isn't Christian. He is God....
If you go with the literal meaning of the actual words, what Trump said is the simple truth. You don't HAVE to vote; not this year, not next year, not four years from now. However, when the speaker is Trump, taking the literal meaning of his words is sometimes impossible and never wise.
I disagree with Kevin. Interpreting "you won't have to vote again" as a promise to end democracy is an entirely fair reading.
We recently saw Elon Musk promising to give or not to give or to give or not to give money to Donald Trump. Why would he do that? I think it's quite possible that certain individuals are being forced to do the bidding of someone much nastier, someone less seen, someone much like le Diable himself.
Imagine that Donald Trump were being forced to run for president, but that he didn't want to because of his age, energy level, and the dangers of being shot. Those are all quite plausible. Then consider his statements: "not a Christian" is just one example of many. Those could be a way of showing that he's just throwing the election. But what a surprise when his supporters continue to hate Democrats enough to support Donald Trump as the name they know and trust.
Oh what a strange world in which we live.
I think what's so confusing about Trump is he doesn't think like the rest of us. For instance, people argue about whether he's lying or telling the truth. The problem is that the truth doesn't mean anything to him. Everything he says is simply in aid of protecting him from feeling like a failure and making him feel like a winner instead. He's a walking appetite. A black hole of desire, the desire to be powerful. When he says things like this, he isn't telling us a plan. He's telling us what he WANTS, what would satisfy his desires. These desires are the driving force behind what he plans to do, often on the fly, often in the moment. I think you have to take this kind of a statement and stack it with other statements and facts. He has said he'll be a dictator on day one. He has said he will replace the generals as soon as he takes office. He's admired Putin's ability to win elections by such huge margins! (How Putin achieves this doesn't MATTER to him. He doesn't think about it in moral terms, just as a goal.) He tried to plan a coup of sorts. While this statement might not mean that he's standing there with a plan, he is standing there telling us a desire, that he will attempt to fulfill in any way that achieves his goals, should it be offered to him.
Pair Trump’s comments with those of Kevin Roberts
https://www.threads.net/@kamalahq/post/C92_0aGv-St
And this GOP lady out of Washington State:
https://youtu.be/hrd4NHagmEo?si=ikyzTLNeJDG3wH2o
And pretend there’s no cause for worry.
Maybe these nutjobs won’t succeed. There’s a high chance that they’ll fail. But I stopped pretending that this is just Trump being nonsensical. They’re working at this from every angle.