Donald Trump has ignited alarm among his critics after telling a crowd of supporters that they won’t “have to vote again” if they return him to the presidency in November’s election.“Christians, get out and vote! Just this time – you won’t have to do it any more,” the Republican former president said on Friday night at a rally hosted in West Palm Beach, Florida, by the far-right advocacy group Turning Point Action.“You know what? It’ll be fixed! It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.”At that point, with a slight shake of his head and his right hand pressed against the left side of his chest, Trump said, “I’m not Christian.” But he added: “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 gonna have to vote.”
More commentary/analysis at The Guardian and thousands of other places this morning.
I hate to say it, but there's really nothing new there.
ReplyDeleteSomehow complacency doesn't seem like the right response.
DeleteRocky, it's "nothing new" but it's the first time he has been so blatant in public. He seems to be entering a "coming out" phase.
DeleteIt will be interesting to me to see how his admission that "I"m not Christian" will be received by the religious right. All of us have known that he has no Christian values or practices and that he is just pimping that faction in the fashion of any con man, but it will be interesting to see how they respond to the statement.
Minnesotastan, are you kidding? I'm on the religious right, and I can tell you that most people will absolutely ignore it. For me, while I will vote for Trump, it's not because he is a Christian, because I don't think he is...at all. Rather, I vote for him because I happen to support his policies far more than that of the Democrats.
DeleteI think millions of Christians would vote Democrat IF IF IF Democrats weren't for abortion and the woke and gender issues. I might even prefer them. Bust as it stands, as a Christian I feel I have little choice but to vote for Trump. To do so rankles, but to NOT do so may very likely mean that the Democrats would return to the White House. And I'd prefer Trump to that.
Out of curiosity, which policies? I ask because polls have shown that there's big misconceptions about the policies of Trump/Biden (with people attributing to the wrong candidate).
DeleteAaron, I'm not kidding, but I will admit that I must be quite naive regarding the viewpoints of the religious right. I only have one small segment of my family in that category. My personal affiliation is currently Episcopal, and my church is what you would call "woke", with female and gay clergy. I don't know what policies Trump advocates that appeal specifically to the religious right and garner such support from them.
DeleteI’m sure we’ll get all the usual “he’s being misinterpreted” defensiveness from his supporters even though the appeal of Trump is supposed to be that he always says exactly what he means and never makes mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIf that was said by a person who you happened to meet somewhere (instead of being DT), how would you react to what they were saying? Would you think them "all there"? or just partly so?
ReplyDeleteHow does the headline (in the Guardian an other places) not include the word dictatorship?
ReplyDeleteThe press is so afraid to call things what they are. It's astonishing.
From Daily Kos member Crashing Vor: "A fellow who once tried to overturn an election pledging to overturn all of them, forever, is certainly newsworthy."
ReplyDelete"President for Life" is a concept manufactured in China like so many cheap and poisonous things, and Trump loves the idea as much as he loves McDonalds. Sure, it's been done elsewhere, but in how many places does an autocrat rules over a billion people?
From PBS in 2018: "President Donald Trump says he thinks it’s great that China’s president now holds that office for life and muses that maybe the U.S. will do the same someday. Trump’s remarks were met with laughter and applause."
It's pretty clear he's saying he's going to do such a wonderful job that the US will be permanently set on "the right path". Not that he'll president 'til death.
ReplyDeleteThe "I'm not a Christian" is a hilarious non sequitur. Of course, they listen to what he means, not what he says. God only knows what he meant.
If Trump himself doesn’t know what he’s saying he’s not mentally capable of being president.
DeleteI believe this is from Karl Rahner. Good makes a plan and works for good outcomes. Evil takes action and calls the outcomes the plan.
DeleteAnother "less bad" (but still bad) meaning he could have had is that if he's not running in the next election, he doesn't care who wins, and neither should his fans. He doesn't care about policy, just winning.
DeleteThe Great American Comedy Show, with clowns and puppets, is sure fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteBut we don't want it to spill over and affect our normal countries, here in the other part of the Western World, do we ?
No. We do not.
Do you think Donald T rump just means he is going to be the dictator of the USA until he dies of orangeness ... or is it that he will make it so that his spawn is automatically sat in that throne A.D.
ReplyDeleteIf I have to 'spell out' what A.D. stands for ....
AD = Anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of the Lord." It's a way of counting years based on the estimated birth of Jesus Christ.
DeleteWhoosh! I'd posit that "A.D." refers to "Anno Donald" or "After Donald".
DeleteA.D. ... after Donald.
DeleteHowever you interpret his confounding statements, he is devoid of character.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be a loooooong election season for you guys.
ReplyDeleteNot really. 100 days is not long. Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 election in June of 2015. Election cycle was 17 months.
DeleteHe's said plenty elsewhere about how he'd like to be a dictator but in this case I read it to mean he wants low-turnout Christians to come out and vote because his reelection will lead to all their desires being met so they won't have to expend the effort to vote in the next election. He's clearly not a Christian, though that might've been a Freudian slip. Honestly, I don't know how believers haven't come to the conclusion that he's the antichrist. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ReplyDeleteI heard him say, in his mush mouthed way, " I love you Christians, I'm a Christian". Though he barely meets any religious requirement to be a Christian, I think he is continually ingratiating himself to whichever audience he wants to love him that day.
ReplyDelete