Trump has told his supporters they won’t have to vote in the future. “It’ll be fixed,” the criminal Republican candidate for president told a gathering of Christian nationalists in Florida this weekend.
He predicted that the 2024 election would be the last one if he wins. He begged them to vote for him “just this time, then in four years you won’t have to vote again.”
The alarming remarks were made at the “Believers Summit,” hosted by the extreme right group, Turning Point Action. It is the advocacy wing of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an organization that presents itself as a conservative student group but uses any and all tactics to impose its positions on high school, college, and university campuses around the country.
TPUSA is run by conservative media personality and Trump family friend Charlie Kirk, and it has absorbed various youth-oriented groups, including Students for Trump. It also operates “Turning Point Faith,” which aims to bring pastors and church leaders into line with right-wing political directives.
It has been funded and overseen by major Republican donors and influencers, including marketing billionaire Bill Montgomery; Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas; Wall Street mogul Foster Friess; oil lobbyist Barry Russell; and several others.
At the Turning Point Action conference addressed by Trump this weekend, mobilizing religious extremism was the top item on the agenda.
Speaking to the faithful, the Republican nominee repeated his ominous prediction, promising, “You know what, It’ll be fixed! It will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians,” he said as he shook his head and placed his hand on the pledge position on the left side of his chest.
“I love you,” Trump declared. “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.”
“In other words, Trump won’t ever leave the White House if he gets re-elected,” said NBC commentator Katy Phang, appearing on television immediately after Trump’s remarks.
The constitutional and civil rights attorney Andrew Seidel replied on X: “This is not a subtle Christian nationalist talking. Trump is talking about ending democracy and installing a Christian nation.”
TPUSA leader Kirk and the Turning Point Faith division of his operation push an extremist interpretation of the Book of Revelations in the Christian Bible. Their message is that a 1,000-year period of Christian rule will be imposed on the entire planet, so therefore there is no need to be concerned about preserving a pluralist democracy.
While Trump was predicting an end to elections while congregating with the Turning Point crowd, he was also calling this past week to grant immunity to cops who shoot, maim, and kill people. Essentially, in order to “do their job,” police officers have to be made judge, jury, and, if necessary, executioner.
The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has been signaling its intention to escalate the movement to combat the attacks on democracy. After only a week, the Harris for President operation has seen a surge in the polls and generated enormous grassroots financial support and the backing of many lawmakers.
Just this weekend, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont added his name to the list of endorsements. He had been holding off for a few days, he said, to ensure that the Harris campaign took up issues important to the working class. He said that these issues were essential to include in the platform if the campaign wants to win more support from the white working class than Democratic presidential candidates have gotten in the recent past. He also emphasized, though, that speaking to those issues is critical to securing backing from all sections of the working class.
He said he held off on making an endorsement until he could discuss those issues with Harris herself. Among them are expansion of Medicare to include dental and hearing coverage and strengthening, not just saving, Social Security by lifting caps on what wealthier people have to pay. Other issues included increases in the minimum wage, living wages for all workers, and, as UAW President Shawn Fain has said, “getting time back.”
That last issue speaks to the fact that millions of people have to work two or even three jobs, seven days a week, in order to support a family. This is a major problem across all working-class demographics.
Those issues are connected to the fight to save democracy, Sanders said, because, without democracy, the legal avenues to struggle for these working-class gains will be shut off.
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