“Get out and vote just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore,” former President Donald Trump told the crowd at a far-right Christian rally in Florida on Friday. “Four more years it will be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”
Asked about that comment Sunday, Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu dismissed it as a “classic Trumpism,” downplaying the former president’s threat to democracy. “Obviously we want everybody to vote in all elections, but I think he was just trying to make a hyperbolic point that it can be fixed as long as he gets back into office and all that," he said on ABC’s "This Week."
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., responded similarly when asked about the comment on CNN.
“I think he’s obviously making a joke about how bad things had been under Joe Biden, and how good they’ll be if we send President Trump back to the White House so we can turn the country around,” Cotton said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., laughed off Trump’s remark on CBS’s Face the Nation and said that the former President was merely implying that “the nightmare that we’re experiencing will soon be over.”
“He's trying to tell the Christian community and anybody else who's listening, the nightmare that we're experiencing will soon be over, give me four more years and I'm gonna ride this ship called America and pass it on to the next generation,” he told CBS in attempt to explain the intent behind Trump’s comment.
While Republicans view Trump’s remarks lightly, Democrats do not. Many have said Trump's remark comes off as a threat.
“The only way ‘you won’t have to vote anymore’ is if Donald Trump becomes a dictator,” wrote Rep. Danield Goldman, D-N.Y., on X.
“This year democracy is on the ballot, and if we are to save it, we must vote against authoritarianism," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote on X. "Here Trump helpfully reminds us that the alternative is never having the chance to vote again,”
