Some thoughts on the idea that: "We’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote..."

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Donald Trump, a candidate for president of the United States, the other night promised his "beautiful Christian' supporters in attendance at a Turning Point Action event in Florida that if they voted for  him in 2024, "You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”

It is remarkable to see a candidate promise that "you're not going to have to vote" any more if he wins in November. Democracies are fragile things; voting is one of the few ways that citizens can engage in holding elected officials accountable. There has never been a president thus far who has "fixed things" in ways that people no longer need to vote. In fact, as noted by Brian Klass in The Atlantic, "He’s telegraphing his authoritarian intentions in plain sight."

You would never know that, however, from the landing page of yesterday's New York Times that a presidential candidate told a roomful of potential voters two nights ago that if they vote for him in November, they will be done with the onerous work of voting:




The morning version of the NY Times' story focused on Trump's attacks on Harris, though there was brief mention of Trump's promise that his "beautiful Christians" would no longer need to vote if he won this year. Their frame for this statement was an assumption that he meant "if elected he would address their concerns sufficiently enough that they would no longer need to be politically active." This was their approach when they published the story at 8:31 a.m. yesterday. 



No where does Trump suggest anything about being "politically active." He expressly states that no Christians will need to vote ever again if he wins in November. NY Times coverage of this event evolved over the course of the day – this was published at 1:59 p.m. yesterday:


That story was published in the 7/28 print edition, two days after the event. Here are some of the graphs in that story: 


This version grabbed a comment from a Trump spox who claims that what Trump really meant by saying Christians would no longer need to vote if he wins in November is that "President Trump was talking about uniting this country...." 

Imposing a Christian-centric ideology on everyone in America is not a unifying concept; in fact, it is unconstitutional for the federal government to impose a particular religious ideology on American citizens. This seems an issue that is not recognized by the reporters and pundits at the NY Times however. 

NPR also framed the idea that Trump meant with his statement about not needing to vote any more that "Christian-related concerns will be "fixed" so much so that they would no longer need to be politically engaged."



Again, this is an interpretation of Trump's words, not an accurate summary of what he said. 

As Brian Klass notes in his The Atlantic story, "Trump’s remarks represent an extraordinary departure from democratic norms in the United States—rarely, if ever, has a major party’s presidential candidate directly stated his aim to make elections meaningless, a notorious hallmark of autocracy."

We cannot shrug off statements by a candidate for POTUS who makes the claim he will enact policies that will make it so that Christians no longer have to vote. It should not take several revisions for the paper of record to focus their story on the event that a presidential candidate is suggesting actions will be taken to ensure Christians do not need to vote any more. Claims that a president can "fix" things so people will no longer need to vote any more are a major concern, not something to gloss over. 

Some questions I wish national news media reporters would ask Trump:

1) What broken thing needs fixing so that the fixing of that thing will persuade Christians not to "politically engage" any more in the electoral process?2) How can a president fix anything that would make it so Christians would not feel compelled to vote any more? 3) What are the actions he will be taking to ensure this will happen for Christians? 4) Why is it okay for any presidential candidate to suggest that things can be fixed in ways that mean his "beautiful Christians" no longer need to vote?
A candidate for president claims he can "fix" things so that Christians will no longer need to vote. That is a remarkable statement, and since it comes from a man who incited violence at the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the last election he lost, it is a statement that deserves a much fuller investigation from the national news media. 

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