Here’s a story, and a story about a story. Last night in a speech at the Turning Point USA Believers’ Summit in West Palm Beach, Trump said this (as reported in The Hill):
Former President Trump at a Friday event hosted by the conservative Christian organization Turning Point Action urged Christians to vote, saying they wouldn’t have to do it again if they got out there in November and elected him because “everything” would be “fixed.”
“Christians, get out and vote, just this time,” Trump exclaimed to a cheering crowd in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians” he added.
“I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. 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 going to have to vote,” Trump said.
That sounds a tad sinister to me. And this story is viral all over social media. Here’s the headline at Rolling Stone:
Here’s the Rolling Stone story:
After repeating his usual unfounded claims about mail-in voting, Trump launched into an appeal directed at Christian voters. “Christians, get out and vote!” yelled Trump. “Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed! It’ll be fine! You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians!” He added, “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.”
And here’s the video:
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
So he said this; there isn’t any question. And he appears to be saying that if he’s elected again he’ll “fix” things to establish some kind of permanent dynasty. Now, I question if he actually knows what he’s saying half the time. But there aren’t a whole lot of ways to interpret this that aren’t really, really threatening.
This is the sort of remark that ought to be picked up and used against him, the way Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” and Barack Obama’s “cling to guns or religion” were used against them. And the Democrats had better start driving this.
At least the New York Times picked this up, although I couldn’t find it on their home page,
The Washington Post, however, brushed off the “no more voting” threat with a brief mention in the third paragraph. Instead, WaPo emphasized Trump’s criticisms of Kamala Harris (she’s a “bum,” apparently). Many of the comments attached to the story complained.
Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money:
When I first heard about this I assumed somebody was paraphrasing, and saying that Trump was implying to his Christian supporters (Christian in this context might as well be a synonym for neo-fascist) that they wouldn’t have to vote again if they just vote for him this one time.
But of course not: he’s saying this, very literally — although perhaps not “seriously,” because if he were serious it seems the fact that one of the two major party candidates for president is promising his supporters he’s going to install a dictatorship would get some major media coverage. (Oddly, he also appears to say “I’m not Christian” in the midst of his rant).
Yes, “if he were serious it seems the fact that one of the two major party candidates for president is promising his supporters he’s going to install a dictatorship would get some major media coverage.” You’d think. The Democrats need to raise major stink about this. Again, it’s possible Trump didn’t fully understand what he was saying. I question if he knows what planet he’s on half the time. But, then, if he’s babbling nonsense in his speeches (which he is), why isn’t that the story?
Last month Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic,
Perhaps the greatest trick Donald Trump ever pulled was convincing millions of people—and the American media—to treat his lapses into fantasies and gibberish as a normal, meaningful form of oratory. But Trump is not a normal person, and his speeches are not normal political events.
For too long, Trump has gotten away with pretending that his emotional issues are just part of some offbeat New York charm or an expression of his enthusiasm for public performance. But Trump is obviously unfit—and something is profoundly wrong with a political environment in which he can now say almost anything, no matter how weird, and his comments will get a couple of days of coverage and then a shrug, as if to say: Another day, another Trump rant about sharks.
We all need to raise a major stink with the major news media. Enough.
The Corporate Media wants Trump. People need to stop treating their refusal to cover his scandals, mental incoherence, crimes as something other than rank collaboration. The Media is livid at President Biden, they thought they'd whip him continuously from now until November while ignoring Traitor Trump and then give some tepid last second endorsement of Biden as the lesser of two bands and now that plan is GONE!
Kamala Harris is going to be President and the Media is already helping Republicans platform the most vile racist, bigoted sexist crap.
But, when we fight we win. Let's Fucking Go!
That's what it looks like, but it makes no sense.
From a money-making POV it makes perfect sense. and dollars, too.
donnie is a drama queen. period.
Drama drives interest/curiosity.
Interest/curiosity drives cash.
side note: Kill Citizens United.
“From a money-making POV it makes perfect sense. and dollars, too.” Like I just told uncledad, that used to be true, but it hasn’t been true for some time. News media in general have been losing money for some time, and reporting on Trump isn’t helping. The recent volatile news cycle has brought readership up a bit, but I understand it’s still low compared to past election years.
Yes, I believe reported "profits" are way down. I am willing to jump to a profits excuse when the few remaining options include foreign intervention (See Marcy Wheeler at Emptywheel.net)
I agree with you.
"That's what it looks like, but it makes no sense. "
Trump is a content generator. For wing-nut media he says all the hateful shit their viewers love so he gets eyeballs, he's a money maker. For msnbc the last six years have pretty much been nothing but Stump, scandals in office, impeachments and for the last three years almost 100% coverage of his legal woes. Our corporate media is only interested in one thing, eyeball, views, clicks and Stump get them what they want. If we had an actual news media in this country Stump would have never even been elected. But we don't we have a tabloid fashioned media that runs on rumor and scandal. TRump is their man!
“Trump is a content generator.” That was true in 2016; it isn’t true any more. People are tired of Trump. News media have been in a major slump for some time, and Trump’s antics haven’t been helping them. Recently it’s rebounded a bit with all the unprecedented stuff going on, but it’s still way down for an election year. Usually news media clean up in election years, but instead they’ve been laying people off.
a quote from the 3rd paragraph of the first excerpt in Maha's post (from The Hill)…T F G said:
"…my beautiful Christians…"
No, they are not "his". They are not his chattel. They are not his "protectees". They are his marks.
They are also our fellow citizens. The disturbing thing is this: Like marks, authoritarian followers willingly place themselves in subordination to the con man leader. IMO for many of these Americans, they do not have strong confidence in their own ability to figure out truth vs. baloney (likely based on life experience of making bad judgments)… and so they require a structure of "authority" (as in an authority on stamp collecting, or an authority on football). And the problem is that they don't possess a means to distinguish an actual authority from a con man. All they can go by is if the person sounds like he/she knows what they're talking about.
Con men know this. In fact, I believe that is part of the origin of the term "confidence man"… if you speak with a high degree of confidence, a lot of people will believe any ridiculous thing you say.
When Trump says things like this we better start believing him and not be so quick to brush it off as the gibberish rantings of a demented old con man. Trump is not a smart man; when he talks about governing its usually something that has been fed to him or validated by others with more nefarious goals, (think Project 2025) and here I'm thinking the likes of Bannon, Stone, Miller and many more. He's said more than once that he wants to invalidate the Constitution, serve a third term, use the government to go after his political enemies, and never leave office, in which case there'd be no need for voting. The SC has already ruled in favor of presidential immunity from crimes; they have shown a willingness to use the courts to support Trump with essentially political rulings, the law be damned. And any attempt, no matter how mild, to raise up against any anti-constitutionality on Trump's part would give him what he wants, an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act, and if he did I have no doubt the SC would back him up on it. Remember, beyond money, image and golf, Trump has shown little passion for anything, but he is obsessed with and admires the power of dictators. Implementing Schedule F, resulting in lackeys installed up and down in government and the military, who's going to man the guardrails?
The right considers themselves "real America" but they are deathly afraid of when white America becomes a minority. There's the unfounded fear that "they" will do to us what we did to "them." Couple that with the zero sum view of government and resources that've always had, and its little wonder why many Trump supporters are saying Trump losing would be a disaster. It was bad enough when Biden was running, now that its Harris, what they fear most, a black woman running the country is a nightmare scenario. They see Trump as their last chance to get out ahead of the coming minority status of white people, and secure power over and above what democracy and the constitution would allow.
We need to take Trump seriously and act accordingly, this may be our last chance to save democracy and save the country from a real disaster. What's scary is many of not most voters don't get the potential implications of what it might mean for them. Once in power, Trump and the GOP will be very hard to dislodge, even with the vote. Trump has literally told us that, and we better start believing him.
Trump was making promises at the bitcoin conference also, which seems to have the rhetoric of the old gold bugs. It is down on the American dollar and has that Libertarian slant on paper money that is quite odd. The US dollar is quite a strong currency and is respected over the world. It is the reserve currency of the world and as such gives us quite a benefit in world finance. It is generally understood in financial circles that it is not at all in the best interest of any citizen to favor a weaker dollar or an alternative currency to the US dollar. Such a move only favors our adversaries. Trump also seems to favor these same authoritarian countries, and does, it seems, plan an authoritarian takeover of the United States. It must be stopped.
It seems Kamala is going to be strong enough to pull this off. She has a 20-point advantage with the younger voters. We need a strong top of the ticket and as much grass roots support as we can get. We must have the younger voters turn out and vote against this absurdity. Red dog Republicans who do not favor Russia, the traditional Republican before Trump. can be helpful here. As fundraising has been at record levels, the media will bend to the money. They are in business to sell ads you know.
The hush money trial showed Trump will use any method, legal or not, to win. 1/6 showed that he will resort to violence. He has not even admitted he lost the last election much less condemned the violent attempts or any other fraudulent attempts to steal that one. Rather than that he attempts to paint his insurrection attempts as heroic and patriotic. It is going to take a 100, strong days at least to get this job done. We need to do it well. Let the media know if you think they are biased. Turn them off or get them turned off. They profit from eyes and ratings. Make sure they don't get them without a battle. Networks like Fox, who have been proven to push lies need to be boycotted. It is amazing, they are using our freedom to take away our freedom and our country. Do not let them do it.
I had assumed that someone told him that, if he wins again, they'll be able to capture enough of the federal judiciary they'll have permanent Republican rule. If they get the Senate and White House, I'd assume they'd expand the SCOTUS to 13 judges (never "justices" again), to "protect it from the radical left".
So (my assumption went), he's repeating what he heard, filtered through his lack of understanding of, well, everything.
IMO – Trump was trying to grab back the news cycle with a preposterous quote that the media would go after like a fish goes after a wiggling worm on a hook. And they did. Harris pivoted quickly with a response that ALSO was quote-worthy and that became half of the story. Which means Trump failed to get the spotlight off Kamala.
IMO – (again) Trump wants to grab the media center ring and take all the oxygen of the daily news cycle every day. Contrast that with Biden who simply couldn't be "interesting" or "news-worthy" – which left Trump free to dominate. Covering Kamala is kryptonite to Trump – watch how long it takes Trump to demand the media stop talking about her.
As others have observed, the industry of the media looks like street hookers in the red light district who spots a guy alone in a Corvette cruising slowly. The depth of the wallet is estimated by the media based on clicks and other media measures. People (not Kamala's campaign) are making and distributing memes, which are going viral. She raised over 130 million dollars in her first week, most of it from first-time donors. People are volunteering for her campaign (100,000) – all of that is irresistible media catnip. Whoever covers Kamala will get ratings – whoever pans her will lose ratings.
Trump is screaming – "Look at me!" with this stunt. Kamala's response – "Yes, look. He's old, fat, and stupid with fascist aspirations – and he's weird" I think the last aspersion is a very deliberate and effective blow. That Trump is a threat to democracy is a fact, but somebody noted that we're elevating Trump to the level of importance that Hitler has. If Harris can redirect media attention to Trump's electric boat vs shark fantasy, low-info voters who found strong-man Trump sexy may have second thoughts when they see lunatic Trump.
The actual big news of the day was brought to you by Fox News in the results of a poll of four of the battleground states – the poll done AFTER Biden bowed out. Generally, polling suggests Harris has erased Trump's lead, about a 6-point change nationally, but looking at the battleground states and comparing it to the previous numbers in the battleground states says we're back to where Biden was in MAY in the battleground states.
Harris Trump
Michigan 49% 49%
Minnesota 52% 46%
Pennsylvania 49% 49%
Wiisconsin 49% 50%
Those poll results are from 3 days ago. IMO, we re probably up in all 4 polls if the census was done again now. Trump campaign mouthpieces are saying they expected this bump but it will settle back down to the previous level. Why, the numbers should go back down, they don't explain.
I'm not saying the race is over. I'm saying that at worst, we probably have a tie. But the momentum is on our side. If Harris gained one point per month across the board from now til election day, Trump would be so soundly defeated that his claims of fraud will be laughed out of the most sympathetic court. One percent per month is extremely ambitious until you consider she moved the ball five percent in one week.
If/when internal polling tells Trump he's lost the path to victory I think he will dump Vance as an excuse and see if appointing Hannibal Lector as VP improves things When polling says that didn't work either (no matter who he picks) Trump will agree to debate as if he had not been running away from the debate for two months. And I hope that will be the final nail in his coffin because I think Harris can do what Biden could not. (And I am NOT slamming Biden – I should be as good at age 81. But don't ask anyone to run a marathon at age 81 or face off against the torrent of lies you can expect from Trump.)