Donald Trump Wasn’t Serious When He Suggested He Would Appoint Himself President for Life: Republicans
What has been done Donald Trump means when he speak a crowd of supporters to “get out and vote, just this once,” and that in four years they “won’t have to vote again” because “we’ve fixed it so well”? With the former president the same for dictators And authoritarianism in generalhis vows to become a dictator on “day one” of a potential second term, and his noted inability accept election results leading up to his loss, many believed he meant that if he wins in November, we can say goodbye to free and fair elections. But according to some Republicans, that couldn’t be further from the truth!
Talk to ABC This week On Sunday, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu persistent Trump never even dreamed of undermining democracy. Claiming that Trump was just saying he would “fix” the country, the GOP governor added, “Obviously we want people to vote in every election, but I think he’s just trying to make a hyperbolic point that things can be fixed if he gets back into office and all that.” Sununu’s claim was clearly an exaggeration. Even if Trump had simply said he would improve the country, people would still have to vote four years later.
But of course, the governor isn’t the only Republican telling people not to take Trump at his word. Over the weekend, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) declared Trump was “obviously joking,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham said Trump was “trying to speak to the Christian community and anyone else who is listening [that] This nightmare we are living through will soon be over, give me four more years and I will steer this ship called America and pass it on to the next generation.”
Democrats—who, like the rest of the country, watched Trump incite a violent attack on the Capitol in 2021 because he couldn’t accept that he had lost—unsurprisingly have a different explanation. A spokesperson for Kamala Harris said of Trump: “He has promised violence if he loses, to end our elections if he wins, and to end the Constitution to empower him as a dictator to carry out his dangerous Project 2025 agenda for America.” Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) wrote on X: “The only way ‘you won’t have to vote anymore’ is if Donald Trump becomes a dictator.” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said of the former president: “This year, democracy is on the ballot, and if we want to save it, we must vote against authoritarianism. Here, Trump helpfully reminds us that the alternative is never having the chance to vote again.”
For his part, Trump has a long history of alluding to the terrible things he wants to see happen without directly calling for them, the same way a mafia boss would. For example, when he called the president of Ukraine in 2019, he did not say, “I need you to dig up information on my political opponent, and if you don’t, I won’t send you any more aid”—but that was clearly the implication. And on January 6, 2021, he did not tell Stop the Steal rallygoers, “Go storm the Capitol and stop them from certifying the election results, and while you’re there, chant slogans about hanging.” Mike Pence”—but it could be!
