Some Democrats say his comments, directed at a Christian audience, signaled his plans to be a dictator. His campaign says he was talking about ‘uniting’ the country, and experts point to his ‘deliberately ambiguous’ speaking style.

Democratic lawmakers and Vice President Harris’s campaign joined a chorus of online critics in calling out remarks Donald Trump aimed at a Christian audience on Friday, arguing that the former president and current Republican presidential nominee had implied he would end elections in the United States if he won a second term.

At the conclusion of his speech at the Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla., Trump said, “Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. … You got to 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.”

Democrats and others interpreted the comments as signaling how a second Trump presidency would be run, a reminder that he previously said he would not be a dictator upon returning to office “except for Day One.”

  • Melody Fwygon@lemmy.one
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    5 months ago

    Yeah this isn’t surprising.

    What’s funnier is how he acts like a toddler with his hand caught in the cookie jar; blaming it on his imaginary friend or whatever else is convenient to blame at hand.

    Make no mistake; this is their plan. For far right extremist believers; this is their most fevered and deepest desire dream. They are, unfortunately, thinking that they are the only ones who are “right” to rule the world; despite how wrong they are and despite literally everything and everyone telling them they CANNOT do that.

    To be clear; these kinds of minds have fallen to the trap that religion breeds.

    When used in moderation; religion can be helpful for people both mentally and emotionally. It can allow them to cope with, and accept, reality and when they abandon all fear and put faith into something it can bring themselves back to focusing on things more productively.

    When used in excess; religion can breed utter lack of reason and sanity. This is the trap. This is when someone loses touch with reality. When you abandon all fear and put faith into something; you become the most reckless thing imaginable; and the damage to the world and others you can do with this is virtually unlimited.

    As they say; “The road to Hell is paved with ‘Good Intentions’.”. There is nothing more dangerous than a fool who believes he is doing the right thing. The foolish cannot be reasoned with, or dissuaded from their path, for they are a fool.

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Religion has always been a tool for controlling the masses. Humans are flawed, broken creatures that naturally abuse power. Religion simply builds a framework to execute that abuse.

    • aleph@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Agreed, but this isn’t unique to religion – the same can be said of political ideologies.

      • iiGxC@slrpnk.net
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        5 months ago

        Religion tends to have untestifiable claims and poor epistemology built in and encouraged tho. It’s rare for ideologies to have that.

        • aleph@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Epistemology isn’t the determining factor when it comes to human beings doing terrible things to each other on the rationale that it is for “the greater good” or the “natural order”.

          Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge, the Cultural Revolution, European colonialism, etc saw millions dead because one group of people though they had the right to control society and shape it in the way they saw fit.

          • iiGxC@slrpnk.net
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            5 months ago

            True, but it is relevant when comparing religions to ideologies. It’s probably more accurate to say that religions are a subset of ideologies, with some unique features

    • Seleni@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.

      This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.

      C. S. Lewis

    • Gumby@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      “When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.” - Frank Herbert, Dune