Just kidding!
The 40 billionth Trump didn’t mean it literally he was just being Trump.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Sunday dismissed Republican president nominee Donald Trump’s statement Friday telling people they “won’t have to vote anymore” if they elect him as standard Trump rhetoric.
Well yes but guess what, it’s a problem that an ex-president and hopeful future president’s standard rhetoric is totalitarian in nature. The fact that he’s happy to say that kind of thing is the problem. The fact that he constantly threatens/promises to act like a dictator is the problem. The fact that he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about any moral or political norms at all is the problem.
Furthermore, the fact (if it is a fact) that he doesn’t mean it literally is entirely irrelevant to what he would do if he got the chance. It’s not as if he would think back and say “Oh wait I was just kidding when I said that, tell the generals to stand down.” He doesn’t think back. He lives in the moment and does what he feels like. Whether he does or doesn’t mean what he says literally is neither here nor there.
“I think it was a classic Trumpism if you will,” he said to host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.”
So why the fuck would anyone want such a person as president?
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) posted the Trump clip on X and said: “The only way ‘you won’t have to vote anymore’ is if Donald Trump becomes a dictator.” And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on X: “This year democracy is on the ballot, and if we are to save it, we must vote against authoritarianism. Here Trump helpfully reminds us that the alternative is never having the chance to vote again.” Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann boiled it down to: “Oh. Trump just cancelled the 2028 election.”
Republicans found the situation to be considerably less problematic, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) saying on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the former president was “obviously making a joke.”
By their jokes shall ye know them.
“By their jokes shall ye know them.”
I’ve probably posted this quote before, but once again:
And that covers Trump and his loyal, obedient and above all, unquestioning and devoted followers in any future eventuality, and every which way: “Well, we did try to warn you, but you were too dumb to listen.”
Where else do we here “It was just a joke”?
When a man makes lewd remarks about a female colleague.
When a man abuses his wife for not popping his beer can fast enough.
When a man tells a shop assistant he’ll kill her if he doesn’t get his refund.
Yep. All jokes.
I hark back to a better time when jokes were funny, not a cover-up for poor behaviour.
Sure Trump is deeply unserious and lives largely in the moment, but I don’t doubt for a second that if in that moment there was the opportunity to seize power forever and pass it on to to an anointed successor, that’s exactly what Trump would do.
Even more importantly, look at the people Trump is now surrounded by. There isn’t a single mainstream conservative with a principled spine amongst them. They’re either dangerous weirdos (Miller, Bannon et al), or just plain weirdos like JD ‘couch fucker’ Vance. Who was the surrogate that said the transfer of power to the Trump would be peaceful if the Libs let it be. In other words – lie down and surrender or else. yes, trump may not be totally serious, but we know the people around him are, no matter how weird they may be.
I bet the “But I was only joking!” defence goes down really well with the FBI when they interrogate people accused of writing threatening letters to the President.
No worries then if Dems started talking all dictator-like then, right bro?
All that plus, as I unaccountably forgot to say in the post, IT’S NOT AS IF HE HASN’T ALREADY TRIED.
Yeah, sure, it’s just one of his adorable jokes, even though he did his very best to cancel the election result last time.
I came across a different defense of “context” and tried to find a longer clip to check it out, but gave up.
What I heard was that Trump had been complaining that a lot of “you Christians” just don’t bother to vote. However, this particular election was crucial because elections will continue to be rigged if Trump doesn’t win by such a wide margin that nobody can contest it. So vote just this one time. Once he’s president and legislation is passed to make voting fair, all you election-phobic Christians won’t have to vote again — an honest majority vote will be enough.
I disagree of course with the claim that the Democrats are rigging the elections, but if this was the context it’s not a “joke” about a Trump dictatorship, but a teasing pull at non-voting Christians accompanying a request which would in itself be reasonable. And if every major news source missed the intended point and chose to show only what’s easily misinterpreted, that’s rather worrying.
Well they already ran with misinterpreting that blood bath comment, but in this case “intended point” is debatable. Half the time who knows what his point is?
Yes, that’s the obvious interpretation and the intended one.
I think it’s also pretty obvious that that intention here is to provide plausible deniability. When Trump promises to fix “it” so that his audience wont have to bother to vote “anymore” they understand what he means (that they won’t need to because the untermenschen won’t be able to).
The interpretation that he only meant that the reluctant voters wouldn’t have to go to the polls again isn’t the comfortable version that proponents of it want us to believe. As Francis Boyle points out, the Republican party would only get into power with a low turnout of voters if the Democrats have an even lower one.
Whether that is achieved by forming an effective dictatorship, or by the disenfranchisement of anyone who doesn’t, or isn’t likely to, vote for the Republicans, either way democracy is scuppered. And, given what happened when the Republican party lost last time, we are right in our conclusion from this particular speech that Trump has no respect for democracy or your country, and has every intention of hanging onto power by any means whatsoever. If he gets in, strips the right to vote from as many of the opposing parties’ members as he can, and his advisors remind him that he’s only allowed two terms, he’s going to tear up the constitution.