I know it is a fool’s errand to try and parse out what Donald Trump means, but this is a bit of a doozy.
The following are things that should be disturbing for any candidate for office to say, most especially for someone seeking to be the next POTUS.
The best interpretation of the whole thing is that it is all nonsensical promises with no substance. But I also think, to my previous point, these are not the kinds of things that a candidate for the presidency should be saying and they are not the kinds of utterances that should be ignored.
Beyond the BS interpretation, the next best interpretation of “Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore…” is that he is promising policy changes so profound, and so permanent, that conservative Christians would never again have to have any concerns or objections. This is an authoritarian promise and an anti-democratic message.
If that is not obvious, consider what he is saying. He is asserting if he is elected that something will happen in the next four years to make certain Christians so happy that they will be able to stop caring about politics in the future. That’s plainly authoritarian. And to then tell a group of citizens that that would only need to vote one more time and then could stop is plainly anti-democracy.
Of course, the worst interpretation of that quote is that he is saying that they won’t have to vote in four years because, well, “fix[ing] it” means there won’t be elections in 2028. That is not the kind of thing a candidate for office should be intimating. I realize that many will dismiss that as a hyperbolic statement–but I am just looking at what the guy is saying. And it is in the context of other statements of grave concerns in this arena to include his support for the January 6th attack on the capitol and statements that he will only be a dictator on “day one.”
The bonus quote, which really should be getting attention amongst his base was the “I am not Christian” aside amidst all the authoritarian ramblings. This would be a surprise to many who have attested to Trump’s born-again status.
I know this won’t make any difference to the base, or even to most Republican-identifying voters, but it just seems worth pointing out.
UPDATE: As per the comments, I can see that he is probably claiming to be a Christian (but it is hard to tell). Since that makes more sense in context, I retract that portion of the post. I stand by the first part, however.
