In a speech to attendees at a religious gathering in Florida, former President Donald Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely Democratic opponent in November, a “bum” and told the crowd that “in four years, you don’t have to vote again.”
“Christians get out and vote,” Trump implored. “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. I’m a Christian, I love you,” he continued. “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 gonna have to vote.”
This isn’t the first time the Republican presidential nominee has made similar remarks. At another religious-centered gathering in June, the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Conference, Trump made a similar plea for Christians to come out and vote.
“You gotta get out and vote,” Trump said at the time. “Just this time. In four years you don't have to vote, ok? In four years don't vote, I don't care. But we'll have it all straightened out, so it'll be much different.”
It also follows comments Trump has made throughout his campaign refusing to rule out abusing presidential power, saying in an interview he’d be a dictator on “day one” of a second term, saying it’s “very possible” his political enemies could face prosecution, and continuing to espouse his false and debunked claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. (There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, a statement backed up by officials from both major U.S. political parties; claims brought by Trump and his allies of fraud were rejected from courts nationwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court.)
Trump’s comments Friday came at the “Believers Summit” hosted by Turning Point Action, a conservative group founded by right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. In his speech, Trump sought to paint Harris as an extreme liberal who will impose those values on the country, while portraying himself as a bulwark for religious liberty.
In a second term, Trump pledged to “once again appoint rock-solid conservative judges who will protect religious liberty,” while charging that Harris will “will appoint hundreds of extreme far left judges to forcibly impose crazy San Francisco liberal values on Americans nationwide.”
Harris, he accused, will “appoint hard-core Marxists” to the Supreme Court “to shred our Constitution and all of our religious liberty.”
Trump also baselessly insisted that Harris will advocate for an abortion law that will allow people “to rip the baby out of the woman in the eighth, ninth month and even after birth.” (There is no law in any state that allows for the post-birth killing of babies.)
On the topic of abortion, he did receive some boos from the religious crowd when he said he supports some exceptions when it comes to the procedure — though he did offer praise for the three judges he nominated to the Supreme Court who were part of the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump has largely shied away from the topic of abortion on the campaign trail, and his lack of support for a national abortion ban has angered some religious conservatives.
The ex-president also cast the “weaponization of law enforcement” as “the greatest threat to freedom” — “…And nobody knows it better than me,” he added — and criticized Harris for not attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress this week, claiming she “doesn’t like Jewish people,” despite her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, being Jewish. (Harris also had a meeting with Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday.)
“With four more years of Harris, who was worse than Joe Biden in a true sense, and far more liberal, America will be decimated by migrant crime, demolished by fascism, ravaged by rampant inflation and impoverished by the complete obliteration of American energy,” Trump charged as he cycled through new lines of attack on his likely opponent in November.
Harris’ campaign responded to Trump’s remarks by saying that the ex-president “generally sounded like someone you wouldn’t want to sit near at a restaurant — let alone be President of the United States.”
“America can do better than the bitter, bizarre and backward-looking delusions of criminal Donald Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris offers a vision for America’s future focused on freedom, opportunity and security,” said Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer.
The speech comes as Harris has virtually erased Trump’s lead in polling, making up the gaps that Joe Biden faced before his exit from the race, signaling a much closer election, while showing momentum in terms of record fundraising, volunteer sign-ups and endorsements. Harris’ campaign is kicking off a campaign blitz this weekend to mark 100 days until the election.