Former president and convicted felon Donald J. Trump made a significant statement to a gathering of conservative Christians last week. He said, “I love you. 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.”
Many concluded this was Trump being Trump, engaging in another string of verbally outlandish comments that made no sense. However, if there is one thing we’ve learned from the former president, it is the importance of taking a critical approach to his words—even when they seem nonsensical.
Trump went on Fox News this week and doubled down on his remarks. He told Laura Ingraham, “I said, vote for me; you’re not going to have to do it ever again. It’s true.”
He continued, “Because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group. They don’t vote. And I’m explaining that to them. You never vote. This time, vote. I’ll straighten out the country; you won’t have to vote anymore. I won’t need your vote.”
Ingraham attempted to help Trump clarify his remarks, but the former president reiterated his previous comments: “Don’t worry about the future. You have to vote on Nov. 5. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore. I don’t care because we’re going to fix it. The country will be fixed and we won’t even need your vote anymore, because frankly we will have such love, if you don’t want to vote anymore, that’s OK.”
Trump is tapping into the tiresome trope of voter intimidation. The truth continues to be that the White Christian majority in the United States will use voter suppression and intimidation to maintain its power and privilege.
While representation has always been at the forefront of the American experiment, the right to vote has been difficult to secure for everyone except white landowning males. The ongoing battle for equality in the United States is underscored by the historical struggle for voting rights, particularly for marginalized groups.
Examine these important dates within American history:
- 1776: The Declaration of Independence frames voters’ rights.
- 1788: Voting Rights are left to the states. (Mostly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant males, who own property and are older than 21, are the only group allowed to vote.)
- 1870: Black men are granted the right to vote. (However, the South found ways around this right, including instituting poll taxes and literacy tests.)
- 1920: Women attain the right to vote.
- 1924: Native Americans are granted the right to vote.
- 1943: The Chinese Exclusion Act ends.
- 1965: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed, eliminating restrictions across the South.
For the next few decades, the federal government attempted to extend representation to all citizens by expanding access to voting. Legislation to expand voter accessibility occurred in 1984, while voter registration at DMVs was passed by Congress and signed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002. Both acts helped expand the opportunity for citizens to vote.
Unfortunately, while most Americans agree that the right to vote is a sacred principle of a healthy functioning democracy, others see it as a threat to power and privilege.
Late Congressman and Baptist preacher John Lewis once said: “The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.”
But, if history has taught us anything, it is that other citizens disagree with that sentiment.
One of the architects of the Moral Majority in the 1970s, Paul Weyrich, uttered these chilling words to a Christian audience: “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now.”
Weyrich said the quiet part out loud: “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections, quite candidly, goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
When Trump made his recent comments about voting, the reverberation of voter intimidation and restriction could be heard by those listening carefully. Right-wing extremists, like Trump and his supporters, do not want every citizen to vote as an active participant in American democracy.
Instead, they hope for a system (“We’ll have it fixed so good”) that prevents the masses from voting to maintain dominion.This is a common trope for those supporting authoritarian ideas and policies.
As a person of faith committed to inclusion and justice, I find suggestions advocating less participation in the democratic process alarming. Any time a politician or person of influence suggests we need less participation, it goes against my conscience as a person of faith and a U.S. citizen.
Instead of talking about people not needing to vote because things are going to be “fixed,” politicians and influencers should be encouraging participation and engagement. The American experiment only works when individuals and communities are included and represented.
In America, representation is achieved through voting. As former President Lyndon B. Johnson so eloquently said, “A man (or person) without a vote is a man (or person) without protection.”
Therefore, let’s “fix” things in a way that everyone gets a say in the way this country is governed. When all citizens are involved, engaged and participating in democracy, only then can we be on the path towards a more perfect union.
