Fact Check: Yes, Trump Said 'You Won't Have to Vote Anymore' in 4 Years, but It's Not Clear What He Meant
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Claim:
In July 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump told a crowd, "Get out and vote! 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."
Rating:
Context:
He said the statement while criticizing Democrats and their approach to voter-identification laws. Critics framed it as evidence of an alleged plan to change constitutional provisions governing presidential terms. Later, Trump told Fox News' Laura Ingraham he was trying to encourage Christians to vote for him in the 2024 presidential election and said he doesn't care if they "don't want to vote" after that because "the country will be fixed, and we won't need your vote anymore."
In July 2024, a rumor circulated claiming that former U.S. President Donald Trump had told Christians they'd never have to vote again after the November 2024 presidential election. Before an audience of Christians, the Republican presidential nominee supposedly said if voters elected him, his administration would ensure that "it'll be fixed, it'll be fine, you won't have to vote anymore" without specifying what "it" was.
One person who shared the claim was rapper Cardi B (archived). Her post, which had gained more than 140,000 likes and 19,000 shares as of this writing, included a 27-second video purportedly showing Trump making the remark:
Whistle blowing a dictatorship ?🤔 https://t.co/k8HHaWO9jg
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) July 27, 2024
The claim was true. Speaking at conservative organization Turning Point Action's Believers' Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said Christians would not have to vote after 2024.
However, it was immediately unclear what he meant. He said it as he talked about the Democrats' refusal to pass voter-ID laws to prevent electoral fraud. When Reuters asked for clarification, his spokesman Steven Cheung did not provide any details, saying only that Trump "was talking about unifying the country." In an email statement to Snopes, Cheung wrote:
President Trump was talking about the importance of faith, uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt.
On July 29, 2024, Fox News' Laura Ingraham asked Trump what he meant by the in-question quote. The exchange went like this:
Ingraham: They're also attacking you for ridiculous reasons. They're saying that you said to a crowd of Christians that they wouldn't have to vote. [...]
Trump: So with respect to like a statement like I made that statement is very simple. I said, vote for me. You're not going to have to do it ever again. It's true, 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. You can go back.
Ingraham: They don't have to vote for you because you'll have four years in office...
Trump: Christians are known [...] You know who else doesn't vote? Gun owners don't vote.
Ingraham: [The statement is] being interpreted, as you are not surprised to hear, by the left as, "Well, they're never going to have another election." So, can you even just respond?
Trump: I said, Christians. I started off by saying, just so you understand, you never vote. Christians do not vote. Well, they vote in very small percentages. Why? I don't know. Maybe they're disappointed in things that are happening. But for a long time I say, you don't vote. I'm saying go out. You must vote. Nov. 5 is going to be the most important election in the history of our country, whether you vote early or not. We should have, by the way, one-day voting. We should have voter ID. We should have proof of citizenship, and we should have paper ballots. Okay, that's what we should — we don't have that. But, I said to the Christians in the room, thousands of them, I said, typically, Christians do not vote. Why it is? I don't know. You're rebellious, something's going on. Don't worry about the future. Vote on, 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 need your vote anymore. Because, frankly, we will have such love, if you don't want to vote anywhere, that's okay. And I think everybody understood it.
In other words, Trump claimed he was attempting to encourage the crowd to vote in the 2024 presidential election and said he doesn't care if they "don't want to vote" after that because "the country will be fixed, and we won't need your vote anymore."
Advertised as a conference for Christians to find collective "biblical strategies" to engage in public discourse, The Believers' Summit took place July 26 to 28. Trump was the top speaker at 8 p.m. on the first day.
He said the in-question quote near the end of his 67-minute speech, when he was talking about voter-identification laws, according to the transcript below from C-SPAN's recording of the event. Referring to Democrats, he said (emphasis ours):
They don't want to approve voter ID. That's because they want to cheat. But until then Republicans must win, we have to win this election, most important election ever. We want a landslide that's too big to rig. If you want to save America, get your friends, get your family, get everyone you know and vote vote early, vote absentee, vote on Election Day, I don't care how but you have to get out and vote. And again, Christians: Get out and vote! 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 not Christian, I love you, get out, you gotta get 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.
Trump's political opponents latched on to the phrase "It'll be fixed, it'll be fine, you won't have to vote anymore," describing it as evidence of a plan to change constitutional provisions governing presidential terms or elections so he could remain in power. According to the U.S. Constitution's 22nd Amendment (emphasis ours):
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Congress and U.S. states added the amendment after the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms.
During a National Rifle Association meeting in May 2024, Trump said, "You know, FDR, 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don't know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?" (FDR was elected four times, and died early in his fourth term, effectively serving 12 years and three months, not 16, like Trump claimed.)
Sources:
Bekiempis, Victoria. 'Trump Floats Idea of Three-Term Presidency at NRA Convention'. The Guardian, 19 May 2024. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/19/trump-nra-convention-dallas.
Branch, John. Polling Shows Harris Has Multiple Paths to Victory | CNN Politics. 2024. www.cnn.com, https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/28/politics/video/harris-trump-electoral-paths-enten-digvid.
Brown, Stacy M. 'Trump's Chilling Rally Confirms His Plans for Dictatorship If He Beats Harris'. The Washington Informer, 29 July 2024, http://www.washingtoninformer.com/trump-advocates-authoritarian-rule/.
Former President Trump Speaks at Turning Point Believers Summit | C-SPAN.Org. https://www.c-span.org/video/?537386-1/president-trump-speaks-turning-point-believers-summit. Accessed 29 July 2024.
'The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution'. National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter.Org, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxii. Accessed 29 July 2024.
Updates:
July 30, 2024: This report was updated to include Trump's comments to Fox News' Laura Ingraham and a statement from his campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung.
