by Andrew Muller July 29, 2024 ( July 29, 2024 )
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. â Former President Donald Trump spoke to a large group of Christians at Turning Point USAâs Believersâ Summit Friday evening at the West Palm Beach Convention Center. The presidentâs speech has been misquoted and mangled by mainstream media and social media alike, falsely claiming that Trump stated, âIâm not a Christian,â while drumming up a comment that people of faith need not ever vote again if he is reelected.
Upon taking the podium, Trump said, âI stand before you tonight, thanks to the power of prayer and the grace of almighty God. As I think you can see, Iâve recovered well and, in fact, just took off the last bandage off of my ear,â referring to his right ear, which sustained a bullet wound from the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
âI just took it off. I took it off for this group,â he said. âI donât know why I did that for this group, but thatâs it.â
Pivoting to the nearly 3,500-person audience hosted by Charlie Kirkâs advocacy group, Turning Point Action, Trump said, âI love you, Christians. Iâm a Christian. I love you. Get out. You got to get out and vote. In four years, you donât have to vote again. Weâll have it fixed so good youâre not going to have to vote.â
Many on social media immediately started sharing videos, garnering tens of millions of views, claiming that Trump said he was not a Christian. Upon viewing the clip, it is obvious that this is not true.
The New York Times then joined virtually all other mainstream-media outlets in publishing the headline, âTrump Tells Christians âYou Wonât Have to Vote Anymoreâ If Heâs Elected.â The article went on to say that Trumpâs offhand remark is âfurther evidence of an authoritarian, anti-democratic bent he has displayed throughout his political candidacy.â
Trumpâs comments can be viewed in a different light after hearing speakers before him, including former Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro, Dr. Ben Carson, RNC Chair Michael Whatley, Christian apologist Frank Turek, Charlie Kirk, and others, encouraging people of faith to flood the polls this November, challenging religious demographics who historically never vote.
âOnly half of Bible-believing, church-attending Christians are registered to vote,â explained Charlie Kirk before Trump took the stage. âOnly half of them actually vote. In 2016, Donald Trump received 72 percent of the evangelical vote. In 2020, it was 68 percent, down four points. It [evangelical support] is not an automatic given.â
In context, Trumpâs comments â delivered with a tone of humor that he sustained throughout his remarks â seemed to be appealing to Christian voters to break the cycle of apathy and get to the polls, even if it is just this once.
X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk offered a defense for Trumpâs remarks in a July 27 post: âAlways important to watch the whole video. Trump is asking low propensity voters to go out and vote.â Musk, who officially endorsed Trump last month, continued, âThen he hopes to, but probably wonât succeed in, implementing voter ID laws nationwide. That would reduce, in his opinion, the amount of voter fraud to the point where low propensity voters donât need to bother voting next time.â
In his remarks, Trump also doubled down on his commitment to Christians, promising that he would advocate for religious liberty, appoint more constitutionalist judges to the Supreme Court and lower courts, and touted his historic support for the State of Israel and the 2017 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israelâs capital, moving the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.
On abortion, the former president, whose Supreme Court appointees helped overturn the landmark pro-abortion case Roe v. Wade, was booed by nearly one-third of the crowd upon broaching the topic, stating that he, like Ronald Reagan, âstrongly believes in the exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, and incest.â
âYou have to go with your heart,â he responded to the crowd, âbut you also have to win elections.â