The Republican candidate Donald Trump reiterated last week’s statement when he told voters that if they vote for him in November, they won’t have to vote again in four years.
When repeatedly asked by Fox News about this statement, Trump denied that he would permanently stay in the White House if elected, which would violate the maximum number of presidential terms stipulated by the US Constitution, as reported by The Guardian.
On Friday, he told participants at an event organized by a conservative group in West Palm Beach, Florida, that if they vote for him in November, they won't have to vote again in four years, causing confusion. "Go out and vote, just this time," he urged, adding, "You won't have to do it anymore. Another four years, you know what? It will be resolved, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians."
Democrats and other critics have called Trump's statements terrifying, dictatorial, and anti-democratic.
On Monday, in the Fox News interview, the former American president tried to explain to host Laura Ingraham what he meant.
"That statement is very simple, I said 'Vote for me, you won't have to do it ever again.' It's true because we need to get the vote. Christians are not known as a large group of voters, they don't vote. And I explained that to them. You never vote. Vote this time. It will strengthen our country, you won't have to vote anymore, you can go back to not voting," he said.
The journalist noted that many Democrats interpreted his statements over the weekend as an argument for not being reelected. Trump responded that he hadn't heard that and continued to talk about how many Christians tend not to vote.
"You have to vote" in the elections on November 5, Trump continued, calling the election the most important presidential race in the history of the United States. "After that, you won't have to worry about voting. I don't care because we will solve everything, the country will be solved, and we won't need your vote anymore (…) And I think everyone understood," he emphasized.
"But will you leave the post after four years?" the host insisted. "Of course. By the way... that's what I did last time," added Trump.
Neither the journalist nor Trump mentioned, however, that after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential elections, his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent the confirmation of the Republican leader's defeat.
Trump's remarks on Friday came about two months after he seemed to flirt with the idea of being president for three terms at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Dallas.
He referred to the fact that Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed in the White House for three terms and passed away at the beginning of the fourth, from 1933 to 1945, during the Great Depression and World War II.
"You know, FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt, ed.) had four terms. I don't know, should we think about three terms? Or two?" Trump said, at which point the audience began to shout "Three!", according to Politico.
According to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, introduced in 1951, the US president can serve a maximum of two terms of four years each.