Former President Donald J. Trump, in an interview broadcast Monday night, repeated his recent assertion that Christians will never have to vote again if they vote for him this November, and brushed aside multiple requests to walk back or clarify the statement.
Mr. Trump said last Friday to a gathering of Christian conservatives: “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.”
His interviewer on Monday, Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, noted that Democrats have highlighted that quote as evidence that Mr. Trump would end elections, and urged Mr. Trump to rebut what she called a “ridiculous” criticism.
But Mr. Trump declined to do so, repeating a pattern he frequently employs in which he makes a provocative statement that can be interpreted in varying ways, and makes no attempt to quiet the uproar. This comment was especially striking, given his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his shattering of other Democratic norms.
The exchange began when Ms. Ingraham told the former president: “They’re saying that you said to a crowd of Christians that they won’t have to vote in the future.”
Mr. Trump started off his response, saying: “Let me say what I mean by that. I had a tremendous crowd, speaking to Christians all in all — I mean, this was a crowd that liked me a lot.”
He added that Catholics are “treated very badly by this administration” and that “they’re like persecuted,” then digressed, saying that Jewish people who voted for Democrats “should have your head examined,” a sentiment he has expressed many times before, drawing criticism of antisemitism. He then reiterated his statement from Friday.
“I said, vote for me, you’re not going to have to do it ever again. It’s true,” he said. “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.”
Ms. Ingraham offered him an off-ramp: “You mean you don’t have to vote for you, because you’ll have four years in office.”
