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Donald Trump calls on conservative Christians to vote for him in the election. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/dpa
Keystone
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has attempted to take the wind out of his critics' sails with regard to a statement on the US election in four years' time. On Friday, he called on conservative Christians in Florida to vote for him on November 5 and said in this context that this would only be necessary once. The campaign team of his political rival, Democrat Kamala Harris, interpreted this as an indication that he wanted to "abolish democracy" if he were to return to the White House.
When asked about this in an interview on the Fox News channel, which is sympathetic to him, Trump said that he was merely referring to the fact that voter turnout tends to be low among Christian voters and that he therefore wanted to mobilize them in particular this year. Trump had literally said on Friday: "Christians, go out and vote! Only this time. You won't have to do it again."
Even before she asked the former US president about this, "Fox News" presenter Laura Ingraham described the criticism from the Harris camp as one of many "ridiculous reasons" why Trump is being attacked. "It's a pretty simple statement," Trump explained in response. He would "fix the country" and then no longer need the votes of this group of voters - so they would no longer have to vote in future.
Trump left open what exactly he meant by "fixing" in this context. He merely said that he would no longer need these votes "because we'll just have so much love".
The Republican is known for the fact that his statements often leave room for interpretation and can be interpreted differently depending on one's point of view. On "Fox News", Trump did not give a direct answer to the question of whether he would be prepared for a televised debate with Harris. He would "probably" take part in such a duel, Trump said. But there are also arguments for not doing so.
Harris has already agreed to a televised debate with Trump. However, the current US Vice President must first be nominated as the candidate by her party. Trump and President Joe Biden had originally agreed on two debates, the second of which was to take place on September 10. Biden's disastrous performance in the first TV debate on June 27 triggered the political avalanche that ultimately led to the Democrat's withdrawal from the presidential campaign and paved the way for Harris.
30.07.2024, 07:13
