Ron DeSantis has falsely claimed Donald Trump told supporters not to vote in the 2024 election, disingenuously reframing comments by the 45th President on the even greater importance of ensuring the election is conducted fairly.
In a video posted this week, DeSantis alleged Trump “is wedded to the teleprompter; he can’t get off that teleprompter, [and] anytime he does he says things like ‘don’t vote’. He’s telling people not to vote, like, we have all the votes we need.”
The Florida Governor was referring to a nine-second clip from a lengthy speech by Trump at a rally in Derry, New Hampshire, shared by the Jeff Roe-led DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, in which the former president says “don’t worry about voting”.
But far from being an injunction not to vote at all, Trump’s remarks formed part of a wider message on the need for Republicans to turn out in force on election night to observe the conduct of the vote counts and ensure there is no fraud. DeSantis, who has taken money from Dominion Voting Systems lawyers, seems less keen on Trump’s messaging on election integrity.
“[A]long with our borders probably the most important thing of all, we will secure our elections, because if you don’t have borders and if you don’t have fair elections this country will not survive,” Trump says.
“Our goal will be one-day voting with paper ballots and voter ID, but until then, Republicans, you have to get out in November,” he said at the same event, before again stressing: “We have to get out in November. We can’t let them cheat; the only way they beat us is going to be if they cheat; they can’t beat us otherwise. They don’t have the votes, and we don’t want to see those votes get manipulated.”
