Former President Donald Trump laid out apocalyptic stakes in the 2024 election at a Michigan press conference with law enforcement officials: vote for me, or America will cease to exist.
"If we don’t win on November 5th, I think our country is going to cease to exist," Trump said, surrounded by police. "It could be the last election we ever have. I actually mean that. If we don’t win, I think this could be the last election we ever have."
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) responded with withering mockery on X.
"We will still have elections," Moskowitz replied. "We will still have sunshine. We will still have rain. We will still have flowers. We will still have dogs and cats. We will still have Doritos. We will still have…etc."
ALSO READ: 11 ways Trump doesn’t become president
Moskowitz has been a visible presence taking Trump's allies in the House to task for trying to use their powers for political purposes. During the Biden impeachment hearings, he has openly dared Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to hold a vote on passing articles of impeachment, as Republicans have struggled to find any evidence of the allegations they are making against the president.
Trump's claims of doomsday if he doesn't win are not a one-off; indeed, in the past, Trump's allies have suggested that America has already ceased to exist without him in control.
Meanwhile, experts have sounded the alarm that plans by far-right activists for a second Trump administration really could undermine democracy, including the possible use of the DOJ to harass political opponents, the use of mass roundups and detention of immigrants, and the Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" that calls for restructuring the government into a loyalist army for Trump and Christian nationalism. Trump himself has even suggested that he would be a dictator, but only on "day one."
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