During a Friday night campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, former President Donald Trump bizarrely suggested to a crowd of prospective voters in a state with 30 Electoral College votes that they shouldn't feel compelled to vote for him.
"I actually tell our people we don’t need your vote. We got so many votes, we don’t need them," Trump is seen saying in a video tweeted by MeidasTouch senior digital editor @acyn. "We just don't want to see votes stolen, we don't want to say, 'you know, steal the vote,' we're not letting it happen. We're not gonna let it happen, not happening again."
Los Angeles Magazine editor Ally DeMarco, whose X/Twitter bio describes her as a "Dem strategist" and "ex-Republican," quote-tweeted the video and called the 45th president of the United States "the best surrogate that Joe Biden could ask for."
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Others mocked Trump's seeming lack of political awareness, given that he'll need as many voters as possible to defeat President Joe Biden in the handful of battleground states that will decide the Electoral College majority. Kelsie Taggart of the Democratic-aligned group American Bridge sarcastically tweeted that "Trump, who didn't win in 2020 and is responsible for historic loses in 2022, doesn't want your vote."
"Seems like a winning strategy," she added.
Progressive X influencer Spiro's Ghost opined that watching Trump's latest campaign rally was "like watching a delusional lunatic ranting in an asylum." Former pollster Adam Carlson of the Global Strategy Group wrote that Trump was giving "2016 Clinton campaign-level overconfidence" but was "actually saying it all out loud." And former Marie Claire editor Karen Schwartz weighed in on the former president's state of mind, tweeting: "And now for a winning message from a sane person with full mental faculties."
"Trump: Don't vote for me. Message received, my captain," tweeted comedian Michael Ian Black.
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Even though Trump is favored to win Florida — the state where he is domiciled — given that far-right Republican Governor Ron DeSantis won two terms and that Republicans control both chambers of the Sunshine State's legislature, the state is still within reach for Democrats according to polls. RealClearPolling's average shows that while Trump is still leading Biden in Florida, Biden is still within the margin of error.
Additionally, Florida voters will also be heading to the polls this November in an election year when abortion rights are also on the ballot. Florida's Amendment 4) will let voters in the Sunshine State decide whether they want to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Ever since the conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, abortion have rights have prevailed in every single election where the matter has been left to voters to decide. This includes Republican-controlled states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana in 2022, and Ohio in 2023.
Watch the video of Trump's remarks below, or by clicking this link.
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