Former President Donald Trump told his supporters not to vote in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
During a rally in New Hampshire on Monday, Trump argued that his fans would be better off watching other voters than actually voting themselves.
“So we have to be careful, you gotta get out there and you got to watch those voters,” he said. “You don’t have to vote, don’t worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes, you gotta watch.”
Trump’s remark appears to reference the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and that his supporters must now surveil other voters to stop a new wave of fraud.
In further comments, the former president even compared himself to Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist who went on to become the first Black president of South Africa after spending over 27 years in prison.
“Bad things are happening, but we keep going up,” Trump continued. “If you want to challenge the result of an election, they hound you. But we don’t get scared—we don’t get scared. I’ll tell you what, I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela, because I’m doing it for a reason.”
Trump’s call to action, or lack thereof, was met with cheers from his detractors.
“Ok. They don’t need to vote. I’m alright with that,” one user on X said.
Other foes of the former president suggested that Trump was preparing to rig the 2024 election himself.
“He’s already planning to steal 2024,” another said.
Trump’s supporters, however, ran to his defense by stating that his comments had been taken out of context.
“That’s not what he stated, but who’d expect honesty from you??” one supporter said.
“We will be voting TRUMP!!” another user added.
In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Trump likewise suggested that he was only calling for a secure election.
“He was clearly talking about election integrity and making sure only legal votes are counted, and not letting what happened in 2020 happen again,” the spokesperson said.
Trump is currently leading by a wide margin in the race for the GOP nomination but is also facing numerous civil trials and criminal indictments.
