Donald Trump branded 'dictator' after telling MAGA fans 'you won't have to vote again'

Ex-President Donald Trump has sparked a wave of criticism online, including being called a dictator, after he told supporters "you don't have to vote again".

Speaking to supporters at West Palm Beach, in Florida, on Friday, Mr Trump hit out at Democratic nominee frontrunner Kamala Harris, branding her the most "far-left vice president in American history". He then claimed Democrats did not support voter registration reform "because they want to cheat".

Mr Trump then urged his supporters to back him at the ballot "with a landslide that's too big to rig" when the nation heads to the polls on November 5. Former president Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims the US election was somehow stolen in 2020, and has used this point to urge his supporters to vote for him.

"I don't care how, but you have to get out and vote and again, Christians get out and vote just this time," he said. "You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It will be fixed. It will be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians."

The comments went viral on X/Twitter with more than 17.2million views as of Saturday morning. Many of those who referenced the clip shared their perceived concerns over the language he used in the speech.

Mr Trump has an unregular style of delivering speech and it is unclear exactly what he meant by his Christian supporters not needing to vote. But his detractors soon branded the former US president an aspiring dictator and expressed concern over his comments.

Canadian NTV journalist Don Bradshaw, who has 13,600 followers on X/Twitter, said: "Trump has, essentially, admitted he will become a dictator, if elected. He has vowed this will be the last time Americans will have to vote in elections. This isn't media interpretation. He says Americans won't have to vote in four years."

Politico California Bureau Chief Christopher Cadelago, who has 26,300 followers on the social media platform, said: "Donald Trump has now said he'd be a dictator on day one and told supporters if they vote this fall they won't have to do it again in four years because everything will be fixed and everything will be fine."

The Mirror has contacted a Trump team spokesperson for comment.

Mr Trump, a survivor of an assassination attempt, has previously made comments with authoritarian tendencies, including a speech in December last year where he said he wanted to be a dictator only on "day one". Referring to his friend, Fox News host Sean Hannity, Mr Trump said: "He says, 'You're not going to be a dictator, are you?' I said: 'No, no, no, other than day one. We're closing the border, and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator."

The former president also raised concerns among his detractors when he attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the final months of his presidency. In January 2021, Mr Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780" votes to overturn his loss.

In months, the US will head to the polls to decide who they want as president and Mr Trump's supporters are backing him over his hard-line on immigration and rhetoric on inflation. The former president opened up a considerable lead over his rival Joe Biden, who has since pulled out of the race.

He now is expected to face off against Vice President Kamala Harris. Former White House aide to Mr Trump Stephen Miller argued Democrats had operated outside the parameters of American democracy when Ms Harris replaced Mr Biden as the party's frontrunner - although experts believe there is no foul play.

On July 21, Mr Miller said: "Democrats just cancelled democracy. They threw out an entire primary and used donor extortion to do so. Like a third world state."

“There is no legal problem here whatsoever,” Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor University of North Carolina, previously told PolitiFact. “The timing does not present any legal or constitutional problems. The Democratic nominee has not become official yet, ballot deadlines in states have not been violated in any way, and the rules of the convention are fully intact and in force.”