Trump's Dangerously Dumb Plan to Steal the Midterms
The GOP are pushing a bill that would democracy and themselves.
Donald Trump has now been President for more than 400 days. In that time, he has passed less legislation than any modern president. He has only two legislative achievements of note: a giant, budget-busting tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by cutting health care and food assistance for the poor — and the bill to release the Epstein Files, which passed against Trump’s strenuous objections.
This is hardly a record to run on this fall. It’s a story of failure, distraction, and broken promises. But nothing focuses the political mind like the prospect of getting swept out of office in a wave election. Trump and the Republicans are looking to pass another major bill. You’d assume it would have something to do with lowering prices or improving an economy that three-quarters of voters rate negatively.
Nope.
The GOP has decided to spend its limited time and dwindling capital on the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote — to address the entirely fictional problem of non-citizens voting.
This is a very bad bill. It would disenfranchise millions of Americans. Under the SAVE Act, online, automatic, and mail-in registration would no longer be viable. A driver’s license or military ID is insufficient to prove citizenship. The only way to register would be to present either a passport or a birth certificate, in person, at an election office. Only about half of Americans have a passport. Most don’t have their birth certificate handy. It would dramatically raise the barrier to ballot access.
The House recently passed the bill. Trump is aggressively lobbying the Senate to follow. Fifty Republican senators, including Susan Collins, have signed on. Senator Bill Hagerty has even floated weakening the filibuster to get it done.
It’s too early to say whether Senate Republicans will go through with it, but Trump is pushing hard and they are desperate. The right has convinced itself that millions of undocumented people vote in every election for Democrats, and that passing this bill would “stop the steal.”
They are delusional.
But it’s even dumber than that.
Welcome to Trump’s incredibly dumb and dangerous plan to steal the midterms.
A Bad Solution to a Fake Problem
America has plenty of problems. Non-citizens voting in our elections is not one of them. It’s an entirely fabricated conspiracy — designed to fire up the GOP base and justify their electoral losses. It’s an excuse to make voting harder for the citizens Republicans want to keep from voting.
Every serious study shows that non-citizens registering to vote is incredibly rare, and actual instances of non-citizens voting are essentially nonexistent.
