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This weekend, the Republicans thrashed about in the Senate like rotting, mildly electrocuted trout as they attempted to pass the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) America Act — a bill that would disenfranchise millions of Americans in the name of preventing voter fraud that doesn’t exist.
Trump has said that the bill is his top priority and that he will “not sign other Bills until this is passed.” (As this newsletter was being finalized Sunday evening, he posted on Truth Social that “I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.’”) He’s also made clear his motivations are purely partisan, boasting that if the bill becomes law, Democrats “probably won’t win an election for 50 years, maybe longer.”
As usual, for Trump, the cavalcade of lies and garbage and conspiracy theories is so chaotic that it’s difficult to know where to start with a refutation. But broadly, the bill offers antidemocratic, nonsense solutions to a nonexistent problem. And while the SAVE America Act would certainly harm voters and democracy, it’s not clear it would benefit Republicans. Much of the hesitation in the Senate is because at least some in the GOP realize that dramatically restricting the franchise in the current environment could make a likely blue wave bigger — perhaps by a lot.
Even if the SAVE America Act could backfire, though, it’s a horrible bill — and the fact Trump is happily huffing his own tsunami of filth to such an extent that he can’t even minimally parse fairly obvious electoral incentives is a grim. His utter loathing for democracy, truth, and even logic — and continued Republican support for same — is a ominous sign for the country and world.
Big lie upon big liess
The SAVE America Act is rooted in Trump’s longstanding belief that anyone who votes against him must be un-American and illegitimate.
Even when he won the 2016 election, Trump claimed he would have also won the popular vote too except that three to five million undocumented people voted against him illegally. (They did not; he was lying.) And of course, Trump continues to claim that he only lost the 2020 election because of fraud. (This is also a flagrant and dangerous lie.)
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In order to address and compound these falsehoods and conspiracy theories, the SAVE America Act puts in place numerous draconian provisions to supposedly prevent voter fraud, but actually to radically restrict the franchise. Among them:
— Requiring a passport or birth certificate to register to vote, which could in itself disenfranchise 21 million people and would probably upend online registration in many states.
— Requiring people to show a narrow range of photo ID at the polls, ruling out student IDs and many tribal IDs.
— Requiring voters who vote by mail to submit a photocopy of their ID.
— Requiring states to substantially ramp up their use of the Systematic Alien Verification of Eligibility system to identify potential noncitizens.
— Establishing criminal penalties for election