President Trump went on national television Thursday night, dropped a pile of freshly declassified intelligence documents on the table like a poker player revealing a royal flush, and basically told America that China was meddling in the 2020 election to help Joe Biden win. He also claimed that an initial look at voter rolls in just four states turned up nearly a quarter of a million non-citizens registered to vote. So that is a fun number to sit with.
As Conservative Brief reported, Trump said the CIA had this intelligence before the 2020 election but that officials inside the agency decided to keep it under wraps instead of sharing it with him, which is literally their job. He then directed the Justice Department to investigate anyone who may have broken the law in the process, because apparently "do your job" needed to be said out loud.
The main ask from the speech was for Congress to finally pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. A concept so radical it makes you wonder how we have been running things up to this point.
"Tonight, I'm announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure," Trump said during the address. He followed that up by asking Americans to call their representatives and demand the bill gets passed "without delay."
Republicans jumped on the bandwagon faster than you can say "midterm anxiety." Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee wrote on social media, "We are going to lose our country if we don't pass the dadgum SAVE America Act. Call your senator and tell them to save our great nation." That is a real quote. The man said "dadgum" on the internet for everyone to see, and honestly, respect.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah chimed in with, "It is more important than ever to crush foreign election interference. It is more important than ever to pass the SAVE AMERICA ACT."
Hans Von Spakovsky, an election expert with the conservative think tank Advancing American Freedom, backed Trump up, saying, "The only reason an elected official would oppose this is because that official wants to make it easy to cheat and ensure that aliens who register and vote are not caught." Subtle.
Here is where it gets interesting though. The SAVE Act has passed the House multiple times but keeps dying in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to beat the filibuster and Republicans only hold 53 seats. Making things even spicier, retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said he would use "every tool available" to block the act from passing through budget reconciliation. So the opposition is not entirely across the aisle.
Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called the filibuster a "zombie" and said election integrity matters more than "dying institutional norms." Several GOP senators still support the filibuster, arguing it forces bipartisan cooperation. Which sounds nice in theory but in practice mostly forces nothing to happen at all.
Like what you see? Then sign up for our Free Newsletter
