The Patriot Post® · Does Trump Want to 'Nationalize' Elections?

President Donald Trump appeared on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast by phone on Monday, and the two discussed how to address election fraud. Eventually, Trump stated, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

Cue the left-wing panic.

In the Oval Office on Tuesday, with congressional Republicans standing behind him, Trump doubled down on the idea: “If a state can’t run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it. If you think about it, the state is an agent for the federal government in elections. I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway.”

Increase the left-wing panic.

These statements follow the discovery of bloated and fraudulent voter rolls in various states, due to state dereliction, incompetence, or corruption, prompting the Justice Department to sue to compel their disclosure. The FBI, at Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s direction, just raided the Fulton County, Georgia, elections office last week, hauling off ballot materials from the 2020 election.

There’s no doubt fraud is taking place in our elections, mostly in Democrat-run states where IDs are not required to vote. However, states are not the “agent for the federal government.” The states created the federal government, not the other way around. According to Article 1 of the Constitution, “The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.”

Yet Congress can pass federal regulations. Ergo, the way to protect our elections across all states constitutionally is to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would establish national standards, such as voter ID and proof of citizenship. Senate Majority Leader John Thune commented that he is not “in favor of federalizing elections” but that he does support voter ID laws and proof of citizenship.

Democrats are, of course, doing what they always do and claiming fraud “doesn’t happen.” Their official media organ, The New York Times, gaslights, “Voting by noncitizens happens rarely, and it is already illegal in federal elections.” If that claim is true, and noncitizens don’t vote, then why are leftists so opposed to having ICE agents at election locations? Why would the presence of an ICE agent be a problem if it’s only American citizens who are voting? If illegals aren’t voting, why would Democrat-run states object to turning over their voter rolls or oppose cleaning them up?

In truth, Democrats have been trying to make it easier for illegals to vote in our elections as well as … nationalize elections. In 2019 and 2021, they tried to pass HR 1, which would have codified the worst aspects of the 2020 election into law. The proposed bill attempted to nationalize ballot harvesting, ban all states from requiring any form of ID, force all states to allow felons and 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, require all states to accept mail-in ballots 10 days after Election Day, and greatly expand mail-in voting that is ripe for fraud, among other egregious power grabs in the bill.

For Democrats to accuse Republicans of “nationalizing elections” only exposes the depths of their hypocrisy.

The SAVE Act, on the other hand, “would require states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, in person from those seeking to register to vote,” as the Times frames it. “It would penalize election officials for failing to seek such proof, and it would require states to proactively remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.” Sounds like common sense and something everyone can get behind.

Even CNN admits that polling shows strong support for photo ID requirements across parties, races, and time periods. Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, pointed out that the polling data as far back as 2018 demonstrates this trend. “You’ll notice on all of it, it’s all north of 75% … and then 83% in the last year of Americans agree,” he said. “They favor photo ID to be able to vote.” He continued to show how the same applies to parties: “95% of Republicans support voter ID requirements … and 71% of Democrats favor it, too.” Enten moved on to race, noting that the polling data does not back up the Democrats’ racist talking point that non-whites have a harder time obtaining photo identification to vote. In fact, he noted, “85% of white Americans support voter ID requirements, as do 82% of Latino Americans, and 76% of black Americans.”

Enten concluded, “Voter ID is not controversial in this country.” That’s correct, which is why 36 states and most developed countries already require proof of citizenship to vote. The question, then, is why it is so controversial for Democrat politicians.