Republicans May Get Ensnared in Their Own SAVE America Act Trap

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Donald Trump excels at frightening his base with doomsday scenarios. We have often heard him claim, “If X happens, we won’t have a country anymore.” For example, there wasn’t going to be a country anymore unless he got elected, unless the border was sealed off, and, bizarrely, unless the Democratic lawmakers who correctly stated that soldiers don’t have to follow illegal orders were “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” 

As it turned out, since even Trump’s super-weaponized Department of Justice couldn’t find anything to charge those Democrats with, that last one was a false alarm and the country somehow persevered.

And that highlights the downside to this kind of scaremongering. It is very effective on the campaign trail. However, it doesn’t work that well when you are in office, your party controls all levers of power, and you still can’t/won’t do anything about these supposed existential threats.

For various reasons, this isn’t necessarily a huge problem for the president himself. Perhaps most importantly, Trump unquestioningly did something about the main danger he identified, i.e., the “invasion of illegals.”

Sure, a few Americans and plenty of immigrants were killed in the process, and lots of children and grandmas were detained, but the thing that matters to the MAGA faithful is that most were brown and/or had it coming.

In addition, since he runs the cult, Trump can get away with a lot of stuff, and his supporters don’t ask too many questions. For example, they don’t seem to be overly curious why, after 15 months in office, the people who “stole” the 2020 election from him haven’t been identified and prosecuted. The same is true for the supposed “traitors” who were responsible for the various “hoaxes” (aka the completely true things he doesn’t like) targeting the president.

Furthermore, it is Trump who tells the base what constitutes these nation-killing threats and then instructs his underlings to do something about it. If they can’t fix the issue, then that’s not on the president.

And, finally, he isn’t running again.

But it’s a completely different story for the Republicans on the ballot this fall.

They are the ones who are getting the blame for not implementing Trump’s agenda, and there is no better example of this than the SAVE America Act: the legislation that the president and many GOP lawmakers claim is essential to protecting the upcoming election from quadrillions of noncitizens voting. 

It doesn’t actually do that. Primarily, that’s because individual voter fraud is super rare, so the problem the legislation purports to solve doesn’t exist. 

In reality, the SAVE America Act is a massive voter suppression bill that Republicans hope will give them a chance to hang onto control of Congress in the midterms. 

Ironically, it may achieve the opposite.

After having been told by Trump and all of the MAGAest lawmakers that voter fraud is the gravest threat to the country, and that this legislation is the only remedy to counteract it, the president’s supporters are incensed that it hasn’t been passed yet.

Failing to pass SAVE is an act of high treason against the people of America

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2026

In their eyes, it’s the equivalent of the owner of a pizza restaurant telling his patrons that the marinara sauce is poisoned and then asking them if they are ready to order.

This is especially true because MAGA senators like Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rick Scott (R-FL), as well as right-wing influencers, keep telling their followers that this could easily happen as long as the Senate just nukes the filibuster. 

https://twitter.com/SenRickScott/status/2046566159676244271

Then there are all the House Republicans who relentlessly keep blaming their Senate colleagues for failing to do the president’s bidding.

“Nothing is simpler than passing the SAVE America Act,” said Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) this week. “The House has passed it multiple times. The Senate needs to pass it immediately and send it to the President’s desk. The integrity of our elections depends on it.”

Others, like Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), have vowed to attach the SAVE America Act to other pieces of legislation or to stop voting for any bills coming over to the House from the Senate (but haven’t followed through on those threats).

And the entire time, Republicans have kept up the lies and demagoguery regarding what the measure would actually do, how broadly it is supported (not very), why Democrats oppose it, and how easily it could be passed if GOP senators just wanted to.

We assume that they have done so even though most of them must know that noncitizen voting isn’t a problem, that this is just a major disenfranchisement effort (which they obviously can’t say out loud), and that it is unlikely that the SAVE America Act will become law this year. 

Which begs the question of why they have gone through with this charade.  

Setting aside that Republicans would love to rig the midterms in their favor by making it more difficult for Democratic constituencies to vote, this is all about keeping the base aggrieved and riled up so that they keep donating and showing up in November.

While that might sound like a sound strategy, we believe there is a real chance that it will backfire colossally.

That’s because MAGA voters are fed up with sending RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) to Congress who can’t even address what is supposed to be this existential crisis, i.e., Democrats cheating in every election by allowing countless illegals to vote.

“It’s pathetic that Republicans have a majority in the House & Senate and yet refuse to pass the SAVE Act. What’s the point of electing Republicans if they behave like Democrats?” tweeted conservative podcaster Liz Wheeler to her million followers on Friday. “It’s elementary voter ID, for goodness sake. 80+% of the country supports it.”

It’s a common refrain among right-wing influencers, with much of their ire reserved for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who would be in real danger of getting primaried this year if he were up for reelection. 

But there are plenty of other Senate Republicans who will need every vote to defend their seats, such as Susan Collins (ME), Jon Husted (OH), and Dan Sullivan (AK), as well as John Cornyn (TX) if he wins his primary, and maybe a couple of others. 

All of them, as well as dozens of GOP lawmakers, should be really worried that MAGA voters won’t show up because of how disgusted they are with their senators and representatives… and their refusal to pass the SAVE America Act is a major part of that resentment.

In light of what the real intent of the legislation is, it would be truly ironic, and serve Trump and the GOP right, if the only votes that the legislation ends up suppressing are those of Republicans who are too angry at their own party to bother to show up on November 3.