The Senate GOP’s refusal to do what’s necessary to pass the SAVE America Act has been a sight to behold.
From Majority Leader John Thune’s failure theater to Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s filibuster flip-flop to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s outright opposition to the bill, the GOP establishment is pulling out all the stops to avoid having to do actual work to approve widely supported voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements in elections.
But conservatives shouldn’t be surprised by this behavior, and here’s why.
Let’s say Senate Republicans abide by the wishes of their voters and force Democrats into a talking filibuster. And let’s say that this strategy pays off and the SAVE America Act gets passed.
If all that were to happen, it would prompt the GOP base to begin asking some pretty pertinent questions about the entire kerfuffle. Questions like, “Why did we have to fight tooth and nail against our own party to get this popular bill passed?” and “What other legislative priorities can we pressure Republicans into passing using this process?”
They’re the kinds of questions that get conservatives to start seeing themselves as self-governing citizens who possess the power to influence their elected officials — which is exactly why the Senate GOP is doing everything it can to stonewall the SAVE America Act.
For years, the Republican base has suffered a major crisis of complacency. Rather than engage in primaries and hold their elected officials accountable, too many GOP voters have opted to surrender their duty to self-governance to fake Republicans who despise them and their values.
It’s why senators like Thune and Cornyn dismiss their voters as mere “paid influencers.” They do it because they believe the Republicans in their home states will let them get away with it — and by and large, they have.
The SAVE America Act threatens that dynamic because its passage would finally get conservatives to realize that it is they who wield the power to enact real change in their government. That with effective grassroots activism and persistent dedication, they can pressure their elected officials into fulfilling the promises they made on the campaign trail.
In one fell swoop, it would cripple the status quo Thune and Co. have fought so hard to achieve.
So, next time you see a weak-kneed GOP senator waltz to the nearest TV camera to explain why he or she can’t get the SAVE America Act across the finish line, know that it’s not really about “process,” “not having the votes,” or any other excuse they cough up. It’s about protecting the system they’ve used to screw over the people who gave them power in the first place.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
