Trump says Republicans will ‘never lose a race’ if Congress restricts voting

During a rambling rehash of false assertions of voter fraud, President Donald Trump claimed that Republicans will never lose an election “for 50 years” if his allies in Congress pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) America Act, which critics have called the most restrictive anti-voting law in U.S. history.

“I tell you what, Republicans have to win this one,” Trump said during a speech at a steel facility in Rome, Georgia. “We’ll never lose a race. For 50 years, we won’t lose a race.”

Trump’s remarks Thursday were just his latest alarming comments calling into question the security of American elections — and pressuring Congress to suppress the vote to benefit Republicans.

The comments came just days after the SAVE America Act cleared the U.S. House. If the bill becomes law, it could disenfranchise millions by requiring voters to show documentary proof of citizenship at registration and to provide photo ID when they cast ballots.

The bill currently faces long odds in the Senate, where it’s unlikely to clear the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. However, Trump and his allies have called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to scrap or amend the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE America Act.

In his speech, Trump also remarked on the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election records — including original ballots — during a raid on an elections facility in Fulton County, Georgia, last month.

“By the way, did you see they raided the Fulton County place — storage house,” Trump said. “The FBI came in and raided. They found plenty of stuff. And now they have the ballots. And the Democrats are fighting like hell, and I think it goes before a judge tomorrow to not let anybody see the ballots.”

“Why don’t they want them to see the ballots after all these years? You know why they don’t want? Because they cheated. That’s why,” he falsely claimed. “They cheated like dogs.”

The raid, which was based on long-debunked allegations from notorious anti-voting figures — some of whom now work in the Trump administration — constituted an unprecedented assault on states’ constitutional authority to administer elections. 

Fulton County officials filed a lawsuit to force the federal government to return the ballots. The next hearing in the case is set for Feb. 27 — not tomorrow as Trump incorrectly claimed.

Despite publicly pressuring Thune to pass the SAVE America Act, Trump also claimed in a social media post last week that regardless of what Congress does, he will unilaterally implement the suppressive voting measures through an executive order.

If Trump does issue the order, it will almost certainly face legal challenges from pro-voting organizations. Courts will also likely declare it unconstitutional, as the Constitution does not allow the president to unilaterally change federal election procedures.