John Fetterman Hits New Low in Quest for Donald Trump’s Approval

Ex-progressive Senator John Fetterman is bucking his party yet again, but this time the fallout could drastically impact the results of future elections.

The Pennsylvania turncoat came out in favor of voter ID legislation, revealing that he would support a clean bill if it required voters to show identification before they cast their ballot. The issue is currently gaining momentum in the Senate under the banner of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act. Democrats have branded the voter restriction initiative “Jim Crow 2.0”

“I would never refer to the SAVE Act as like Jim Crow 2.0 or some kind of mass conspiracy,” Fetterman told Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany. “But that’s part of the debate that we were having here in the Senate right now. And I don’t call people names or imply that it’s something gross about the terrible history of Jim Crow.”

The SAVE Act would require Americans to present their birth certificate or passport in order to register to vote, and would further require voters to bring physical identification with them to the ballot box.

That’s not only completely unnecessary considering that it’s already illegal for nonvoters to participate in U.S. elections, but could also prove disastrous for married women, adding additional hurdles for individuals who have changed their names since their birth certificate was issued.

Donald Trump already tried and failed to implement voter ID in June.  At the time, a federal judge excoriated the president’s efforts, arguing that adding layers of difficulty to the voting process would only serve to harm eligible voters by adding significant barriers before they can cast their ballots.

Since he lost the 2020 election, Trump and his allies have obsessed over contrived claims of voter fraud—a statistical nonissue in U.S. elections. For instance, a statewide audit out of Georgia, the epicenter of Trump’s baseless theory, revealed in September that just 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million residents existed on the state’s voter roll, just 0.00024 percent of the state’s voting population. Out of those 20, only nine participated in elections, years ago, before ID was required as a part of the voter verification process. The other 11 individuals were registered but never actually voted, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

But Fetterman—who mind-bogglingly ran on the progressive ticket—has had a penchant for Trumpian politics since he moved to Washington.

“It’s not like a radical idea,” Fetterman told Fox. “It’s not something—and there already are many states that show basic IDs. So that’s where we are in the Senate.”

Critics argue that restrictions on the front end of the electoral process—such as one-day voting, mail-in ballots, and requiring day-of voter ID—would minimize voter turnout and limit the American democracy’s ability to represent its constituents. This would especially be true in high-density areas like the nation’s biggest cities, where those stipulations would significantly drain resources (i.e., by increasing the number of volunteers required) and require more time to process, potentially leading to more delays that Republicans could weaponize to further restrict voter access.