Crenshaw on Bernie's Anti-Voter ID Position: Americans Use ID 'Every. Single. Day.'
Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw hasn’t taken long to make his mark on conservative politics.
Elected in November’s midterms, he’s emerged as a voice of sanity to counterbalance freshman Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
And his Twitter clash this week with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders over voter ID laws is likely to make Crenshaw even more conservative fans.
Crenshaw was responding to a Sanders tweet on Wednesday that branded President Donald Trump a “coward” – allegedly because he supports voter ID law (like most Republicans, conservatives and other sane people in the United States).
“Donald Trump can’t win an election based on his ideas so he has to suppress the vote to win,” Sanders wrote.
Donald Trump can’t win an election based on his ideas so he has to suppress the vote to win.
What a coward. https://t.co/hYtHgaM7bm
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 14, 2019
Crenshaw’s response called that idiocy out for what it is.
”The idea that requiring an ID is somehow voter suppression is truly one of the strangest falsehoods ever perpetuated by the Democratic Party,” he wrote. “It defies logic for any normal American who uses their ID. Every. Single. Day.”
The idea that requiring an ID is somehow voter suppression is truly one of the strangest falsehoods ever perpetuated by the Democratic Party.
It defies logic for any normal American who uses their ID. Every. Single. Day. https://t.co/1oh2Iktj96
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) August 15, 2019
It really is one of the silliest arguments Democrats can make.
Identification is a part of life in the United States. To pretend that they are not used routinely by millions of Americans in the normal course of business is to deny reality.
To pretend, as Democrats argue, that minorities are somehow incapable of obtaining identification – something they would never claim about Caucasian Americans — is even worse: It’s rank racism.
Crenshaw’s supporters on social media employed both arguments.
Like showing just how pervasive the routine use of identification has become:
— Dr.Neil Smith, D.O. (@doctorneilsmith) August 15, 2019
I would be angry if it was presumed I lacked the skills to obtain ID because I was a minority. Why do liberals think people of color are too stupid to get ID and why isn’t that racist? You need ID for everything these days.
— Tracey (@Tops166) August 15, 2019
In fact, the need for identification is so common that some states and localities – invariably liberal — are actually issuing them to illegal aliens on the grounds that they’re vital to living in modern society.
And yet these same liberals argue that millions of minorities would be disenfranchised by having to do the same thing?
Illegal aliens are given IDs in some states. Voting roles have millions of fraudulent voters on them. And illegal aliens, counter to the constitutional idea of “one man, one vote,” are counted toward representation in the census. Of course we need voter ID laws!
— jcope (@jtcope4) August 15, 2019
The reality is that having a government-issued identification is a matter of routine for adult Americans. Of course there are many who don’t have them, but that’s almost certainly a matter of choice – or possibly incentive – than it is a matter of practical possibility.
Arguing otherwise is simply wrong — whether by honest ill-reasoning or deliberate dishonesty.
The only real reason there is to favor the allowing Americans to vote without the very basic necessity of proving they are who they say they are is that it makes it easier for illegitimate votes to be cast.
You know who can’t get an ID?
Illegals.
Understand now?
— David Zink (@dzink_OK) August 15, 2019
Crenshaw’s Twitter post put it perfectly.
The vast, vast majority of American citizens– white, black, Hispanic, Asian or any combination thereof – have no problem obtaining identification.
It’s a safe bet that an equally vast majority of voters would have no problem presenting identification when casting a vote because they understand the purpose.
The position of Democrats like Sanders in the debate, as Crenshaw put, it defies logic.
That might make it a perfect Democratic argument — but it will never make it true.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
