Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - Let’s Act to Save America, Interview with Sen Mike Lee | Triggered Ep.318

00:06:22.000 Hey guys, welcome to another huge episode of Triggered.

00:06:25.000 It's been another massive week in the news and in so many different ways.

00:06:30.000 So we have yet another act of trans violence, which is becoming almost a daily occurrence. 0.96

00:06:37.000 And this clearly now is the most radical group in the country, and frankly, probably even in the world per capita.

00:06:46.000 And the consequences of ignoring this reality are deadly.

00:06:50.000 We've all been talking about it for a long time.

00:06:52.000 This is just another example.

00:06:54.000 Plus, today we'll talk with Senator Mike Lee, who is leading the charge on election integrity with the Save America Act.

00:07:01.000 And we'll get into all of the details with him then.

00:07:04.000 So you're not going to want to miss this one and really get a full understanding of exactly what's going on.

00:07:08.000 It's not always just the Democrats, it's also the rhinos. 0.79

00:07:11.000 So make sure you guys are liking, sharing, subscribing so you never miss one of these major episodes.

00:07:16.000 Remember, guys, if you miss the show here on Rumble, you can go over to Apple, you can go over to Spotify Podcasts, you can get it there.

00:07:23.000 If your friends get their podcast that way, make sure they check it out over there as well.

00:07:29.000 It's about getting the word out.

00:07:30.000 That's another way to do it.

00:07:31.000 So for all of the top headlines that we cover here on the show, go over to my news app, MXM News, like minute by minute, Mike X-Ray, Mike, news where you can get the mainstream news without the mainstream bias.

00:07:42.000 And of course, don't forget about our brave sponsors for having the guts to support this program.

00:07:49.000 First, check out all the latest predictions on Polymarket.

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00:09:45.000 You're not going to want to miss that one.

00:09:47.000 And now, let's get into some of the top headlines.

00:09:51.000 And yet again, guys, we talk about something that happened this week in Rhode Island.

00:09:57.000 Another act of trans violence. 1.00

00:10:00.000 Trans violence is violence, guys. 1.00

00:10:02.000 Okay.

00:10:03.000 I know they've tried to pretend it's not there and they try to cover it up wherever they can.

00:10:06.000 They've probably covered up a lot more of it, but this just happened literally days after what we covered in the terrible tragedy that happened up in Canada about 10 days ago.

00:10:21.000 Monday afternoon in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a gunman opened fire during a high school hockey game.

00:10:27.000 It was senior night.

00:10:29.000 Families were in the stands.

00:10:31.000 Kids were on the ice celebrating.

00:10:33.000 And a 56-year-old man named Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name Roberta Esposito.

00:10:42.000 Doesn't it feel like an episode of South Park?

00:10:46.000 It never ends.

00:10:48.000 Walked into the arena and just started shooting.

00:10:51.000 Here's the latest news on the incident.

00:10:54.000 He described that shooting suspect as her father.

00:11:05.000 She came out of the police department behind me here in tears after presumably being interviewed by police. 0.62

00:11:24.000 What was the reasoning?

00:11:25.000 Was there a family argument?

00:11:27.000 He has mental health issues.

00:11:29.000 So yes, she goes on to describe those mental health issues a little bit more.

00:11:34.000 She says that he had been struggling with mental health for quite some time.

00:11:39.000 She said, quote, he was very sick.

00:11:43.000 Two people are dead.

00:11:44.000 The victims were his own family.

00:11:46.000 According to multiple reports, he killed his ex-wife and one of his own children.

00:11:52.000 This man then walked into his own son's senior hockey night. during a game and opened fire on his family before killing himself.

00:12:01.000 This sicko identified as trans. 1.00

00:12:04.000 And at this point, it's not even shocking to learn that.

00:12:08.000 It feels like, it's almost like, because of course, here we go again.

00:12:14.000 never fails so what i can say right now that we have identified the person the suspect by a birth name The birth name was Robert Dorgan.

00:12:32.000 We have also learned that the person does go by the name of Roberta, also uses a last name of Esposito.

00:12:38.000 But again, that will be all confirmed throughout the course of the investigation.

00:12:42.000 As to their status, that really doesn't have anything to do with the investigation.

00:12:48.000 1969, he was born.

00:12:51.000 Guys, this is a pattern.

00:12:53.000 Last week, the school shooter in British Columbia was transgender.

00:12:56.000 This week, it's in Rhode Island.

00:12:58.000 The Covenant school shooting in Nashville, in Minneapolis, and so many more.

00:13:04.000 There's a growing list of these incidents.

00:13:07.000 And every single time, the regime media does everything in its power to memory hole the connection instead of asking maybe the hard questions about what the hell is going on here, which is what, and that enables, what enables this delusion at this point.

00:13:25.000 Jacking people up with hormones and drugs and telling them that they're victims is a cocktail for violence.

00:13:33.000 It's never going to work out well.

00:13:34.000 There's no plausible way that could ever happen.

00:13:37.000 We're going to keep covering these sick stories.

00:13:39.000 We're going to keep pushing it out there.

00:13:41.000 And that's why we ask you to do the same.

00:13:43.000 Because if you turn on the mainstream news, man, it seems like the relevant details, the germane stuff that should be out there is just not getting covered.

00:13:51.000 And we're going to tell the truth about it because this is a global crisis.

00:13:57.000 It's why I keep saying that the stakes have never been higher to actually make sure we fulfill the America First agenda because people's safety and security is on the line.

00:14:09.000 And that starts and ends with actual election integrity.

00:14:14.000 So before we get to Senator Mike Lee, let's briefly talk about the Save America Act because Senator Lee has been on an absolute tear this week and he's not slowing down.

00:14:27.000 He's been fighting for election integrity for years.

00:14:30.000 He gets it.

00:14:31.000 He understands.

00:14:32.000 Last week, the House passed the Save America Act 218 to 213.

00:14:37.000 Every single Republican voted yes.

00:14:40.000 And of course, every single Democrat, except one, voted against it.

00:14:46.000 Think about that.

00:14:48.000 Think about what that tells you.

00:14:50.000 Democrats are voting unanimously, well, almost unanimously, minus one of 213, right?

00:14:58.000 Unanimously against requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot.

00:15:06.000 That's their position.

00:15:08.000 That's where they're at.

00:15:09.000 And they want you to believe that they care about election integrity.

00:15:14.000 It's obviously just the opposite.

00:15:16.000 There's no other way to spin that credibly.

00:15:19.000 Now, the media will go through great lengths to make sure they do, but that is the reality of the situation that we're in.

00:15:26.000 Now, in the Senate, there are 50 GOP co-sponsors.

00:15:30.000 But with the so-called zombie filibuster still in place, Democrats don't even show up.

00:15:36.000 They don't have to kill the bill.

00:15:38.000 They don't have to stand on the floor.

00:15:40.000 They don't have to talk for 24 hours to keep it going and delay things.

00:15:45.000 They don't have to make their case.

00:15:48.000 They kill the bill without ever having to defend their position publicly.

00:15:53.000 So there's also then no record of them actually defending this insanity.

00:15:58.000 So let's actually enforce the talking filibuster, the original rules.

00:16:03.000 You want to block this bill, Chuck Schumer?

00:16:05.000 Fine.

00:16:06.000 Get on the floor, stand at that podium, talk.

00:16:10.000 Explain to the American people why you think it's a bad idea to make sure only citizens are voting in our elections.

00:16:17.000 Explain why showing a photo ID, something you need to buy cold medicine in some cases, to open a bank account, to get on an airplane, is somehow too much to ask before you cast a ballot for the leader of the free world.

00:16:33.000 Because Chucky Schumer actually used to sing a very different tune.

00:16:37.000 Once again, guys, here's a trip down memory lane.

00:16:41.000 Let's admit the truth.

00:16:43.000 Everywhere people go, they're asked for a social security card.

00:16:46.000 In fact, one way to prove you're a bona fide person who can have a job is to ask for a driver's license and a social security card.

00:16:54.000 This is an anti-fraud amendment.

00:16:56.000 All over where we go, people say, well, why can't you stop illegal immigrants or others from coming here? 1.00

00:17:05.000 And the number one answer we give our constituents is when they come here, they can get jobs, get benefits against the law because of fraud.

00:17:15.000 So as I said, the stakes have never been higher.

00:17:18.000 We have to fix this insanity if we want to save our country and if we want to save Western civilization.

00:17:25.000 Guys, joining me now, Utah Senator Mike Lee.

00:17:28.000 Mike, great to have you back on the show.

00:17:30.000 Thank you.

00:17:31.000 Good to be with you.

00:17:32.000 So, Senator, you co-authored the original Save Act, and it's now been upgraded to the Save America Act.

00:17:38.000 I like that as an act of branding, but with now actual voter ID provisions.

00:17:44.000 Can you walk us through the process and what made you and my father say that we really need to get this done and it matters more now than ever before?

00:17:54.000 Yeah, so as far as the bill itself, what gave the impetus for this was the realization that a few things had happened over the years.

00:18:06.000 So back in 1993, Congress passed a law called the National Voter Registration Act, the NVRA, sometimes it's called the motor voter law.

00:18:14.000 It allows people to register to vote and do so while applying for a driver's license.

00:18:21.000 You go in, you check a box, and you sign your name certifying that you're eligible to vote, and boom, you're registered.

00:18:29.000 A few decades go by.

00:18:31.000 The courts subsequently interpreted that statute wrongly but conclusively as prohibiting the states from engaging in any kind of effort after the fact to make sure that the person is in fact eligible to vote, that they're actually citizens.

00:18:47.000 Now, it's an absurd interpretation, but it's also final.

00:18:50.000 It's conclusive.

00:18:52.000 And in the meantime, a couple of other things happened.

00:18:56.000 You've now got nearly every state freely issuing driver's licenses to non-citizens.

00:19:01.000 That didn't used to be the case.

00:19:03.000 You got 19 of those states freely issuing driver's licenses even to known non and known illegal immigrants.

00:19:12.000 And then the worst part about it is that we had this horrible period between 2021 and 2025 when you had 10 to 15 million people coming into this country illegally. 0.94

00:19:21.000 Any one of those at any time could go in, apply for a driver's license, and just by checking a box and signing their name, they can certify that they are eligible to vote, including that they're citizens, which they're not.

00:19:32.000 And bingo, they've got full voting rights as if they were U.S. citizens, even though they are not.

00:19:38.000 So that's what caused us to file it.

00:19:41.000 About three or four weeks ago, the president made the suggestion, which I agreed with and with my House counterpart sponsor, Chip Roy, agreed with.

00:19:55.000 He said, look, you need to rebrand it as the Save America Act because it's descriptive.

00:20:01.000 It describes what this would do.

00:20:02.000 It would save America.

00:20:04.000 And you need to add a voter ID requirement, which was an easy thing to add because Chip and I from the very beginning did everything that we could to explore that possibility.

00:20:15.000 We concluded we were advised by some people it might make it harder to pass it together if we had those lumped together.

00:20:21.000 But the president's suggestion was a good one.

00:20:23.000 We added it and now we've got 50 sponsors in the Senate.

00:20:27.000 We're in really good shape.

00:20:29.000 We've just got to get it on the floor now and we've got to enforce the talking filibuster to get it passed.

00:20:33.000 So yeah, now that you have the 50 Senate co-sponsors, including Susan Collins, actually, that's sort of a welcome change.

00:20:40.000 It means you can pass the motion to proceed with the vice president there to break the tie.

00:20:46.000 How hard was it to get to that number?

00:20:49.000 And what were those conversations like to get these lawmakers on board?

00:20:55.000 You know, we were in good shape a few weeks ago.

00:20:59.000 I think we had, I think there were 50 of us on board before we made the name change.

00:21:06.000 It only, it took us two to three weeks between the time that we filed the Save America Act with the new provision added in.

00:21:16.000 It takes naturally some time to migrate all those same people who sponsored it before to get them on the new bill to make sure that they support the same thing.

00:21:26.000 We had to iron out some language that created some unfortunate ambiguities, but that's fixed now in order to get those people on.

00:21:34.000 And I had to make the case to them that this is legislation they could still support.

00:21:39.000 The fact that we were able to do that in only two or three weeks was itself a welcome surprise.

00:21:45.000 It's somewhat unusual that you can do it that quickly, but it was a great thing.

00:21:48.000 The heavier lift now is going to be getting it on the floor, getting it on the floor soon.

00:21:53.000 And most importantly, getting Senate Republicans, especially the Senate Republican leader, on board with the idea of enforcing the talking filibuster.

00:22:02.000 Yeah, so you've been very vocal about what you call the zombie filibuster, where Democrats can block a bill without ever having to set foot on the floor of the Senate.

00:22:12.000 Normally you'd have to get up there and you could have to speak for 24 hours and drone on and everything like that.

00:22:17.000 But now they have this stuff.

00:22:19.000 It's like, well, we don't have to show up to work and actually do the job.

00:22:21.000 We can just not show up and we can end it that way.

00:22:25.000 Explain to our audience how that works and why the talking filibuster is the way to beat it, because I don't think people realize they can just not show up.

00:22:37.000 And more importantly, then also not have a real record of them opposing such common sense legislation, which I think we want.

00:22:45.000 That's right.

00:22:46.000 So the word filibuster, when used in the context of the United States Senate, typically refers to the tradition reinforced by the Senate rules since the Senate came into existence in 1789.

00:23:01.000 It refers to the ability of each senator to continue debating and to a slim minority of all senators to be able to continue debate as long as they want, theoretically into infinity.

00:23:15.000 For the first 130 years of the Republic, roughly, that was the rule.

00:23:22.000 There was no limitation on that rule.

00:23:24.000 Starting in 1917, the Senate adopted a process known as cloture, where a supermajority of senators could shut down debate if they chose to do so.

00:23:35.000 Originally, it was three-fourths starting in 1917.

00:23:38.000 A few decades later, they changed it to two-thirds.

00:23:41.000 A few decades after that, they changed it to three-fifths, where it stands now.

00:23:44.000 So that's why it takes 60 votes to bring debate to a close.

00:23:48.000 But there is still another way to bring debate to a close so that you can pass it.

00:23:53.000 Remember, passage still is by a simple majority vote.

00:23:58.000 You don't pass by 60 votes.

00:24:00.000 You just force debate to a close.

00:24:02.000 But there's another way of doing it without cloture.

00:24:04.000 You exhaust them.

00:24:05.000 You either exhaust them or you get them to consent.

00:24:08.000 And by exhausting them, you get them to the point where they are more likely to consent, meaning you let them speak.

00:24:14.000 But we need to make them speak.

00:24:17.000 Because what's happened over the last few decades, John, is that you've got senators who are able to engage in what I call the zombie filibuster.

00:24:26.000 They have the benefits of filibustering, where they prolong debate, they delay.

00:24:31.000 They have the benefits of it, but they don't actually have to speak.

00:24:35.000 In fact, they don't even have to be in the Senate chamber.

00:24:37.000 They can be back in their office taking a nap, for that matter.

00:24:40.000 They can be at a bar.

00:24:41.000 For that matter, they can be half a world away at the Munich Security Conference, where a lot of the Democrats went a few days ago.

00:24:49.000 That was pretty epic, by the way.

00:24:53.000 I mean, seriously, don't think about it.

00:24:55.000 They just defunded.

00:24:58.000 They just sent the Department of Homeland Security into a shutdown.

00:25:02.000 And they said, yeah, okay, we're going to the Munich Security Conference.

00:25:05.000 It's absolutely absurd.

00:25:07.000 They shouldn't get the benefits of the filibuster without doing the work of the filibuster, especially whereas here we've got an issue that's like 85% supported by the American people.

00:25:17.000 And we can't let them get away with this.

00:25:19.000 We need to make them work for it on this one.

00:25:21.000 So more broadly, Mike, just to confirm, the zombie filibuster, these are just traditions.

00:25:28.000 It's not a statute.

00:25:29.000 It's not ingrained in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or anything like that.

00:25:34.000 It's just like the blue slip stuff, right?

00:25:37.000 I mean, these aren't actually laws.

00:25:40.000 It's just traditions that have started, I guess, to make their lives easier, but actually probably negate or defeat the purpose of the original intention of the idea.

00:25:49.000 Yeah.

00:25:50.000 And in this circumstance, the more faithful application of the rules, I mean, I know the American people don't sit at home worrying about whether the Senate rules or traditions are being faithfully observed, but here, this is actually consistent with the Senate rules and with what the Senate traditions long were before we started allowing the zombie filibuster to rule the day.

00:26:14.000 The zombie filibuster thing works really well in some circumstances, but it works especially well if you don't want to have to work that hard when you oppose a bill.

00:26:24.000 I think we need to reinvigorate the Senate.

00:26:26.000 So if the talking filibuster is enforced, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats would have to physically stand up there on the Senate floor and explain specifically why they oppose requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

00:26:40.000 Do you think they can actually sustain that argument in front of the American people, especially as you mentioned, with 80, 85% of the people saying this makes total sense?

00:26:50.000 Do you think they can do that for any real length of time?

00:26:54.000 I think they could do it for a length of time.

00:26:57.000 I don't think they could do it in perpetuity.

00:26:59.000 I don't think they would want to do it terribly long, more than a few days or a few weeks at the most.

00:27:08.000 Because again, this is something the American people support.

00:27:10.000 Remember what happened?

00:27:12.000 I mean, you and I were not alive, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when it was opposed, the Senate made members get up and actually speak in response to it.

00:27:26.000 And over time, they realized that public opinion wasn't with them.

00:27:32.000 And over time, they relented, those opposing it after, you know, it did take a significant amount of time, but they got there.

00:27:40.000 And I think in this circumstance, we would end up passing it because they would realize that the American people weren't buying their frivolous arguments.

00:27:49.000 Because right now, Don, look at the arguments they're throwing up against this thing.

00:27:53.000 They're terrible arguments.

00:27:54.000 They're ridiculous.

00:27:55.000 The best they can come up with is, oh, this is Jim Crow 2.0. 0.76

00:27:59.000 Are you kidding me?

00:28:01.000 This is absolutely absurd.

00:28:04.000 Something like 75% of black Americans support this.

00:28:09.000 Something like 73, 74% of all Democratic voters support this.

00:28:14.000 Among Republicans, it's more like 90% and it averages out to 83, 84%.

00:28:20.000 So these arguments don't work because they're ridiculous.

00:28:23.000 They have nothing to do with Jim Crow.

00:28:26.000 And if these things are Jim Crow, do you know what else is Jim Crow? 0.51

00:28:29.000 The Oscars the Grammys, the Super Bowl, and the Democratic National Convention.

00:28:36.000 Because Don, to show up and participate at the Democratic National Convention, you got to show photo ID and you've got to prove that you have a right to be there and to participate in the DNC.

00:28:46.000 This is an absurd argument they're raising.

00:28:49.000 Well, Leader Thune, Republican, has said there's no commitments on the talking filibuster and that it could tie up the floor for weeks.

00:28:57.000 He's talking about the opportunity cost, really.

00:28:59.000 I guess, you know, the farm bill, sanctions bill, other priorities.

00:29:03.000 You know, what's your message to Leader Thune and to senators who are hesitant about using up that floor time?

00:29:08.000 I've had this conversation with Leader Thune many, many times, and I'll restate what I've told him here.

00:29:15.000 If you're looking at opportunity cost, you've got to examine both sides of that coin.

00:29:21.000 It's not a close call.

00:29:23.000 So at the most, what?

00:29:26.000 We lose a few days to a few weeks.

00:29:29.000 But the opportunity cost on the other side is unacceptably high.

00:29:32.000 The opportunity cost of not doing this makes this an absurd thing to even consider not doing it.

00:29:43.000 Because if we don't do it, we leave our election system vulnerable to foreign manipulation, to fraud, whether domestically or from sources outside the United States or a combination of both.

00:29:56.000 We cannot afford to do this.

00:29:58.000 We can't afford it politically.

00:30:00.000 And our republic really does not need to be tested like this.

00:30:04.000 What we need is for the will of the American people to align with the law here and to align with common sense.

00:30:11.000 The Save America Act would do this.

00:30:13.000 This is malpractice for us not to take this up and pass it by whatever means necessary.

00:30:18.000 And here we've got a mechanism by which we can comply with every Senate rule with all of the best traditions of the Senate and get this thing passed.

00:30:28.000 All it takes is time and effort on our side, and it's time and effort well spent.

00:30:32.000 Yeah, I mean, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, but not shockingly, came out against the bill among some of the other usual suspects. 0.98

00:30:39.000 What's your message to those who are standing in the way, especially a Republican?

00:30:44.000 Look, we have since the dawn of the Republic recognized that in order for the vote to matter, in order to protect the right to vote, you've got to make sure that people who are not entitled to vote don't.

00:31:00.000 I think that's pretty simple survival mechanism.

00:31:04.000 There's this old expression that if everyone's family, no one is.

00:31:09.000 And you can extrapolate that here to an entire nation.

00:31:12.000 If everyone is an American citizen, then no one is, especially when we've gone through periods of open border policies, as we have in recent years, where in a short period of time, we let in 10 to 15 million people who don't belong here. 0.99

00:31:26.000 It's possible now to get a driver's license in almost every state as a non-citizen and in 19 states, even if you're a known illegal immigrant.

00:31:35.000 And when the NVR makes it this easy, for somebody to go in and just by filling out a form, I want to apply for a driver's license.

00:31:42.000 You check a box, you sign your name, that's it.

00:31:45.000 You're going to have a lot of people registering to vote, whether intentionally to commit fraud or otherwise, becoming registered voters who don't belong in our voter rolls.

00:31:54.000 That cheapens your vote and my vote and that of every single American voter.

00:31:59.000 Are there no Democrats?

00:32:01.000 There's no common sense Democrats that say, hey, listen, this is an 85% issue, 80% issue.

00:32:07.000 At worst, in America, there's no Democrats in the Senate that would actually say, hey, you know what?

00:32:13.000 This actually makes sense.

00:32:14.000 I get it.

00:32:14.000 It's against party lines, but we're going to break those party lines and, I don't know, maybe represent the people we're there to represent.

00:32:21.000 No Senate Democrat has come out yet to say that they would support this bill.

00:32:27.000 That said, a couple of things to keep in mind.

00:32:29.000 Number one, I believe three Democrats in the House of Representatives ended up voting for it.

00:32:35.000 I'm stunned that it was that low, but still there were some Democrats who did that.

00:32:39.000 Number two, my colleague John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, has indicated that voter ID requirements are not unreasonable.

00:32:48.000 He has yet to come out in support of this bill.

00:32:50.000 Number three, I believe that there are probably more votes than John Fetterman that could be gotten on this if we actually put it on the floor.

00:32:59.000 They may or may not be enough to get us to 60, but I think over time, as they have to stand there on the floor of the Senate and defend their position and speak in order to prolong debate, in order to forestall passage of this thing, I think we find more converts because their position is not defensible.

00:33:18.000 Yeah, I mean, Democrats claim that over 21 million Americans lack the documents this bill would require, particularly married women with name changes, low-income voters and minorities.

00:33:28.000 Again, they're calling it the new Jim Crow.

00:33:30.000 But can you separate fact from fiction in all of this?

00:33:35.000 Because, I mean, you need a voter, you need an ID to do pretty much anything these days.

00:33:42.000 You would think doing it one time to be able to register to vote doesn't seem all that complicated.

00:33:47.000 Right.

00:33:48.000 You need photo ID to go to the doctor to pick up a prescription.

00:33:52.000 You need a voter ID.

00:33:53.000 You need a photo ID to board a plane for a lot of bank transactions to withdraw money from an account.

00:34:00.000 I mean, the list goes on and on about things that we accept that you have to do this.

00:34:04.000 And it's not just with the commercial world.

00:34:07.000 It's also to interact with government agencies, whether it's the Social Security Office or to buy a hunting license or to buy a phishing license to apply for welfare benefits.

00:34:19.000 You've got to identify yourself.

00:34:20.000 So if this is Jim Crow, so are all these things.

00:34:24.000 Now, Don, as to the more specific question about this bill, this is one of the best arguments against what the Democrats are saying, which is absurd anyway.

00:34:34.000 But one of the best arguments there is, even if you were prepared to call all those things from TSA to Social Security, welfare benefits, all these other interactions, even if you were to call all those Jim Crow, you'd be crazy, by the way, to call them that. 0.54

00:34:49.000 That's stupid.

00:34:50.000 That's absurd.

00:34:52.000 And it's insulting to a lot of people Democrats claim to be defending in doing that.

00:34:58.000 But set that aside for a minute.

00:35:01.000 Even if you were to accept all of that, You still would have to ignore the fact that this bill makes it far easier to prove who you are.

00:35:11.000 Even if you're someone who doesn't have those documents, maybe you never had them to begin with.

00:35:14.000 Maybe you had them, but your house burned down, your dog ate them, whatever.

00:35:19.000 You don't have time or money to go through the effort to replace them.

00:35:23.000 There's still other ways by which you can prove your identity here.

00:35:26.000 This makes it so much easier than any other system that I'm aware of to prove your identity if you lack documentation.

00:35:33.000 If nothing else, you can do it by affidavit.

00:35:36.000 You can, by personal attestation, describe who you are and then allow the state receiving your voter registry forms to ascertain the validity of them on its own and put the burden on them.

00:35:53.000 It's never been easier to do this.

00:35:55.000 By the way, every American, I left out one key parallel that makes the Democrats' arguments that much more absurd.

00:36:02.000 You know, every time you start a new job with a new employer as an employee, every single time, every American citizen has to fill out an I-9 form.

00:36:13.000 The I-9 form requires very specific documentation.

00:36:16.000 I believe it's typically a combination of either a U.S. passport, which a lot of people don't have, or if you don't have a passport, then I think it's an original certified copy of your birth certificate and your social security card.

00:36:29.000 But it's a very rigid set of documents you have got to produce.

00:36:33.000 This is way easier than that.

00:36:35.000 This has far more flexible options than that has.

00:36:38.000 So you would have to call all employers and the U.S. government forms that you have to fill out when you start new employment, Jim Crow as well. 1.00

00:36:46.000 This doesn't hold water.

00:36:48.000 This is a red herring.

00:36:49.000 It's a straw man.

00:36:50.000 It doesn't work.

00:36:51.000 We're going to win this.

00:36:52.000 We have to win it.

00:36:53.000 The only thing stopping us is our own will as Senate Republicans.

00:36:58.000 But we've just got to do it.

00:36:59.000 We've got to show up and do the extra work of enforcing the talking filibuster, and I believe we will win.

00:37:06.000 So can this get done before the 2026 midterms?

00:37:10.000 I mean, I guess that's the big question that everyone's really asking.

00:37:12.000 You know, what is the timeline for making this happen?

00:37:15.000 You see all that's going on.

00:37:17.000 The Democrats now in Virginia and Maryland, they're gerrymandering, you know, states that are, you know, their Democrat majority, but it could be, you know, 52, 48, 53, 47.

00:37:30.000 And yet they want to basically have almost the entire congressional map being there led by Democrats.

00:37:38.000 You see what they're trying to do.

00:37:39.000 This seems like it's a big part of it.

00:37:41.000 Can that happen in a reasonable timeframe to make sure that people can actually vote in these elections and get it done right to make sure that they don't have the extra boosting of all the illegals that you and I believe were voting in the last few elections?

00:37:55.000 Yeah, it can.

00:37:56.000 It needs to happen.

00:37:57.000 And one of the things that I'm most worried about is getting in place well in advance of any elections so that you don't have a flood of new registrants with all the talk about the Save America Act.

00:38:10.000 If we don't actually do it now, you could see a flood of people registering for the first time who don't have any business registering to vote because they're not citizens.

00:38:24.000 We've got to prevent that.

00:38:25.000 And I think the best way, perhaps the only way to do that, we've got to pass this soon.

00:38:30.000 I think it needs to be in the month of March.

00:38:35.000 I don't think it should go much longer than that.

00:38:36.000 And that's why I've been encouraging my colleagues for us to take this up soon after the State of the Union address.

00:38:43.000 The president's scheduled to deliver that on Tuesday, the 24th of February, a week from today, I believe.

00:38:52.000 I think we ought to take it up right after that.

00:38:54.000 Now, they threw us for a ripple in that the Democrats defunded the Department of Homeland Security and then fled the country from Munich.

00:39:04.000 In my view, we should not have taken that recess.

00:39:06.000 I think that was a big mistake.

00:39:08.000 I told my colleagues that before we left.

00:39:11.000 If the Democrats want to defund DHS, they darn well ought to be required to stay, not leave the country, abandon their plans until they're willing to give us a reasonable path to getting it funded.

00:39:23.000 So we got to deal with that now.

00:39:24.000 But I hope as soon thereafter as possible, we'll take it up and force the talking filibuster and get this thing passed.

00:39:31.000 So if this bill were to die in the Senate, what does that mean for the 2026 midterms and for election integrity in general going forward?

00:39:38.000 And, you know, what do you say to Americans who are watching this fight and wondering if Washington will ever actually secure our elections?

00:39:47.000 Yeah.

00:39:47.000 Look, this is one of these questions where I ask myself, if not us, who?

00:39:51.000 And if not now, when.

00:39:53.000 This ship may not pass this way again.

00:39:55.000 If we don't do this, I believe we are jeopardizing the majority that we have in the Senate, the majority that Republicans have in the House.

00:40:04.000 And we don't want to do either of those things.

00:40:06.000 We don't want to lose either chamber.

00:40:08.000 We've seen that movie before.

00:40:10.000 We know what it looks like.

00:40:12.000 I know better than most.

00:40:13.000 Trust me.

00:40:14.000 You do.

00:40:14.000 Trust me.

00:40:15.000 I do indeed.

00:40:16.000 Yeah, my 50 hours of congressional testimony.

00:40:18.000 I know I'm going to be doing it again.

00:40:19.000 If that happens, it is what it is.

00:40:20.000 It's nonsense.

00:40:21.000 It's going to be contrived.

00:40:22.000 But, you know, the problem with nonsense is you still have to deal with nonsense, even if it's nonsense.

00:40:27.000 Exactly.

00:40:28.000 But we can avoid a lot of that nonsense if we get this thing passed.

00:40:33.000 If we don't, I really do think that we lose majorities for multiple reasons, not just for the opportunities for fraud that that opens up, but also what it does to our own base.

00:40:46.000 You know, we've got to rely on our own voting base, our most loyal, faithful, firm-believing voters.

00:40:52.000 And I'm hearing from people all over my state and across the country.

00:40:55.000 If you guys don't get this, a lot of us aren't going to show up in November.

00:40:58.000 By the way, I hear that as well.

00:41:00.000 And I'm sure the Democrats know that, but it's like, you know, can you just get something done?

00:41:03.000 And, you know, again, they're not wrong.

00:41:06.000 And I think they mean well.

00:41:08.000 I don't think as many people fully sort of appreciate what we're up against, right?

00:41:12.000 It's, you know, you have your ideas.

00:41:14.000 I think we're aligned on many of these things.

00:41:16.000 But, you know, the media narrative that's out there, I mean, this is a simple thing.

00:41:19.000 You know, you need proof of citizenship to register and an ID to actually vote.

00:41:23.000 I mean, that's the general thesis of all of this.

00:41:26.000 This is basic, basic stuff.

00:41:29.000 Again, doesn't mean that the obstacles aren't great.

00:41:31.000 Doesn't mean that the media narrative can't move things despite the general lack of trust in the media today.

00:41:38.000 It still doesn't matter.

00:41:38.000 There's people that don't pay attention to this stuff, like maybe people watching this show, or you and I.

00:41:44.000 But I imagine from the Democrat perspective, part of it is about making sure this doesn't happen simply to demoralize that base and make sure it doesn't happen.

00:41:52.000 I know I spoke to my father on President's Day just to wish him a happy President's Day.

00:41:57.000 Now that he's 79, I'm like, you know what?

00:41:58.000 I'd rather call you on President's Day than your birthday because the birthday call is a little bit more depressing once you get up in there into those years.

00:42:06.000 So we laughed about that.

00:42:07.000 But I mean, for him, I mean, this is a number one priority.

00:42:10.000 He said as much.

00:42:13.000 Yeah.

00:42:13.000 And I've spoken to the president many times over the last few months about this issue specifically.

00:42:22.000 I talked to him for a couple of hours a week ago, Friday, in the Oval Office.

00:42:28.000 I called him immediately after the House passed the Save America Act last week.

00:42:36.000 And we had a great conversation about it.

00:42:37.000 And I encouraged him to keep up the talk, keep up the encouragement for us to do this, which he has done as recently as yesterday when he was on Air Force One.

00:42:48.000 So I'm so grateful for President Trump's help with this.

00:42:53.000 He's been an indispensable force as he is with so many other things.

00:42:58.000 And with his help, I think we can get the courage that we need out of Senate Republicans.

00:43:05.000 Even if we were dealing with a lack of courage here, even if we were just talking about people acting out of fear alone, it's not the best place to act.

00:43:14.000 But even for those who are operating from a position of fear, what they should fear is not passing this.

00:43:21.000 And we're guaranteed that we won't pass it if we don't try this.

00:43:25.000 So that's the message we've got to continue to send.

00:43:29.000 Senate Republicans, don't mess this up.

00:43:32.000 Don't lose this opportunity.

00:43:33.000 This is a great opportunity and don't incur the horrible things that we could experience if we don't get it passed.

00:43:40.000 It's going to take some work.

00:43:41.000 It's going to take some effort.

00:43:42.000 It's going to take long hours and commitment.

00:43:44.000 And no, we don't have an absolute guarantee on victory, but we have an absolute guarantee of loss if we don't do it.

00:43:52.000 So let's get it done.

00:43:53.000 So, Senator, constitutionally, what are the parameters of Article 1 and Article 2 as it relates to election integrity?

00:44:01.000 Is there any case precedent here?

00:44:06.000 There is some case precedent, but there's nothing that inhibits us from acting.

00:44:11.000 There is precedent that backs up our authority to prescribe needful rules and regulations concerning federal elections.

00:44:20.000 Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution makes that pretty clear.

00:44:25.000 And for those, this is another amusing argument that some people will occasionally throw out.

00:44:30.000 And you're starting to see it from some Democrats who will throw out federalism and just say, well, we don't want Congress to take over elections.

00:44:39.000 You know, the irony in that is that the impetus for this whole project, the whole reason why it became necessary was because of an existing federal law, of an interpretive error made by the courts in construing an existing federal law.

00:44:56.000 This is an effort to fix that federal law.

00:44:59.000 The NVRA passed in 1993 and later bastardized by the courts to say that the states were not even allowed to check somebody's citizenship, even if they had reason to believe it needed to be checked.

00:45:13.000 There's nothing in the NVRA that supports that, but that is the conclusive opinion of the courts, backed up by a Supreme Court opinion, which was wrong, up against a very strong dissent by my former boss, Justice Alito, who pointed out how absurd it was.

00:45:28.000 But that is now the precedent and that stands.

00:45:31.000 So for those who are arguing that there's no federal authority here, this is an improper federal takeover, nonsense.

00:45:38.000 Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution gives us that power, and we have a moral imperative to fix a manifest error made by the Supreme Court in interpreting that law.

00:45:48.000 What can regular citizens do to kind of help motivate their representatives, both Democrat and Republican, about this?

00:45:56.000 Again, if it's an 80, 84% issue, what can they do to let their legislatures know that, hey, you guys better do something about this?

00:46:06.000 It's hard for senators to completely ignore public conversations when they get a flood of calls and emails.

00:46:20.000 And those calls or emails are also consistent with what people are saying in op-eds submitted to newspapers and more recently, social media activity, posts, commentary, videos, things like that, in which people say, look, we really ought to pass this.

00:46:38.000 And whether you're represented in the Senate by Democrats or Republicans or one of each, you ought to reach out to your senators in whatever method you deem most accessible to you and most comfortable to you to use.

00:46:53.000 And just tell them in no uncertain terms, I expect you to do this.

00:46:56.000 Now, if you are represented by Republicans or at least one Republican, the message you need to send to Republican senators specifically is don't blow this.

00:47:06.000 You've got this alignment, which for Republicans is regrettably rare.

00:47:12.000 We want to not make it rare or unheard of going forward.

00:47:16.000 We need to not lose majorities in either chamber of Congress.

00:47:20.000 And if you want to get that done, if you want us to show up for you in November, and if you want us by showing up in November to have the ability to make sure that those majorities are preserved, if you want the ability to maintain a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and by that, we mean the American people, not whatever person happens to stumble into our land,

00:47:46.000 not a citizen who wants to make this their government and exercise a right to vote that doesn't belong to them, then get this done and enforce the talking filibuster.

00:47:55.000 That message needs to be made loudly and clearly to Republican senators in particular.

00:48:00.000 Enforce the talking filibuster to pass the Save America Act.

00:48:03.000 You don't have to do it on every bill, but you got to do it on this one.

00:48:06.000 So, and then you obviously have to target and go after Lisa Murkowski to make sure she knows that as the lone sort of Republican senator against this to get on board.

00:48:15.000 But you mentioned John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Democrat.

00:48:19.000 Hey, he sort of said some of this stuff could be common sense.

00:48:21.000 If there was a handful of Democrats that people could reach out to, who do you think would be the best targets there to get common sense?

00:48:29.000 You're not going to get Chuck Schumer to ever agree to this.

00:48:33.000 But if Fetterman's a reasonable guy, if they're going to take their time and energy, who would be maybe the handful of people you'd recommend targeting that you think, hey, maybe there's a chance there?

00:48:41.000 I would start with Fetterman and with any Democrat who's up for re-election in 2026, particularly if they're up for re-election in a state that has in the near past voted for President Trump or in the near past has elected Republican senators.

00:49:01.000 One name that comes to mind is Senator John Osoff from Georgia.

00:49:05.000 Now, John Osoff, interestingly enough, held a campaign rally in Georgia recently in which he made known, I think, on his website, but even if it was not made known on his website, in order to get into his campaign rally, you had to show up to the campaign rally with a photo ID.

00:49:24.000 So if this is Jim Crow, then that was a Jim Crow rally. 0.63

00:49:28.000 Of course, it's not Jim Crow.

00:49:30.000 He's not a supporter of Jim Crow.

00:49:32.000 And so this is a good opportunity for all of us to recognize that these are legitimate policies.

00:49:39.000 I don't begrudge him from doing that.

00:49:42.000 I do strongly disagree with him if he thinks the Save America Act is not defensible.

00:49:47.000 And I think this would be a good move for him.

00:49:49.000 Excellent.

00:49:50.000 Well, Senator Mikely, thank you so much.

00:49:52.000 Keep up the good fight.

00:49:53.000 It's really important.

00:49:55.000 Just appreciate that you're out there doing it.

00:49:56.000 Great seeing you.

00:49:57.000 Thanks so much.

00:49:58.000 Good to see you, Don.

00:49:59.000 Let's get together again soon.

00:50:00.000 Take care.

00:50:00.000 Look forward to it, buddy.

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00:51:20.000 Guys, thanks so much for tuning in.

00:51:22.000 Remember to like, to share, to subscribe.

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Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - February 19, 2026

Let’s Act to Save America, Interview with Sen Mike Lee | Triggered Ep.318

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