Say, What Now?

MAGA world’s alternate reality

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Note: Everything in this post is my personal opinion. If you don’t agree, set up your own Substack. Or, leave me a comment.

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Last week I posted a link to what I consider to be a delusional rant by Stephen Miller on Sean Hannity’s show on Faux “News”.

The content of this clip really bothers me, so I generated a transcript using Evernote.

Here’s the transcript…

(in block quotes with an orange line on the left)

…with my notes (in italics) on the veracity of Hannity’s and Miller’s statements regarding Democratic opposition to the SAVE act:

Sean Hannity:

Here with reaction, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Advisor Stephen Miller is with us. So the claim is, and Hillary made this claim and many others, 69 million married women won't be able to vote if they took on the name of their husband, that they will disenfranchise American voters and it's voter suppression.

Due to ambiguities in the SAVE act as currently written it is possible that married women who changed their last name to their husband’s might have difficulty registering or re-registering to vote because the last name on their birth certificate doesn’t match the last name on their current ID. Here’s a good article detailing how this act might keep eligible citizens from voting.

By the way, this is an 84-16 issue in terms of the polls. Voters want:

• ID,

• Signature verification,

• Chain of custody controls,

• Updated voter rolls.

• Partisan observers watching the voting all day, the vote counting all night.

I think Hannity is referring to this Gallup poll from October 24, 2024, which does show that about 84% of Americans are in favor of some form of Voter ID. So they got something right!

That brings integrity to the process and confidence in results. Why would you be against it?

While, at first, requiring ID to vote in Federal elections sounds like a good idea, the way the SAVE act is written makes it more likely that many otherwise eligible voters will be excluded. Personally I think that’s the whole point.

The SAVE act is a solution looking for a problem. In fact, voting by non-citizens is extremely rare. [multiple links]

If this administration truly wants to make the federal government more efficient, adding a whole new level of bureaucracy to our right to vote seems to be going in the wrong direction.

Stephen Miller:

The only reason, Sean, you would be against any of that is if you wanted illegal aliens to vote and to vote in incredibly large numbers.

This is, to use a technical term, bullshit. Nobody¹ wants to allow non-citizens to vote in Federal elections.

So let's just deal with all of this BS right now. Every other country in the world of any note requires an ID to vote.

For what it’s worth, this appears to be true, if irrelevant.

The notion that Democrats are pushing that married women, who by the way are a Republican voting demographic, cannot get ID could be one of the dumbest talking points I have heard in my entire life.

Notice that this is not a denial that the SAVE act will make it hard for most married women to vote.

As I documented above, ambiguous language in the SAVE act could make it difficult for married women who have taken their husband’s name may have a hard time registering in some states, if not nationally.

As you said, the Real ID Act creates an ID that you can get at a DMV that demonstrates you're a citizen.

It can be difficult or impossible for some US Citizens to get a Real ID.

My family is lucky that we have the resources to request and receive notarized copies of our birth certificates and to pay the required fees for copies of documentation and to the DMV to acquire Real IDs.

However, it’s easily possible that there are people who can no longer get their hands on an original birth certificate if, for instance, a courthouse burned down.

And not everyone can afford the required fees to get a Real ID.

It’s easy to imagine someone who does not intend to ever get on an airplane because they don’t have that kind of money, who can also not afford the time and money required to acquire a Real ID.

Not to mention, according to this article, and this article, in 44 states a Real ID may not be good enough to allow you to register to vote. So the Real ID argument is just another irrelevant red herring.

The actual effect of the SAVE act is likely to be keeping eligible US citizens from voting.

The folks in favor of this appear to hope that most of those eligible voters will be liberals, putting a thumb on the scale for conservative candidates.

Again, setting things up so only the “right people” (i.e. relatively well-to-do white people) can vote appears to be the point.

The attitude appears to be that if a conservative Republican doesn’t win an election, the election’s results must be invalid.

This is no way to run a country.

Democrats want illegal aliens to vote.

Um, no they don’t.

It's why Joe Biden and his administration gave millions, we verified this now, millions with an M, of illegal aliens' social security numbers.

And once you have a social security number, it is incredibly easy to vote, to collect welfare, to get free government benefits, to participate in every aspect of American life. This isn't a mystery. They want illegals to steal elections, Sean.

Giving Social Security numbers to undocumented immigrants has nothing to do with stealing elections.

Immigrants who are allowed to stay in this country on humanitarian parole or with temporary protected status, etc. can get work permits and Social Security numbers.

This allows them to work in this country and pay federal and payroll taxes.

Unless they eventually become US citizens they will not be able to collect Social Security or Medicare benefits, so they are doing this country a favor by helping to fund these programs they will never be able to take advantage of.

SH:

All right, Stephen, what you're saying echoes exactly what DOGE found.

Because DOGE has been doing such a bang-up job.

Because not only did millions of illegal immigrants, were they aided and abetted into the country by Biden and Harris, then they get, let's see, social security numbers that they obtain. Then they get voter ID. Many of them apparently voted, according to DOGE, in 2024. And Elon Musk is saying it may be the biggest scandal of all time. And it's not a loophole, but, quote, a deliberate system. Non-citizens file for asylum, get work authorization. Then that automatically triggers the social security number. And from there, you get your driver's license. And from there, you get to vote or register to vote. And it was by design. That's their belief.

This is 100% bullshit.

Personally, if Elon Musk told me the sky was blue on a sunny day I’d want to go check.

Yes, if they have a work permit undocumented immigrants can get a SS #. And some states provide drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.

The idea is that they’ll be driving anyway, so it’s better to have them take a written and driving test and get a license.

But just having a driver’s license and an SS # doesn’t automatically allow you to register to vote, as documented in several of the articles I linked to above.

Nor do you automatically get access to government services just because you have an SS # and DL.

Much like Ronald Reagan’s Cadillac-driving welfare queens, these are the kinds of lies that sound like they may be true, but aren’t. Sometimes there is a kernel of truth, but on the whole most of these myths are just that, myths.

SM:

It is absolutely by design. You've summarized it for your audience perfectly, Sean.

This was not a loophole. The Biden administration, Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, devised a scheme to fly illegal aliens into the country and then to escort them en mass across the border…

Wait! Mayorkas flew people into the country, then escorted them across the border?

… by the millions and to give them something known as parole, which gives them a work permit, which gives them a social security number, which gives them access to the voting booth.

No, it doesn’t.

This was the plan all along, to get them here illegally so they can get free government benefits, get hooked to welfare, and be able to participate in American elections. This was an attack on democracy by the Democrat Party.

There’s definitely an attack on democracy, but it’s not by the Democratic Party.

It's the same attack that we see, Sean, when you have California, a sanctuary state, that is refusing to turn over even illegal alien criminals and gang members to ICE. So these are illegal aliens in California who have been arrested by California police, by California law enforcement for serious crimes, for crimes against children, for felonies, for crimes that threaten public safety. And they are refusing to hand these criminal illegal aliens over to ICE.

Instead, they're freeing them back into the cities to offend and offend again.

In California, when a convict who is undocumented is about to be released ICE is notified. If ICE doesn’t show up to take custody, the convict is released because they have served their sentence. That is not a refusal to hand them over.

By any definition, what California is doing is criminal. It is a violation of our laws. It is one of the most heinous things that I have seen in my entire life in Washington.

There is so much bullshit here it’s hard to even start debunking it.

Nobody is flying undocumented immigrants into the US so they can vote.

In order to register to vote you must swear under penalty of perjury that you are an American citizen.

If you do register to vote and you aren’t a US citizen it will inevitably be detected, and you will very likely be arrested and deported.

Given the grueling journey most immigrants endure to get to the US it seems unlikely that many of them would commit such an easily detectible, and completely unprofitable crime.

In general, immigrants, both documented and undocumented, commit fewer crimes than the native-born US population.

Also, California’s so-called sanctuary laws do not interfere with ICE or other federal authorities tracking down, arresting and deporting people who aren’t citizens. They just enforce rules to keep federal law enforcement from enrolling local law enforcement to do their jobs for them.

California law enforcement officials are not required to call ICE if they interact with suspected undocumented immigrants.

This allows police to interact with crime victims and witnesses without the victim or witness being afraid that they may be arrested and deported.

Without these kind of rules victims and witnesses are unlikely to come forward, making local law enforcement much more difficult.

SH:

But think about this. Stephen Miller, you go down to the border, and if you were to assist known illegal immigrants and let's say transport them, are you aiding and abetting lawbreaking? Wouldn't you get arrested? Wouldn't I get arrested? Wouldn't anybody watching this show get arrested?

This is an irrelevant red herring.

SM:

Yes, in fact, you would do significant jail time, particularly under the policies of this administration. By the same token, if you as an American citizen put, say, a child into the back of a truck and drive them across state lines, you'll be prosecuted for child trafficking.

So when we went on road trips of the southwest with our daughter when she was a child we were trafficking?

The Biden administration itself, the actual government of the United States, trafficked 500,000 children into this country and helped them to disappear. Hundred thousand children into this country and help them to disappear. That is criminal.

The only reporting on this I’ve been able to find are from right-wing publications. It does appear that a large number of foster children in several states fell out of the system, and some Republican senators with an axe to grind accuse the Biden administration of allowing them to be trafficked.

I agree that if the Biden administration lost track of foster children of undocumented immigrants that should be investigated and steps should be taken to track down the missing kids and keep this from happening again.

But I find most of the sources for this story to be sus, e.g. the NY Post and the Washington Examiner, both right wing rags.

However, the first Trump administration separated thousands of families without keeping track of where the parents or the children went.

Many of these kids still haven’t been reunited with their families.

THAT’s criminal.

And back to the point about sanctuary states and sanctuary cities, there are laws against harboring, there are laws against evading authorities, there are laws against smuggling, laws against concealing, laws against obstructing justice.

Another irrelevant red herring.

President Trump, as we speak, is working on an executive order that will be issued in the very near future that will clamp down and crack down on sanctuary cities as never before. This is a cancer on our democracy. The effort of the radical left to shield even the most violent illegal aliens from enforcement. President Trump will be soon taking action. It will be more robust and more aggressive than anything done in this area before.

Executive orders are basically the President putting his opinion in writing. In general they have no legal authority.

A president can’t create laws, or repeal laws, or redirect funding, or do any of the things this administration has tried to do without passing a law in Congress.

Yes, Democratic presidents have also tried to bypass Congress via executive orders. But that doesn’t mean they’re allowed to do that, and it has never worked very well.

It is long past time to rein in the executive branch, no matter who’s in office.

SH:

That'll be transformational. It'll make our country more safe and secure, our towns safe and secure, our cities safe and secure.

Anyway, Stephen Miller, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you.

So that’s it. What bothers me is that this is one very short example of the kind of bullshit that Faux “News” is spewing out 24/7/365.

This channel has been the number one source for “news” for over 20 years.

This means a very large fraction of US voters are being fed continuous bullshit every day and night, and it is affecting our elections.

It allowed a lifelong narcissistic, sociopathic, con man & lunatic (in my opinion) to become the most powerful person on the planet. TWICE!

I consider this to be much more dangerous than the very rare case of a non-citizen managing to vote.

I plan to do a similar analysis of a Rachel Maddow segment soon.

Ms. Maddow has fact checkers, and she listens to them. Her guests appear to live on Earth One instead of the MAGA planet. Should be an interesting contrast.

Musical coda:

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Substacks I highly recommend:

1. I suppose there may be a few folks who think this would be a good idea, but there are lunatics across the political spectrum. By “nobody” I mean “the vast majority of American citizens are against allowing undocumented immigrants to vote.”