On Tuesday, Donald Trump took a break from golfing and tweeting "WITCH HUNT" to campaign for a job he already has. The president threw a raucous rally in Florida, delivering an extemporaneous speech for thousands of fans. It's kind of like a concert, because he plays all the hits: "Build The Wall," "Lock Her Up," "Drain The Swamp." It's also kind of like a stand-up comedy show. He does the reliable bits that always kill, while sprinkling in some new material.
At the Florida rally, President Trump made the case for stricter voter identification laws. While he handily won the electoral college vote, he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by three million. Rather than take the L and move on, he's peddled the conspiracy theory that there was "large scale voting fraud," with "millions of people" voting multiple times. According to Politifact, that claim is mostly false. Experts say cases of voter fraud and "double voting" are isolated and rare.
But still, Trump insisted that voters need photo identification, saying: "You know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. You need ID." Obviously, that's not true. You don't need an ID to buy groceries, unless you're buying alcohol or cigarettes. The Internet roasted Trump for making this ridiculous claim. Has he ever even been in a grocery store? Does he think teenagers use fake ID's to buy groceries? The champion of the blue-collar common people seems more like an aloof elite multi-millionaire.
It's depressing that the president doesn't understand how grocery shopping works, since he makes policies that affect the finances of all Americans. But on the upside, his bizarre assertion inspired a hashtag game on Twitter: #TrumpGroceryStores. It's pretty simple: You just name a grocery store after Donald Trump. The results are hilarious.
At a press conference, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders said she was "not sure" of the last time Trump went to a grocery store. Also, she claimed Trump meant to say "alcohol" instead of "groceries." True, you need photo ID to purchase alcohol, but groceries is what the president actually said.
Older Americans were reminded of President George H.W. Bush's blunder in 1992, when he stared in awe at a supermarket scanner: "This is for checking out?" asked Bush. Then he told the grocers, "I just took a tour through the exhibits here. Amazed by some of the technology." Electronic scanners had been used in grocery stores since 1976, making the president seem out-of-touch. He went on to lose the 1992 election to Bill Clinton, making him a rare one-term president.
However, Geroge H. W. Bush never had a rabid fanbase like Donald Trump. The man seems invincible, swatting down scandal after scandal like flies. But he should probably rework his voter ID material before the next rally. Or, better yet, visit a grocery store. I hear the scanners are amazing.
