By requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections, the SAVE America Act reinforces a basic principle — that the right to vote in American elections is reserved solely and specifically for American citizens.

President Trump is right to prioritize the passage of this critical legislation, which is currently being debated in the U.S. Senate after earlier passing the House.

Indiana’s photo ID law treats everyone equally, without regard to race, color, or ethnicity. So does the SAVE America Act.

And nothing about this proposal should be controversial.

The nonsensical resistance to the SAVE America Act reminds me of similar opposition we faced in Indiana when — in 2005 — our legislature became the first in the nation to pass a law requiring that voters show photo IDs before casting ballots.

As Indiana’s secretary of state at the time, I championed the legislation from its inception. Once it passed, I was responsible for implementing it. And finally, I helped defend Indiana’s photo ID law over the course of four lawsuits — including one that wound up at the U.S. Supreme Court, where we prevailed in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board.

My question to the foes of the SAVE America Act is the same one I posed to opponents of our photo ID law 20 years ago. Namely: What don’t you like about secure, trustworthy elections?

The photo ID law treats everyone equally, without regard to race, color, or ethnicity.

So does the SAVE America Act.

The photo ID law simply makes sure that voters are who they say they are.

The SAVE America Act simply makes sure that voters are U.S. citizens.

Few factors are more essential to the survival of American democracy than popular confidence among the people in the fairness of elections and the veracity of their outcomes.

The left claims to revere democracy. Leftists remind us of their deep affection for government of, by, and for the people every time they baselessly claim that we conservatives are out to destroy it based on our supposedly unquenchable jonesing for dictatorial authoritarian rule.

If the leftists love democracy as much as they say they do, then why aren’t they the loudest and most enthusiastic supporters of safeguards like photo ID requirements or the SAVE America Act?

RELATED: The SAVE Act is the hill voters will die on

Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images

Instead, they despise these common-sense measures.

To explain away their recalcitrance toward protecting the integrity of elections, critics say rules such as requiring photo IDs or proof of citizenship tend to disenfranchise certain voters — especially minority voters.

If they truly believe that certain demographic groups lack the necessary intelligence or resourcefulness to produce photo IDs or proof of citizenship — such as birth certificates or passports — then quite possibly they are racist to their core. And that’s reprehensible.

If they know better than that but are just plucking such concepts out of the air to rhetorically justify their stance, then they are disingenuous.

The charade should stop.

The Senate needs to pass the SAVE America Act now.

It’s a recipe for stronger election integrity, better standardization of rules nationwide, increased public confidence in elections, and better accountability for election officials.

“The people are demanding it,” President Trump recently said at a House GOP event. They’re right.

​Save america act, Democrats, Voter id, Democracy, Donald trump, Indiana voter id, Senate, Gop, Opinion & analysis 

A Brazilian state deputy put on blackface during a government proceeding in order to protest another member of the federal government.

Fabiana Bolsonaro, a state rep. of the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly, shocked attendees on Wednesday when she applied brown makeup not only to her face, but to her arms as well.

‘I want precisely to show that it’s useless to put on makeup.’

Now, lawmakers are now calling for the Liberal Party member’s removal and have filed an ethics complaint against her, according to Brazilian outlet Folha de S. Paulo.

However, Bolsonaro made it clear during her speech that her reason for putting the makeup on was to protest another member of government. Bolsonaro was protesting the appointment of Erika Hilton as chair of the Chamber of Deputies’ Women’s Rights Committee because Hilton — born Felipe Santos Silva — is a male who believes he is a woman.

Santos Silva is a federal deputy from Brazil’s Socialism and Liberty Party, which holds 14/513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives.

During Bolsonaro’s speech, the politician explained she was protesting the idea that one can become a woman simply by declaring so.

“I, being a white person who has lived everything that I lived as a white person, now at 32 years old, decide to put on makeup, to dress myself up as a black person, applying makeup and making only the outside appear [black]. … Have I become black?” she asked, according to a translation.

RELATED: Alleged forced labor scandal rocks EV industry: ‘This is the price of environmentalism’

“Am I black now?” she continued.

Bolsonaro put emphasis on the fact that she could not possibly have experienced what it is like to be black in Brazil simply by putting on makeup.

“I want precisely to show that it’s useless to put on makeup. It’s useless to pretend something,” Bolsonaro added. “I say to you as a woman: I am a woman. It does no good to dress up as a woman. I am not offending any transsexual. Quite the contrary, I am saying that I am a woman.”

The liberal also called out the accolades that Hilton has acquired since posing as woman, saying, “The Woman of the Year cannot be a transsexual. … Someone took her place to put a transsexual there.”

RELATED: Megyn Kelly reminds America: Jimmy Kimmel wore blackface — yet she was the one canceled

Photo by Mauricio Santana/Getty Images

Hilton has been named as Woman of the Year by Marie Claire Brasil, celebrated as a model for Sao Paulo Fashion Week, and given the label of having won the most votes of any woman in Brazil by British Vogue in 2020.

Bolsonaro remained respectful in her comments, however, saying that “transsexuals must be respected,” and claimed there is “an increase in the murder of transsexual people.”

She concluded, “I don’t want any trans person to go through prejudice, murder, or discrimination for being trans. But I also don’t want any trans to take my place.”

Bolsonaro, who is not related to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, changed her name in 2022 ahead of elections in support of the president, GB News reported. Her former name was Fabiana Barroso. At the same time, she changed her racial classification from white to mixed-race, the outlet stated.

Since the remarks last week, Hilton has requested electoral authorities to investigate Bolsonaro’s change of racial identification, based on Brazilian regulations introduced in 2021 that increased public funding for candidates who are black or female.

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​News, Brazil, Blackface, Transgender, Transgenderism, Transsexual, Liberal, Socialist, Politics