Thom Tillis threatens to stall SAVE America Act

Thom Tillis is not running for reelection, and it shows. When a senator has nothing left to lose politically, you find out pretty quickly what he actually believes versus what he was saying to keep his job. In this case, what he believes is that he'd rather torch a voter ID bill on his way out the door than help pass something the president wants.

Voter ID is not some fringe idea. Most Americans, across party lines, think you should have to prove who you are to vote, the same way you do to buy a beer or board a plane. The SAVE America Act is Trump's attempt to actually get that done at the federal level instead of leaving it to a patchwork of states. Tillis threatening to stall it on the floor isn't a principled stand on federalism or process, it reads like a parting shot from a guy who's already checked out and wants headlines on his way to the exit.

That's the frustrating part of a retiring senator with a grudge. He doesn't have to answer to North Carolina voters anymore, so he can indulge every grievance against the administration without consequence. Meanwhile the actual policy, keeping elections secure and giving Americans confidence in the results, gets held hostage to one man's late-career score-settling.

If Tillis wants to spend his last months in the Senate lecturing Trump, that's his business. But calling this bill out as the hill to die on tells you more about Tillis than it does about voter ID.