Trump appears to think you need to show photo ID to buy groceries

Trump says you need to show photo ID to buy groceries

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/Judd Langum)

published 1 August 2018

President Trump's short-lived voter fraud commission may be defunct, but he clearly hasn't given up on the idea of requiring special photo ID cards to cast ballots in the U.S., as he told a rally in Tampa on Tuesday night. Also, Trump apparently hasn't set foot in a grocery store in a really long time, or ever — or perhaps at the rarified food markets he patronizes, you need to show photo ID to purchase groceries.

You don't need to show photo ID to buy groceries, unless maybe you are paying with a cashier's check or gold bars. "This kind of comment (unfairly) wrecked George H.W. Bush," whose apparent unfamiliarity with a grocery checkout scanner was front-page news in 1992, "and would have vaporized Mitt Romney," notes NBC News' Benjy Sarlin. "But 'authenticity' is a dumb artificial construct and Trump's version does not depend on him even pretending to live like a normal human." Or president. As Trump also said in his Tampa rally, his fans don't expect him to act "presidential," and that has its benefits.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.