President Trump just told Congress they can have their precious surveillance powers back when they secure American elections — and not a second before. In a Truth Social post that sent the swamp into full cardiac arrest, Trump declared he's against reauthorizing FISA's Section 702 unless the full SAVE America Act comes attached to it like a barnacle on a battleship.
The same surveillance program that was used to spy on Trump's 2016 campaign now needs his signature to survive, and he's leveraging every ounce of that irony.
Here's the setup. Section 702 of FISA — the warrantless surveillance program that's been operational since 2008 — officially lapsed on Friday after the House voted 198-218 to reject a standalone extension. Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in blocking the reauthorization, which means the deep state's favorite toy is sitting in the timeout corner.
Trump's demand is simple. He posted on Truth Social: "I'm against FISA if it doesn't come with The Save America Act (Full version!) firmly attached to it." Not a trimmed-down version. Not a watered-down compromise. The full thing.
The SAVE America Act, for those keeping score, is a voting overhaul bill that would require voter ID and proof of citizenship to cast a ballot. It would also eliminate mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military service, or travel. You know — the kind of common-sense election security measures that every other functioning democracy on the planet already has.
The bill picked up 50 votes in the Senate earlier this month but couldn't clear the 60-vote threshold because apparently asking people to prove they're American citizens before voting in American elections is just too extreme for some senators.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, admitted the votes "aren't there" for the SAVE Act on its own. Which is exactly why Trump is playing chess while Congress plays checkers. If they want their surveillance reauthorization, they're going to have to swallow the election security pill right along with it.
Trump even threw in a jab at the opposition, noting that "a few Dumocrats are against FISA, with or without Bill Pulte going to DNI, as Acting." Classic Trump — reminding everyone that Democrats hate FISA too when it suits them, but they hate election integrity even more.
This is the Art of the Deal playing out on C-SPAN. The intelligence community and their congressional cheerleaders have spent years telling us Section 702 is absolutely essential to national security. Fine. If it's that important, then surely securing our elections is worth bundling into the package.
The beauty of this move is that it forces every member of Congress to show their cards. You either vote for surveillance powers WITH election security, or you vote against both. There's no hiding behind procedural tricks or separate votes anymore.
As Trump closed his Truth Social post: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Thank you for your attention to this matter." The most polite hostage note the deep state has ever received, per 100 Percent Fed Up.
Congress wanted to quietly renew the government's power to snoop on Americans without a warrant. Trump said not until you protect the vote. Sounds like a pretty fair trade to me.
