Mark Meckler and Charlie James discuss the SAVE America Act & voting rules.

What this episode covers

Charlie James: The SAVE America Act is a very significant piece of legislation. We've got to make sure that our elections are safe and secure, and the people over at the Convention of States know all about that. Let's go to Mark Meckler right now. Mark, welcome to the program. Hope you're doing well. Mark Meckler: I am! Thanks for having me, Charlie. Charlie James: So, I mean, you guys really got into this pretty big here recently, didn't you? Mark Meckler: Yeah, we did because there's so much is at stake, Charlie. Look, if we don't have safe and secure elections—simple things like voter ID and you got to be a citizen to vote—everything downstream from that actually doesn't matter anymore because we're not in charge of our own government. Charlie James: So one of the things that—I mean, we know the Democrats are against it, but doesn't it just—I mean, it—it makes me scratch my head to know that there are some so-called Republicans out there that are against this bill. Mark Meckler: Yeah, look, I mean I struggle to see how anybody's against it. You say we know the Democrats, but even among the Democrats, the numbers are above 80% of their voters that want this thing. So I think it's going to come home to roost for everybody—Republicans and Democrats—if they don't get this thing done. Charlie James: I mean, this is—it is literally the most bipartisan issue that I've ever seen. Like you said, 80% of all Americans—uh, you know, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Black, white, Hispanic—everybody wants some form of ID shown when they go to the polls. I don't understand—are the Democrats that afraid of losing elections? Mark Meckler: Plain and simple? Yes. They are, because the way they win elections is they cheat. And we know this, we know it's happening all over the country. It's actually happening in red states and blue states—worse in the blue states where they encourage it—but I really believe if you take away the cheating, they can't win the elections. They know that. That's why they're willing to go all-in on this. Charlie James: Talking with Mark Meckler from, uh, Convention of States. So in order to get this passed, we've got to, uh, basically either get 60 votes or do away with the filibuster. We're not getting the 60 votes. Should we, or how should we, do away with the filibuster? Mark Meckler: Well, I mean, the other alternative—which is, is actually the way best way I think we get it done—is they do it through what's called budget reconciliation. Charlie James: Right. Mark Meckler: This is—it's a little bit nuanced, so I want to—I'm going to make it simple because I'm a simple guy: if something has a budgetary effect, you can pass it on a simple majority vote as long as the parliamentarian allows it. There's some nuance there, too. So they attached $10 billion in spending on this—$10 billion for election security—so now it has a budgetary effect. So that means, theoretically, the Senate could pass this on a straight party-line vote if they can just get the 51 votes. Charlie James: Well, here's the thing: um, we hear that John Thune has threatened to strip that out of the reconciliation bill. Mark Meckler: Which is absolutely unbelievable. I mean, I don't—I don't understand Thune. I'd go so far right now, he's certainly a traitor to the party. Charlie James: Yeah. Mark Meckler: It's unbelievable. He's certainly a traitor to the grassroots. You know, I have six million grassroots in my organization. I would say to a man and woman, every one of them thinks John Thune is a traitor right now. Charlie James: Yeah, absolutely. And—and even the parliamentarian, I mean, this—this—this... that woman could be fired by John Thune very easily, and they could elect a conservative parliamentarian in there, right? Mark Meckler: Yeah, this completely blows my mind. And this is where Republicans have always failed to play hardball. I've been doing politics professionally now for 16 years since the Tea Party. This i ...

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