MAGA keeps wishing the GOP had rigged the election

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reacts as he speaks to the media, on the day of the Senate Republicans' weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

Over the course of Tuesday evening, as it became increasingly clear that the GOP was taking an electoral shellacking of historic proportions, a slew of MAGA voices took to social media to bemoan the fact that Republicans hadn’t rigged the election. According to these MAGA influencers and commentators, the GOP’s midterm massacre wasn’t the result of President Donald Trump’s wild unpopularity or harmful policies, but because their party failed to pass a bill that would allow them to seize control of the election. What’s more, they frequently direct their ire at a specific Republican.

“Call me crazy,” posted MAGA influencer Matt Van Swol. “But maybe the Senate should have passed the SAVE Act.” He also posted a photo of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), declaring, “This man was handed a once-in-a-generation golden opportunity to change the country for the better...instead he blocked Trump at every turn, sent the Senate on weeks OF vacation and refused to pass the SAVE Act. What a vile human being.”

The SAVE America Act was a bill pushed hard by Trump and his election-denying allies that would have given the federal government far-reaching control over state elections, even though the Constitution explicitly empowers states to manage them. Different versions of the proposed bill had different elements, but typically included strict ID rules for registering and voting as well as the federalization of voter roll databases. Opponents argued that this would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, disproportionately target certain groups, unconstitutionally wrest election control from the states, and was unnecessary as it primarily sought to address the vanishingly rare cases of non-citizen voting. And many have suggested that it would give the Trump administration expansive abilities to control and meddle in various aspects of elections. Trump was desperate to pass the bill earlier in the year as it became increasingly clear that the GOP had a midterm problem, and now that the midterms have come and gone, his followers are asserting it was the only way they could have won.

“I think it would have been a good idea to pass the SAVE America Act,” noted MAGA influencer Scott Presler. “All Republicans had to do was pass the SAVE Act,” agreed former West Virginia House of Delegates member Derrick Evans, who was forced to resign for his role in the January 6 insurrection. “Remember when Republicans chose not to push through the SAVE Act to ensure electoral integrity?” mused MAGA commentator David Vance. “We could’ve had the Save America Act,” fumed Libs of TikTok over a photo of Thune. Kristan Hawkins, president of a far-right students’ group, agreed that he was the culprit, posting, “John Thune and the Senate GOP could have saved our nation by passing the SAVE Act. Instead, they betrayed us.”

Many MAGA voices asserted that the GOP took its historic midterm beating because voters wanted to punish them for their failure to pass the bill, but exit polling showed no mention of this. Instead, voters made it clear that they were voting as a direct rebuke of Trump, citing concerns about the economy, healthcare, the war with Iran, corruption and the state of democracy.

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