MAGA Rep. Dragged After Making Bonkers Olive Garden Comparison In Push For Voter ID

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was criticized after he, touting the "SAVE America Act," made an oddball comparison using Olive Garden to complain about the lack of voter ID laws.

The Trump administration has pushed to eliminate no-excuse mail voting as a central goal of the "SAVE America Act," a sweeping federal elections bill that, among other things, complicates voting for individuals whose legal name does not match their birth certificate and poses a restrictive photo ID requirement for voting that disproportionately impacts minorities.

Proponents like Scalise argue that requiring photo identification at the polls is crucial for safeguarding against voter fraud and upholding the integrity of the electoral process. However, the evidence suggests otherwise.

These laws tend to disproportionately affect marginalized groups such as Black individuals, Native Americans, the elderly, and students. Moreover, despite their purported purpose of enhancing election integrity, voter ID laws have not proven effective in addressing legitimate concerns in this regard.

Nonetheless, Scalise claimed:

“When you think about something like Save America, which is at the heart of democracy, just saying show picture ID to vote. For God’s sake, you can’t go get pasta at Olive Garden without a picture ID. Why not be able to show a picture ID to vote?”

"Not a complicated subject. Again, anybody who gets on an airplane has to show a picture ID. Nowadays if you want to go to Olive Garden and get unlimited pasta, you gotta show a picture ID. This isn't complicated stuff yet every Democrat is against these basic things."

"Why? The only reason you can be against that is if you want voter fraud."

You can hear what he said in the video below.

Scalise appeared to reference Olive Garden's "Never-Ending Pasta Pass," a promotion that gives customers 13 weeks of unlimited pasta, breadsticks, soup and salad for $100. Diners must present a photo ID matching the name on the pass in order to use it. The chain brought back the popular promotion last week after a six-year hiatus, making 10,000 passes available to customers.

But that's a program customers purchase for themselves—there's no rule saying you must present an ID before you can order food at an Olive Garden.

Scalise was swiftly called out.

Scalise's weird claim mirrors similarly bewildering ones about ID requirements made by President Donald Trump.

For instance, in 2018, Trump was called out for repeatedly and falsely insisting that Americans must show photo ID to buy basic groceries like bread or cereal.

When then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to explain one such remark, she suggested Trump may have meant age-restricted purchases such as beer or wine—only for Trump to later clarify that he was, in fact, talking about cereal.

Trump returned to the false claim in 2023, saying ID was needed to buy a loaf of bread, and reiterated the point last November, telling Republican senators that Americans must show identification at grocery stores and even gas stations.