Trying to Push Voter ID, Trump Makes Odd Claim on Groceries

No, you don't usually need ID to buy groceries
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 1, 2018 6:35 AM CDT
Trump Wrongly Claims at Rally You Need ID to Buy Groceries
President Trump gestures during a rally Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.   (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

More than a quarter-century after former President George HW Bush's grocery store scanner moment, President Trump has stumbled into a similar supermarket-themed slip. While championing the concept of voter ID to prevent noncitizen voting, Trump told a rally in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday that ID is required virtually everywhere else in America except at the voting booth—including, wrongly, when buying groceries, per the AP. "If you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID," he told the crowd. "You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture."

The Washington Post notes it's "unclear when the president last purchased groceries or anything else himself," a note echoed by many others online, per Time. (Business Insider notes the special instances when ID may be required.) Also making the rounds from the Tampa rally, per the Independent: images and video of attendees shouting at, swearing at, and giving the middle finger to the press. CNN reporter Jim Acosta tweeted "just a sample of the sad scene" with a 45-second clip. "I'm very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt," Acosta noted. "We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy." (More President Trump stories.)

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