Let me say the quiet part out loud and put it on the record, knowing it costs something inside my own party. I want documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. So do most Americans. Gallup puts support for that idea at 83%. I don’t just believe election security matters. I believe that near-unanimity is the most valuable asset Republicans have on this issue, and I think we are about to throw it away.

The SAVE America Act would require states to verify citizenship against a federal database, share their voter rolls with the Department of Homeland Security, and expose local election officials to criminal liability. Strip away the politics and look at the structure. It is one of the most expansive federal mandates on election administration my party has ever written. President Donald Trump is now willing to let Section 702 of FISA, a surveillance authority both parties call essential, lapse to force it through. He has also called to “terminate” the filibuster to the same end.