This came up quite a bit during his first term. In 2018, for example, the Republican insisted that consumers had to show ID to purchase breakfast cereals (they do not). He later added that it was also necessary to present identification to buy bread (also wrong).

At a Tuesday-morning event at the White House, Trump went even further down the same path.

Trump: "It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that's terminate the filibuster ... we should start tonight with 'the country's open, congratulations,' then we should pass voted ID, we should pass no mail in voting ... you go to a grocery store, you have to give ID."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-11-05T13:37:04.447Z

As part of a pitch on proposed election restrictions, the president told Senate Republicans, “All we want is voter ID. You go to a grocery store, you have to give ID. You go to a gas station, you give ID. But for voting, they want no voter ID.”

For now, let’s put aside the fact that in-person voter fraud is extraordinarily rare, making voter ID laws an unnecessary solution to an imaginary problem. Let’s instead consider the simple fact that the incumbent American president, 10 years into his political career and five years into his White House tenure, is so detached from the lives of everyday Americans that he has no idea that people buy groceries all the time without presenting identification.

Whether Trump appreciates this or not, he’s making it far easier for his critics to paint him as woefully out of touch.