Donald Trump Sparks Outrage After Saying Americans Need ID to Buy Groceries’ While Defending Voter ID Laws

President Donald Trump has once again repeated a familiar claim that Americans need to show identification to do simple things like buy groceries or fill their cars with gas.

He made these comments while speaking to Republican senators at the White House on November 5, 2025, during a breakfast meeting that took place just one day after Democrats won several major elections across the United States, including in states like New York, Virginia, California, and New Jersey.

During his remarks, Trump pushed for national voter ID laws and demanded that mail-in voting be eliminated. He told senators that such measures were necessary to protect what he called the “security” and “integrity” of U.S. elections.

Trump argued that states without strict voter ID laws were mismanaged and full of fraud, calling California “a disaster.” He said, “We should pass voter ID. We should pass no mail-in voting. We should pass all the things that we want to pass to make our election secure and safe.

Because California is a disaster. Many of the states are disasters, but can you imagine when they vote almost unanimously against voter ID?”

He went on to claim, “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. It’s only for one reason, because they cheat.” Trump has used this same argument for years, suggesting that if Americans must show ID for routine purchases, then they should also have to show it when voting.

However, this statement is false. In reality, people in the U.S. do not need to show ID to buy groceries or gasoline. The only times identification might be required are when someone buys alcohol, tobacco, or uses a personal check. These exceptions are limited and do not support the broad claim Trump continues to repeat.

This is not the first time Trump has made this kind of statement. In 2018, he said that Americans need an ID even to buy a box of cereal. The following year, during a campaign rally in Louisiana, he told supporters that buying groceries requires identification.

Then, in 2023, he claimed that if you buy a loaf of bread, you have to show your ID. Each time, his remarks were widely criticized and fact-checked as being false or misleading. Despite this, Trump has continued to use the same example as part of his argument for stricter voting rules.

Trump’s latest grocery-related comments come just months after he made headlines for his unusual remarks about the word “groceries” itself. During an April 2025 speech about new tariffs, which he called “Liberation Day,” Trump said that “groceries” was an “old-fashioned but beautiful term” that reminded him of “a bag with different things in it.” He also claimed that under his leadership, grocery prices had gone down and that he had made everyday items more affordable for Americans.

However, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Consumer Price Index showed a different story. At the time of his speech, the USDA reported that grocery costs were expected to rise slightly faster than the average rate of inflation for the year.

The Consumer Price Index later confirmed that grocery prices increased by 0.6% from July to August and by another 0.3% between August and September. These numbers showed that grocery prices were continuing to go up, not down as Trump had claimed.

Trump, who is now 79 years old, has built much of his political message around the idea that the U.S. election system is filled with fraud, despite a lack of evidence to support that claim. He has used examples like grocery store ID checks to suggest that voting should be more tightly controlled.

His critics, including many election experts and fact-checkers, argue that these comparisons are misleading and that they spread confusion about how voting actually works in America. In the U.S., each state sets its own election laws, meaning the federal government cannot simply impose a nationwide voter ID rule without major legal changes.

Even though his comments have been disproven many times, Trump continues to use them as part of his broader argument that the U.S. voting system is untrustworthy.

His remarks also reflect his ongoing frustration with Democratic victories in key states, which he often attributes to what he calls “cheating” rather than legitimate political shifts. For many observers, Trump’s repeated use of false or exaggerated examples shows how he relies on simple, emotional claims to make his political points, even when those claims don’t match reality.