WSJ warns Trump's favorite bill 'can't save Republicans' from their own deep unpopularity

The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board warned President Donald Trump on Tuesday that his new favorite piece of legislation may not be enough to save the GOP from staggering losses during the upcoming midterms.

Trump has lobbied Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE Act, a bill that he has said would ensure Republicans win "every election for the next 50 years." The bill that passed the House of Representatives had two main aims: to create a national voter ID law and to require proof of citizenship to vote. The Senate version expanded the bill's scope to include a provision restricting mail-in ballots, which the editorial board argued could be disastrous for the GOP.

"As an election policy, this has real upside," the board wrote in a new editorial. "Yet many GOP states let anyone vote absentee. Do Republicans really want to endorse having the federal government overrule the election laws in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Kansas, and more?"

The new policies regarding voter registration may not be enough to blunt significant losses in the midterms, either, the editorial board argued.

"But the SAVE America Act wouldn’t turn blue states red, and it can’t save Republicans from voter anger at unpopular policies," the editorial reads. "In the MAGA era, the bill could even marginally hurt the GOP."