How ironic: While Oklahoma Republicans stood for America, they bowed as Trump trampled voter rights

I’ve never seen an attempt to pander to President Donald Trump expose Oklahoma House Republican hypocrisy quite so blatantly.

Republican House Speaker Kyle Hilbert attempted the so-called sincerest form of flattery by mimicking a mic drop moment of one of the president’s State of the Union political stunts.

It was a late February debate in House chambers, and Hilbert was running a White House request bill that proposes further enshrining into law an already existing ban on people in the U.S. illegally accessing food stamps. The bill requires the Department of Human Services to check the immigration status of applicants and report anyone suspected of unlawfully accessing benefits to the Attorney General’s Office. That office would then investigate and report to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Instead of focusing on the issue, Hilbert decided to grandstand, quoting Trump saying that people should stand if they agree that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Much like in Congress when Trump posed the same question, Republicans lawmakers, of course, stood en masse. Democrats did not.

Hilbert then finished his pitch by encouraging members to “stand up” with their vote in support of the measure. The bill ultimately passed along party lines, becoming just another example of a do-nothing measure that pits style over substance and dumps more red tape on an already overburdened state agency.

Bowing down to Trump might seem like politics as usual in the Republican-controlled Oklahoma House. But here’s where it gets delightfully ironic and raises some uncomfortable questions for Republican lawmakers about whether they actually do intend to protect American citizens living in this state.

As House Republicans were standing to honor Trump, his Department of Justice was busy suing Oklahoma’s election chief to try to force the release of private voter data. That’s data that American citizens living in Oklahoma have made crystal clear that they don’t want in anybody’s hands except our state election officials.

You know how I know Oklahomans don’t want this voting information, including social security and driver’s license numbers, in any federal administration’s grubby hands?

We have a law on the books that prevents the release of said data to protect the privacy of Oklahoma voters, who – coincidentally – are required to be American citizens in order to cast ballots.

Trump is on a quest to obtain this protected information from all 50 states, and Oklahoma is one of the 29 states they’ve sued to try to force the release. Some government watchdogs suspect that the Department of Justice wants to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to run elections.

Only addled conspiracy theorists doubt the outcomes of elections in Oklahoma and other states. Trump shouldn’t doubt those either. After all, he won all 77 Oklahoma counties each of the three times he’s run for president.

But House Republicans, so willing to please Trump in showing love for American citizens, don’t seem so willing to practice what they preach when it comes time to actually stand up for us.

Same goes for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, our top attorney, who is also running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Instead of declaring the Trump administration’s request exactly what it is — unlawful — he wasted everyone’s time with some wishy-washy statement: “The integrity of our elections is foundational to our republic,” he said after the federal government sued us, “and efforts to identify and eliminate voter fraud are both appropriate and necessary.”

Instead of highlighting that our system is safe and secure – as is the case with state-run elections across the country – he said Oklahoma will “fully cooperate with any lawful federal requests” and that the state is also firmly committed to “election integrity and the protection of personal information.”

Drummond didn’t explain how the state will do both.

When Oklahoma Voice contacted his office for clarification, Drummond refused to say if this lawsuit is one of those “lawful federal requests” to which he was referring.

We’re supposed to have an attorney general who is a staunch defender of Oklahomans’ rights, not a pushover who caves at the first threat of federal overreach.

But he’s not the only one hiding in shame. I haven’t heard a single high-ranking Republican urge their fellow colleagues to stand up for the American citizens registered to vote here.

Trump has proclaimed on his social media platform Truth Social that he cherishes Oklahoma and its people.

But if that’s true, wouldn’t he respect our state laws and Oklahomans’ desire for election privacy? Someone who cares about the 4 million people who live here wouldn’t insist that we waste our tax dollars fighting in court.

Because as Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, noted during discussion about Hilbert’s bill, the federal government continues to shift more and more costs to our state even while Congress continues to borrow money to pay for governing. Lepak said it’s prudent to evaluate every single dollar that flows through here to make sure that every citizen who is supposed to receive a benefit actually gets it.

He’s absolutely right.

Right now the only one who looks like they’re actually standing up for Americans living in Oklahoma is Paul Ziriax, our nonpartisan state election board secretary, who is facing the Trump administration’s wrath for complying with state voter protection privacy laws.

Television station KFOR has reported that Ziriax has released to the Trump administration the publicly available voting information, but is refusing to violate state law by releasing personally identifiable data.

Good for Ziriax for walking the thin line and respecting the rights of the American voter – and the rule of law.

Now it’s time for the rest of the Republicans to decide if they want to practice what they preach.

Because I have a serious, nonpandering question for them: Is the first duty of the American government to protect American citizens or Trump?

Let’s see where they really stand.

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.