Claim:
U.S.-based grocery stores and gas stations generally require photo ID for purchases.
Rating:
Context
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeated this false claim since at least 2018, usually when speaking about proposing voter ID for U.S. elections. In at least three of those instances, he incorrectly said consumers needed to show ID at grocery stores to buy bread or cereal. Those comments did not include information indicating he was only speaking about items truly requiring photo ID, or those with a minimum age requirement, such as alcohol or cigarettes.
Since at least 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeated a false claim alleging Americans must show photo ID to make purchases at grocery stores, usually accompanied by his promotion of voter ID laws for elections. He made the same untrue claim once more in November 2025 while delivering remarks at a White House breakfast for GOP senators. During the morning gathering, he added the similarly false statement that gas stations also require ID.
In at least three past instances of Trump remarking about consumers having to show ID at grocery stores, he specifically mentioned buying bread or cereal. None of his comments indicated he was only speaking about items truly requiring photo ID, or those with a minimum age requirement, such as alcohol or cigarettes.
Snopes contacted the White House to ask about Trump’s repeated false claim regarding ID and grocery stores, as well as the newer mention of gas stations, and will update this article if we receive further information.
In related moments from 2024 and 2025, Trump several times publicly remarked on the word “groceries” with comments indicating his unfamiliarity with grocery shopping. During a post-election interview conducted by NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristin Welker, Trump said (the 36:39 mark), “Very simple word, groceries. Like almost — you know, who uses the word? I started using the word — the groceries.” He also wrongly labeled “groceries” as an “old-fashioned word” in a Nov. 5, 2025, Fox News interview (the 3:24 mark) — another repeated claim appearing in other posts from February 2025:
A 2010 video clip from the reality TV show “The Marriage Ref” showed Trump saying he had “never even gone to a food market” with his third wife, first lady Melania Trump. We did not locate the full episode of the TV show.
In the article below, we’ve detailed instances we located of Trump wrongly suggesting American consumers need to show ID for general purchases at grocery stores.
July 31, 2018
During a July 2018 political rally in Tampa, Florida, while campaigning for his ultimately-unsuccessful reelection in 2020, Trump inaccurately said that stores required photo ID for grocery purchases:
We believe that only American citizens should vote in American elections, which is why the time has come for voter ID, like everything else. Voter ID. You know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. You need ID. You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture.
The West Palm Beach, Florida, NBC affiliate posted a YouTube video showing the comments.
On the following day, Cecilia Vega, then ABC News’ senior White House correspondent, asked then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about Trump’s promotion of voter ID laws, as well as when he last visited a grocery store. Sanders responded (18:00 mark), in part, “Certainly, if you go to a grocery store and you buy beer and wine, you’re certainly going to show your ID.”
Nov. 14, 2018
In November 2018, The Daily Caller published an interview with Trump, in which he said, “It’s really a disgrace what’s going on. The disgrace is that, voter ID. If you buy, you know, a box of cereal, if you do anything, you have a voter ID.”
We did not yet locate a video of this interview, which The Daily Caller possibly only published as an article.
Oct. 11, 2019
During an October 2019 rally in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Trump incorrectly told the crowd that purchases of groceries required showing ID:
Democrats also continue to encourage foreign interference in our elections by refusing to support a simple and beautiful thing called voter ID. Maybe I can ask our senators and congressmen, put a bill. It is so popular.
You know, if you want to go out and buy groceries, you need, identification. If you want to do almost anything you need identification. The only thing you don’t need identification is to vote, the most important single thing you’re doing, to vote. You don’t need it. You know why? Because they cheat like hell, that’s why.
Trump’s remarks begin at the 1:41:00 mark in CBS News’ YouTube video of the entire speech:
Trump’s mention of cheating continued his years-old, unfounded claim alleging massive voter fraud exists in U.S. elections.
Sept. 27, 2020
During a September 2020 news conference at the White House, Trump, while speaking about election laws, again made a comparison between his belief about grocery stores with his call for voter ID laws. He said (the 14:28 mark below), “But there’s just no justification for these extreme changes to the election law. And if you can go to the grocery store, you can have an ID with your picture on it to vote. It’s so important.”
July 24, 2021
On July 24, 2021, Trump spoke at “Rally To Protect Our Elections,” a Turning Point Action-hosted event in Phoenix, Arizona.
During Trump’s speech, he said, “Everybody wants voter ID. Who doesn’t want it? You go to the grocery store, you give a picture, do anything you do. You give a picture.”
Sept. 15, 2023
In September 2023, Trump spoke at the Concerned Women for America summit in Washington, twice mentioning ID being needed to buy bread:
But it’s no wonder the far left lunatics, perverts and criminals are getting desperate to stop our movement by any means necessary. They are really trying to stop us, as you perhaps have read. It’s all they’re good at. They’re bad at policy. They have no idea what they’re doing. They have open borders. They have no voter ID. They don’t want voter ID. I saw on television, one of these characters: “There shouldn’t be voter ID.” Now, you have voter ID to buy a loaf of bread. You have, you have ID to buy a loaf of bread. You have, everything, you have pictures.
[…]
There’s only one reason they don’t want voter ID. Because they want to cheat.”
An X user highlighted (archived) the remark in a popular post.
Oct. 7, 2023
Weeks later, in October 2023, while campaigning for his reelection in 2024, Sky News broadcast live from Trump’s speech in Waterloo, Iowa. Trump said, “If you buy a loaf of bread, you got to have your ID out but for voting you don’t.” The remark occurs at the 58:13 mark in Sky News’ YouTube video:
Oct. 25, 2024
During Trump’s interview on the “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast — occurring days before his November 2024 reelection — he told Rogan (the 2:37:04 mark), “When you go to a grocery store, you give ID. But for a vote, it’s supposed to be a sacred thing. And it should be a sacred thing, no voter ID, because they want to cheat.”
Nov. 5, 2025
At the White House breakfast for GOP senators on Nov. 5, 2025, Trump began his comments at a lectern speaking about opening back up the government. At the time, the U.S. was witnessing the longest government shutdown in the country’s history.
Trump mentioned California being a “disaster,” then said, “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.”
For further reading, we previously reported about Trump repeatedly telling a story indicating he believed grocery stores kept apples in refrigerators.
Sources
“09/27/20: President Trump Holds a News Conference.” YouTube, Trump White House Archived, 27 Sep. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OjwPZOiRvU.
@Acyn. “Trump: Groceries, Sort of an Old Fashioned Word. The Price of Groceries Went through the Roof… You Take a Look at Eggs Today— I Mean, the Eggs Are Double, Triple, Quadruple, They’re Going through the Roof. No, There’s Some Outside Problem with Eggs Maybe.” X, 7 Feb. 2025, https://x.com/Acyn/status/1888055554611790043.
@atrupar. “Trump Still Thinks You Need an ID to Buy Groceries.” X, 24 Jul. 2021, https://x.com/atrupar/status/1419087163908632577.
———. “‘You Have Voted ID to Buy a Loaf of Bread’ — Trump Still Doesn’t Know How Buying Groceries Works.” X, 15 Sep. 2023, https://x.com/atrupar/status/1702838454906749170.
“Donald Trump Delivers Speech in Iowa.” YouTube, Sky News, 7 Oct. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBKinBRkIik.
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“Donald Trump Rally in Phoenix, AZ 7/24 | Transcripts.” Rev, 24 Jul. 2021, https://www.rev.com/transcripts/donald-trump-phoenix-arizona-rally-speech-transcript-july-24.
Enjeti, Saagar, et al. “Full Transcript Of Trump’s Oval Office Interview With The Daily Caller.” The Daily Caller, 14 Nov. 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/14/transcript-trump-daily-caller-interview/.
“Full Interview: Donald Trump Details His Plans for Day 1 and beyond in the White House.” YouTube, NBC News, 8 Dec. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b607aDHUu2I.
“Grocery Shopper Rolls Eyes at Trump’s ID Claim.” YouTube, CNN, 1 Aug. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Ty9_V_vZ8.
Hutzler, Alexandra. “Government Shutdown Becomes Longest in History: How We Got Here and What’s Next.” ABC News, 4 Nov. 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/government-shutdown-longest-history/story?id=127179783.
“Joe Rogan Experience #2219 – Donald Trump.” YouTube, PowerfulJRE, 25 Oct. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBMoPUAeLnY.
“Live: President Trump to Rally Supporters in Lake Charles, Louisiana.” YouTube, CBS News, 11 Oct. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtOdw6eZG0E.
“President Trump Speaks at Breakfast with Republican Senators | Video | C-SPAN.org.” C-SPAN, 5 Nov. 2025, https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-speaks-at-breakfast-with-republican-senators/668489.
“Read the Full Transcript: Donald Trump Interviewed by Kristen Welker on ‘Meet the Press.'” NBC News, 8 Dec. 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-interview-meet-press-kristen-welker-election-president-rcna182857.
@RpsAgainstTrump. “Trump: ‘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.'” X, 5 Nov. 2025, https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1986083492875141523.
@salt_baer. “Trump: I Hear so Much about the Word Groceries…” Threads, 9 Feb. 2025, https://www.threads.com/@salt_baer/post/DF4iBMCshUZ.
“Trump Calls Tax Returns Report ‘Fake News.'” Rev, 27 Sep. 2020, https://www.rev.com/transcripts/donald-trump-white-house-press-conference-transcript-september-27-calls-ny-times-tax-returns-report-fake-news.
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