Let's talk about the Trump plan to make DC bigger.... - Belle of the Ranch

Well, howdy there Internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about the Trump DC gerrymander plan.

After Trump's nationwide redistricting campaign face-planted. They've come up with a new plan and it takes gerrymandering to a level never before seen in the US. Have you ever wanted to gerrymander so hard that you decided to change the borders of a state? That's how far down the rabbit hole Republicans have fallen. The Make DC Square Again act would literally take land from Virginia and give it to DC. That would transfer hundreds of thousands of voters out of Virginia.

The basis for this plan is based in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the US Constitution, commonly called the Enclave Clause. That's the part of the Constitution that creates the concept of DC. The capital city was originally 10 miles square, not to be confused with 10 square miles. 10 miles square is 100 square miles. The land for DC originally came for Virginia and Maryland. And beginning in 1846, Congress decided to vote to send 31 square miles back to Virginia. That's the plan to force Virginia to give up land and have the federal government take control and give it to DC.

Republicans are pointing to language in the Enclave Clause to say that DC was supposed to be 10 mi square. So, Congress was wrong to return the land. The problem with that is like many other things Republicans believe about the Constitution. That's not actually what it says. What it actually says is “to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district not exceeding 10 miles square as may by session of particular states and the acceptance of Congress become the seat of government of the United States.

It doesn't say it needs to be 10 miles square. It says that's the maximum. The people who wrote the Constitution wanted a small capital city and they wanted to protect the states from well exactly what Republicans are trying to do. The passage they point to refutes their argument because they're pretending they don't know what the words not exceeding mean.

So, if this isn't really about the Constitution, what's it about? The area they want transferred is heavily Democratic leaning. It would take it out of Virginia and therefore allow them to gerrymander by editing the shape of the state.

Every time Republicans pretend to care about the Constitution or what the founders would have wanted, remember that during the 250th anniversary celebration, they launched an attempt to take about 400,000 American citizens and put them in DC against their will. Once there, they would be subject to full federal taxes, but they wouldn't have a voting representative in the House or representation in the Senate.

Some Republicans don't even want to bother with a bill. They want Trump to issue an executive order. How do Republicans want to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the revolution? By taking 400,000 people and forcing them to accept taxation without representation.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.