Disgusting Trump move explodes into spotlight - Another Day - Brian Tyler Cohen

Texas Republicans reveal their plan to
steal congressional seats. Turns out
everything is bigger in Texas, including
the corruption. This is just another
day.
If there's one thing that we've learned,
it's that when Donald Trump speaks,
people listen. Whether he's telling his
pedophile pal to stop poaching employees
or telling Texas Republicans to help him
consolidate his grip on power,
President Trump, ever mindful of the
very tight house majority Republicans
wield this week basically ordered Texas
Republicans to redraw congressional
district lines to add GOP seats to the
next Congress.
That's right. Currently, Republicans
have a seven seat advantage in their
congressional delegation. But with the
midterms coming up, Trump is leaving
nothing to chance when it comes to
holding on to a majority. Now, to be
fair, once you've been burned by someone
telling you they won't get pregnant and
then this comes out, you got some trust
issues. Which is why Trump recently gave
Texas Governor Greg Abbott a call and
told him to do something about all of
this by finding five new seats. And
wouldn't you know it, suddenly a special
session was called and redistricting was
on the agenda. And when Donald Trump was
asked about this, here was his excuse, I
mean answer. Are you calling in for a
complete redrawing of the congressional
map ahead of
No, just a very simple redrawing. We
pick up five seats.
Trump isn't even denying it. He's just
making it seem like the incredibly rare
mid decade ploy to jerrymander districts
for explicit partisan gain is no big
deal. But it is a big deal. Slightly
less of a big deal than Don Jr.'s
mysteriously wet breasts, but a big deal
nonetheless. Well, today, Texas
Republicans finally revealed what this
new redistriced map would look like. The
new congressional map, which has yet to
be finalized, puts Democratic
representatives Henry Quailar and
Vicente Gonzalez in redder districts and
puts other incumbent Democrats at risk
by redrawing or merging their current
districts, including Al Green, Julie
Johnson, Mark VC, and Greg Casar.
Surprise, surprise. Republicans are
specifically targeting Democrats and
subverting the Democratic process. And
if we needed any further proof that this
is a blatant piece of partisan politics,
get this. The supposed reason behind the
urgent need to suddenly redistrict Texas
is because the Department of Justice
under Trump says that the way Texas
previously drew their lines is an
unconstitutional racial gerrymander. But
these are the same maps that just a
couple of years ago, Texas lawyers
defended in court against accusations of
racial gerrymandering. Back then, again,
for the same exact maps, attorneys from
Texas argued that there was not
evidence, new or otherwise, of racial
gerrymandering, and called the DOJ a
third party with no actual knowledge of
Texas's redistricting process. So,
basically, Texas said, "Y'all don't know
about Texas, but we'll be obedient
little boys and girls and follow orders
cuz we just like being in power, too."
Donald Trump and the Republicans will do
anything to win, but Texas Democrats are
fighting back.
Hours after another packed public
hearing on redistricting, Fox 4 has
learned some Texas Democrats are
considering their options to hold off a
vote, including a quorum break.
Yes, a quorum break. It's not just the
incredibly unpopular sequel to Fox's hit
series Prison Break. It's also a
political strategy. Breaking quorum is
the act of politicians leaving the state
so that the party in power doesn't have
the minimum number of lawmakers to be
able to conduct business. It is a smart
play, but also comes at a cost.
In 2021, in protest of changes to
election laws, Democrat lawmakers flew
to Washington DC, so there weren't
enough lawmakers at the capital for the
House to operate. However, in 2023,
Republican House leaders passed a rule
saying that those who break Cororum face
a $500 a day fine if they're absent.
If you have donors paying the personal
fines that lawmakers have acred as a
result of their conduct, um that comes
dangerously close to looking like a
bribe.
Yes. And what immense peril a politician
could face from accepting a bribe. I
mean, you could practically fit that
level of blowback onto an entire Qatari
jet. But while Texas Democrats are
contemplating fleeing the state to fight
back, some Democratic governors are
seeing that the only way to compete
against today's Republicans is to best
them at their own redistricting game.
This party needs to wake up. These guys
aren't screwing around. And I say this
not in literal sense, but they're
assassins when it comes to the way they
weaponize grievance and the way they
play politics. If they force us, we've
got to put everything on the table.
We've got to make decisions that maybe
we wouldn't have made before.
If we want to still be in this game, we
need to disabuse ourselves, disenthral
ourselves of the status quo in the past.
Exactly. Republicans have already
gerrymandered districts in North
Carolina and Ohio and Florida, Kentucky,
West Virginia, Utah, and they're about
to do it even more in Texas. And if
Democrats want to have a future in
government, we unfortunately have to do
it, too. But it's a means to an end. If
Democrats gain enough seats, we can get
power so that we can render the entire
practice of gerrymandering illegal, just
like we tried to do with HR1 when
Democrats were in power. Yes, it's
almost as backwards as this logic.
Sex to save the French.
But if we have to, we have to. Too
often, Democrats get elected and then
good government themselves into
obscurity. Democrats must acknowledge
that we are in a different era of
politics. The reality is just because
the logo is the same, that doesn't mean
what's inside it is. What used to be a
party filled with reasonable moderates
willing to reach across the aisle is now
one big soup of virusinfested bile,
which also happens to be RFK's dream
description of a swimming hole. You
know, in the past when politicians on
either side were found to be involved in
scandalous business dealings or were
attempting to subvert the courts or were
found guilty of sexual assault or were
trying to, oh, I don't know, protect
their child molesting spa patrons. They
were rightly ostracized from their party
and not nominated to lead it. But that
ship has clearly sailed. Republicans
have pledged complete feely to a man
that sees zero reward in bipartisan
efforts. And the Texas redistricting
effort is just the millionth example of
exactly that. And speaking of Texas, a
quick aside. Remember how Donald Trump
promised the Republican governor of
Texas that Kirk County would get
whatever federal assistance they needed
after the disastrous floods? Well,
sadly, parts of Maryland were also hit
with horrific floods in May. But when
their Democratic governor requested
$15.8 million in FEMA aid, their request
was denied, even though the damage
exceeded FEMA's threshold for disaster
relief. I guess helping them would mean
a big hit to next year's birthday parade
budget. Donald Trump is completely
transparent about his feelings on
working with Democrats.
Everything's fake with the Democrats.
Worst scum on earth. Bad sick people.
They're a bunch of sick people.
All of which is to say when that is your
opponent. Hoping that he will one day
wake up and follow the rules or be a
good governing partner is a fool's
errand. What Trump and the Republicans
are doing is beyond up. Which is
why it is worth remembering why
Democrats need to be in government in
the first place. It's not to defend the
righteousness of the filibuster or keep
intact some vaunted legislative process
or even to be professionally
photographed deepthroating a corn dog.
Democrats are in government to do the
things Republicans won't like providing
Americans with health care, protecting
women's reproductive rights, combating
climate change, passing gun legislation.
Americans want action on the issues, not
blind protection on our norms and
institutions. But to do that, to enact
our agenda, we have to be in power. And
while we may hate even the idea of
redistricting, if we have to