Democrats Need To Stop Being Polite, Start Getting Real
Niceness won’t stop Trump
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced plans to redraw the state's congressional maps in response to Donald Trump’s decree that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott find him five extra seats. Partisan gerrymandering has never been the most democratic process, but it’s usually done at the end of each decade with a new census. Trump fears a midterm rout for the GOP, which has passed unpopular legislation and stood by while he tanked the economy, so he wants to game rigged before it’s even played.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that Republicans will “defy history” and “grow the majority” in the House next year, but he plans to do this through blatant theft not persuasion. A similar power grab in North Carolina is how he remained speaker in 2024.
California’s maps are drawn by an independent commission, but Newsom asked Trump to stand down in Texas or he’d work to neutralize any ill-gotten Republican gains in the state.
“This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy,” Newsom told Trump, adding, “California cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds.”
However, some liberals do believe that California should stand idly by as Texas Republicans steal seats. They think standing idly is the most morally correct posture. When Newsom posted on social media, “If the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will do the same. And American democracy will be better for it,” Political Editor Dan Shafer at Civic Media responded, “I just could not disagree with this more. We improve nothing by engaging in this gerrymandering arms race. The Democratic Party will lose any of its credibility on defending democracy by going down this path. It’s like saying they’re ‘forced’ to do their own Jan. 6. Hard no.”
This is a pretty feeble straw man. Partisan gerrymandering is not a violent insurrection, and the Democratic Party cannot defend democracy as a permanent minority party in Trump’s nouveau-Hungary style government. There is no nobility in controlled opposition.
If Trump has initiated a “gerrymandering arms race,” then Democrats should not unilaterally disarm so they can feel better about themselves when spouting pious sentiments from a “Self-Righteous Sayings Of The Day” calendar, like this Jon Stewart quote someone posted: “If you don’t stick to your values when they're being tested, they’re not values: they’re hobbies.”
A liberal online also claimed that Newsom was modeling “fascist” tactics, which is like saying that the Allied powers had adopted “fascist” tactics when they invaded Germany.
The problem is that too many mainstream Democrats consider “norms,” “traditions,” and parliamentary “rules of order” their most important “values,” more so than actual freedom for all, especially the marginalized.
And it’s not just mainstream Democrats. Leftist Nina Turner wrote that you can’t “save democracy by accelerating the erosion of democracy.” Then she rambled on some more about getting “corporate and dark money” out of politics, which won’t actually matter if Republicans gerrymander themselves into permanent power. Their campaigns could cost a sandwich and four dollars and they’d still win. This is why no one should listen to Nina Turner about anything, including “how do you spell Nina Turner?”
Texas Republicans’ proposed maps target Democratic House members in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas — further suppressing the vote of non-MAGA residents, particularly minorities. The Texas GOP’s maps would make Jim Crow Great Again.
Trump insists he’s “entitled” to all the seats because of his supposed overwhelming victory in the 2024 election. He defeated Kamala Harris by almost 14 points. Harris clobbered Trump by 20 points in California and 25 points in Massachusetts.
Last week, California Democrats announced that they have enough votes in the state house to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters to approve new congressional districts. A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said, “There is strong and broad support among our members to give voters a chance to fight back and do something about Trump’s unchecked power.”
That’s the good news. Unfortunately, California voters might choose the chump path. They’ve been reading too many Jon Stewart quotes. According to a Politico survey, voters prefer — by almost a two-to-one margin — keeping an independent line-drawing panel for determining the state’s House seats. Only 36 percent of respondents support returning congressional redistricting power to state lawmakers.
An estimated 24 percent of California voters are Republicans, and 21 percent have no party preference. Let’s assume more than half of the latter are rightly embarrassed Republicans, as that would explain Trump’s 38 percent of the vote last year. The almost 47 percent of registered Democrats should be easy “yes” votes on “not giving Trump more power.” The guy invaded California just a couple months ago.
In a normal midterm election, the incumbent president’s party usually loses a significant number of seats, because voters are fickle MFers. Even in the muted 2022 “red wave,” Republicans gained nine seats, which was enough for a narrow majority, because Democrats had lost 13 seats in 2020 (Unlike with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Democrats never picked up House seats when Joe Biden was on the ballot.) If Democrats do nothing while Republicans rig the maps, it’s possible that Republicans could lose the House popular vote and still hold the majority. Not to get too far into complex political theory, but that’s very bad.
Democrats are conditioned to support “fairness” and think it’s a good idea to have independent commissions draw competitive maps. These good intentions already backfired in New York, likely costing Democrats the House in 2022. Fairness is not a virtue when it enables a rising fascist movement.
I’m not on the Newsom bandwagon, but I do appreciate that he’s playing the antagonistic role Ron DeSantis did against Biden — governor from a state the sitting president solidly lost who is thus free to take the fight to him. Newsom has shown early weakness against MAGA, inviting far-right creeps like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon onto his podcast, but he’s lately demonstrated much-needed strength against Trump. He didn’t even noticeably sweat when Trump sent his goons to the arena where Newsom delivered his remarks on Thursday.
“He is a failed president,” Newsom said at his campaign-rally style speech. “Who else sends ICE at the same time while having a conversation like this? Someone who is weak, broken. His weakness is masquerading as a strength. [He’s] most unpopular president in modern history.”
Trump is objectively unpopular and more Democrats need to acknowledge this and not act as if his “MAGA movement” has some merit that warrants sacrificing vulnerable people. Trump is running scared, like most tyrants and bullies, because he fears the people’s judgement.
‘There is no nobility in controlled opposition.’
This.
There just isn’t in a Hungarian or Russian style Potemkin democracy. You’re the window dressing they use to preserve that paper thin stage dressing. You’re really their tool, when that’s what it becomes. What, you’re SAYING some of the right things? Even those really kinda limited, what they allow. Without power to enact, yay, you wrote a dissenting opinion. While they simply ignore you, steal what they want, crush what they want, do what they want.
Yeah, gerrymandering is ugly. But these people are fascists, raping the country. You’re going to have to fight.
"The Democratic Party will lose any of its credibility on defending democracy by going down this path."
What credibility? Their credibility as a doormat?