Unfortunately, it may work, because the entire party has joined him in this effort. Meanwhile, Democrats have struggled to catch up. In some states, the party pushed independent redistricting commissions that seemed like good democratic behavior at the time but now resemble unilateral disarmament. And in states like Illinois and the aforementioned Maryland, Democratic officials simply refused to gerrymander, either not understanding the huge stakes of this year’s House elections or not having the nerve to do anything about it.
Indiana isn’t a story of successful gerrymandering. But it is a story of successful partisanship and party leadership. Trump just ended the careers of five politicians he probably hadn’t heard of a year ago. I don’t like the idea of party bosses. But what makes me really discouraged is being on the side of a party that doesn’t have effective bosses against one that does.
There is a silver lining though. Trump will be emboldened by the results in Indiana. He will keep making Republicans defend whatever he does, such as stuffing funding for the White House ballroom into a budget bill moving through Congress this week. And Trump’s approval rating continues to sink, potentially plunging to the post-Katrina lows of George W. Bush at the end of his second term. Even if Republicans are super-effective at gerrymandering, a very unpopular president creates the possibility of a big House majority and a slim Democratic Senate majority this November and a Democratic landslide in the 2028 presidential election.
