Trump Admits Real Motivation Behind His Nationwide Gerrymandering Assault
He doesn’t want to be indicted again.
As my colleague Khaya Himmelman has been reporting for months, there are a few dilemmas at the center of President Trump’s ongoing, relentless, though questionably successful (so far) gerrymandering pressure campaign nationally. Trump has made clear that he needs red state lawmakers to succumb to his demand to redraw district lines in their states to help Republicans gain seats in the House. Indeed, Republicans currently have a razor-thin majority in the lower house – a majority that has shrunk further today, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) officially vacating her seat, as well as the unexpected death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA). The Republican majority in the House is now 218 to Democrats’ 213, meaning Republicans can only lose two votes to pass legislation (if all Democrats are present and vote against it).
While it is helpful for Trump to retain the House simply to maintain his party’s full control of the legislative and executive branches — although Trump cares less and less about the work of Congress and Republican lawmakers cede their authority to the executive — it has been reported that he is primarily concerned about Democrats regaining investigative power in the House.
In some ways, Democrats only need three seats to regain control of the lower house, but the status of Trump’s gerrymandering blitz — and Democrats’ gerrymandering efforts to combat it — muddies the picture. In short, if Democrats flip enough seats and undo the damage caused by Trump’s attempts to predetermine the results of the midterm elections, they will once again have investigative and subpoena power in the lower house, as well as the majority to impeach him a third time.
This is what concerns Trump.
“You have to win the midterm elections. Because if we don’t win the midterm elections, it’ll just be…I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump said while addressing congressional Republicans during an all-day policy meeting Tuesday. “I’m going to be impeached,” he continued, before asserting that the reason “we” don’t impeach Democratic presidents is because Democrats are “badder than us.”
Regardless, it is rare for Trump to acknowledge his political vulnerabilities heading into an election beyond preemptively claiming widespread voter fraud. But I’m sure we’ll hear about that soon too.
How the right-wing media remembers January 6
Conservative media outlets have done much to add fuel to the Trump administration’s whitewashing of January 6 on the fifth anniversary of Tuesday’s attack, as expected. But the efforts by some right-wing media to distract and/or distort the narrative were pretty crazy.
- First we have the Washington Examiner, which gives a platform to MAGA’s favorite “Whataboutism” when it comes to the violent mob that broke into the Capitol on January 6: claiming that the George Floyd protests that erupted in the summer of 2020 were just as bad as an insurrection and attempted coup. Title: On this January 6, remember the violence of the BLM riots in 2020.
- Then we have Fox News touting an “exclusive” report on the new White House web page that offers a convenient counter-narrative to the facts of the attack, with completely deranged quotes like this: “Democrats masterfully flipped reality after January 6, labeling peaceful patriotic protesters as ‘insurrectionists’ and portraying the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump – despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government. Title: White House Fires Democrats’ Jan. 6 Claims in Anniversary Retraction.
- Breitbart hadn’t prepared anything (as far as I know) to mark the anniversary, so they rushed to accuse Hillary Clinton of defamation: Hillary Clinton defames Trump by falsely claiming that he “urged his supporters to attack Congress” on January 6.
- I’m sure there are many other examples, but my eyes are burning/you get the picture.
Hilton Caves
The Hilton hotel chain removed a Minnesota Hilton hotel from its operations after the Department of Homeland Security drew the ire of a group of right-wing influencers by claiming the property refused to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, something the Trump administration is flooding Minneapolis with this week.
The Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota, was removed from Hilton’s reservation web pages on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. This comes after DHS posted on The matter escalated on social media Tuesday morning when a video was posted of an apparent Hampton Inn employee saying the hotel owner would not accept reservations from ICE or DHS agents. Right-wing billionaire Bill Ackman, a hedge funder, got involved and the hotel was removed from the Hilton chains. More information from the WSJ here.
In case you missed it
New from Kate Riga: An anti-Obamacare amendment just saved abortion in Wyoming
Morning memo: NEVER FORGET: January 6 Five years later
January 6 thoughts from TPM reporter Hunter Walker who was at the Capitol five years ago: The moment we lost the plot
Where things stand: Kelly says he will fight Hegseth’s retaliation as a show of force for free speech
Yesterday’s most read story
Trump’s attack on Venezuela poses a particularly dangerous threat to the constitutional order
What we read
Pentagon to begin reviewing ‘effectiveness’ of women in ground combat positions
Johnson says no to plaque honoring police officers for January 6
Some Republicans oppose Trump’s Greenland plans
