“IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ‘EM, RIG IT.” A STRATEGY FOR LOSERS

“If you can't beat 'em, rig it.” Y’all have no positive platform to offer in the midterms. Y’all spent the last seven months signing on to anything President Trump wants, including ceding your own power. Not a selling point to voters as Trump’s poll numbers crater. “We stood aside so Trump could shutter vital agencies, take away your healthcare, and spend every last dime scooping up immigrants to help get Stephen Miller his 3,000 arrests a day” is not exactly a rallying cry that will turn out voters. So that leaves the current, not illegal but not right either, power grab of redistricting begun by Texas. Dems in the state are using the power they have to fight back. They fled to break the quorum necessary for passage of a redistricting plan that would cede 5 congressional seats currently represented by Democrats to Republicans. And for their efforts to fight for their constituents Gov. Abbott filed a petition with the state Supreme Court to remove Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the TX House Democratic Caucus, saying that Wu has violated the state constitution and abandoned his office. AG Paxton says he will start proceedings to remove the Dems from their seats and declare their offices vacant if they don’t return by today. Oh, and TX House Rs overwhelmingly voted to have the sergeant-at-arms pursue and civilly arrest the runaways. Seconded by Abbott who directed the Texas DPS to track the legislators down and arrest them. And for good measure, Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate Dems for “potential bribery and any other potential legal violations connected to their refusal to appear for a quorum, conduct business, and cast votes.” Also, that investigation “should extend to anyone who aided or abetted such potential crimes.” But the Texas Supreme Court has already ruled that there is a constitutional right for legislators to break quorum. And Texas has extremely lax campaign finance laws. Asking for donations to offset fines is no big deal, as long as the money doesn’t go into a candidate’s treasury. The biggest problem with all of Abbott’s threats is that neither the TX DPS nor the TX Rangers nor any other state law enforcement agency can go into other states and arrest people. But both Sen. Cornyn and Trump have hit upon a solution: get the FBI involved. Cornyn wrote a letter to FBI Dir. Patel urging him to have the FBI use its authority “to aid state law enforcement when parties cross state lines, including to avoid testifying or fleeing a scene of a crime.” Trump agreed that the FBI may have to help arrest the Dem legislators. GOP willingness to help Trump erode democracy at every step has led us here. Democrats genuinely have no choice but to fight fire with fire. Even as they acknowledge it’s not ideal. But it’s the right thing to do when Republicans are trying to suppress the voting power of Democrats not just in their states, but throughout the country too. What would you do?