Trump may be losing control of his followers

[progressoid]

39. Doesn't matter: Republicans Are Poised to Gerrymander Their Way Into Long-Term Power

https://jacobinmag.com/2021/08/republican-party-gerrymandering-majority-rule-redistricting-voting-districts

Democrats just missed a crucial deadline in the fight against gerrymandering — and experts say very soon we will be witnessing the consequences.

On Wednesday, just before the Senate adjourned for its August recess, Republicans blocked an effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, to get the chamber to consider pared-down versions of the party’s voting rights and democracy reform legislation. Schumer’s ploy was largely symbolic: It was doomed to failure, given the lack of any GOP support, because Senate Democrats have so far refused to eliminate the filibuster and therefore need ten Republican votes to pass most legislation.

...

Since the last redistricting, the Supreme Court has cleared the path for even more extreme gerrymandering thanks to two rulings: one from 2013, which struck down the formula for requiring jurisdictions to seek federal preclearance under the Voting Rights Act for changes to their election laws; and the other from 2019, which held that partisan gerrymandering is a political issue left up to the legislature to resolve.

Republicans are already planning on pressing their advantage. Recently, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-TX, told a conference of religious conservatives that redistricting “alone should get us the majority back” in the House.

It is a situation that Daley, author of several books on GOP gerrymandering, including Ratfucked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy, finds deeply concerning.