QOTD -- The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

 

"... Concerned about control of Congress after 2026, Trump and members of his administration are pressuring state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts in order to favor Republicans. In Indiana, Republican state senators have resisted their pressure, along with death threats, to pass a map that would give Republicans two districts currently dominated by Democrats, giving Republicans the entire congressional delegation.

"Vice President J.D. Vance and Don Trump Jr. have jumped into the struggle, and today the lobbying arm of the right-wing Heritage Institute, Heritage Action, posted on social media that 'President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders: if the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state. Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame.' Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith confirmed that '[t]he Trump admin[istration] was VERY clear about this.'

"Political observer John Collins commented: 'Nothing shows confidence like threatening your own party.' Another Hoosier seemed unconcerned with the threat that Trump would illegally withhold federal funding, posting: 'We know how to roll with potholes better than any other state,' with a laughing emoji.

"This evening, the Indiana senate rejected the new gerrymandered congressional map by a vote of 31 to 19. The vote wasn’t close: Twenty-one Republicans—that is, a majority of the Republican senators—joined the 10 Democratic senators in voting no..."  (our emphasis) -- Heather Cox Richardson, in her "Letters from an American" Substack.  Not only does it not show confidence to threaten members of your own party (and this treatment from the Malignant Fascist and his goons is no longer unusual), it clearly backfired badly in Indiana.  This is more evidence, if any were needed, of a cult leader in panic mode, as some of his cultists start heading for the exit doors and more and more voters see that he's a self-aggrandizing fraud who's never been interested in their well- being, a cowardly bully who uses threats of force to get his way.