So far, the illegal use of Executive power has broken our institutions and not provided a counteractive remedy. Fighting this battle at least throws some sand in the cogs. We are already headed to breaking a system that does not work for both parties
Constitutional checks and balances are no longer recognized by the Trump administration and the Republican Party only exists to serve Trump. I don’t see any existence of our “normal”political function.
Another Substack writer has explained his theory of “governmental decompensation” that is a direct result of Trump’s “narcissistic decompensation.
So, if these political events continue to unfold as you describe, then we will probably have our “Fort Sumter” moment. We being human always do things that have consequences that are blinded by the pursuit of money and power.
As one of the 14 citizens who worked with the public to create CA's legislative and congressional maps, I thank you for this piece. This is not about Democrats or Republicans, but the voice of the people. Voters do not trust their elected officials. Rigging elections will only add to this synacism, which in turn hurts our democracy. The people, not the politicians, are the guardrails of our democracy and the solution to a more representative democracy.
It's Thursday and now we're playing this out in reality. Texas did it. I come to Mike Madrid because he lives in the real world. I'm anxious to read follow up pieces and listen to a discussion on The Latino Vote. Thank you Mike.
I appreciate your argument, Mike, but you’re looking for a purist solution to save democracy when none remains. Even if Democrats counter this move, they are still far more pro-democracy than Republicans. There are two bad options available to Democrats, no good ones:
1. Stand by and let Republicans gerrymander mid-decade and further consolidate power and their ability to undermine democracy in all the other ways they’re seeking to do
2. Respond with their own gerrymanders in hopes of blocking at least some of the other authoritarian moves Rs are making
Neither option is purely pro-democracy, but that’s where we are. #2 gives democracy a fighting chance; #1 far less so.
While I share your concern I do not share your complacency. The system such as it is, is already broken and partisan redistricting of this type is already the norm.
Consider that in North Carolina Republicans who have gerrymandered and re-gerrymandered multiple times and once defended their map from accusations that it was biased by arguing that they were not racist, they just hate Democrats and seek to lock them out of power. That argument was accepted by the Roberts court as perfectly legitimate.
Or consider Ohio where people passed a citizens redistricting initiative only to see it openly hijacked by Republican officials who have now redrawing maps multiple times to increase their advantage and openly defied courts in doing so.
Simply put, the system it *already* irretrievably broken. In many ways the Democratic leaders are the last ones to realize it because they hail from safe places. Moreover gerrymanders by Republicans are already being justified based on claims that Democrats *might* do so if they can. In effect we are already at a point where legitimacy is just gone and opposition from voters (e.g. in Ohio) is just ignored.
Ok then lets not call it complacency. But you are arguing from a position that the legitimacy of the system is not broken and critiquing the Democrats for (potentially) breaking it. My contention is that the titanic has already sunk. Electoral legitimacy has already been destroyed and Republicans at least already govern from a position that anything to maintain power is ok and to hell with voters. Yes they won a larger share in the last election but at a state level they have embraced all the tools of gerrymandering with feral precision and now approach purges at the federal level with the same gusto. In North Carolina in particular they embraced the idea of rewriting the rules *after* the election was over to guarantee victory. Yes some party heads complained about it but by and large rank and file Republicans embraced it.
I for one do not want all politics to become a zero sum game and I would like to believe in democratic legitimacy but I do not see how we can look at the present state of affairs and assume that it is not already broken. Restoring trust is not going to be about the Democrats playing nice. It will come when Republicans stop their jihad. But no matter what Democrats do they've shown no sign of doing so and no willingness to let the voting public have a say.
Agree. I live in the backwater state of Ohio and I circulated those petitions to vote on rolling back gerrymandering, (that the courts did in fact find illegal multiple times and the fascist republicans ignored the courts orders because that’s what they do now). The actual wording on the ballot was so confusing and so full of lies that despite our efforts to explain how to vote it went down.
The Group of Politicians protecting pedophiles only win when they cheat.
And oh boy how they cheat.
I hope governor Newsome redistricts.
Enough of going high. Our democracy, thanks to the REPUBLICANS, is burning down to the ground.
I don’t think mis-decade redistricting compares to 150 billion dollars to expand ICE and private prisons as a threat to democracy and faith in our system. Or a compliant Republican Congress that confirms dishonest, corrupt, and/or clearly incompetent cabinet members & judges. Or a compliant Congress that allows the Presidency to violate laws and usurp its Constitutional powers. Or a Supreme Court that using the shadow docket for political ends.
That said, Democrats (regular citizens, activists, organizers, and elected leaders) need to consider the cost of moving to redistrict California and New York despite the voters of those states demanding independent redistricting. It will increase cynicism. It will make each election more zero sum. I may also be necessary to stop the immediate threat of Trump’s Presidency.
I stand completely opposed to it. Most importantly, no party can gerrymander a state and Democrats need to focus on winning Senate seats. If Texas Democrats ride anger at Trump, Abbott, Paxton, and gerrymandering to victory in ‘26, they will also roll through plenty of US House seats too. And honestly, the gerrymandering will help them do so because it forces them to compete in purple and red terrain.
All great points as usual. But aren’t we already at “…the system is irredeemably broken” point? With rising tribal loyalty that you mention? The parties themselves have been rendered fairly useless except to hang onto the power that they have without the ability to fully respond to the changing facts on the ground. The repugnantcans are a shell of their former selves cajoled into obedience and the democrats aren’t built for this fight.
Start down this road and don't we eventually get to a point where elections will never be held again? Redistricting whenever. Disregard dates and deadlines. Permanent gridlock.
In the “good old days” of pre-2017 when we had a mostly non-partisan and more balanced Supreme Court, wanton redistricting efforts could be challenged (usually successfully) on Constitutional grounds. But that era is gone. The Court has removed itself from interest in and jurisdiction over almost all voting restrictions cases. It’s been a comprehensive GOP - orchestrated effort all along.
Imagine what could be achieved if all the energy spent on redistricting were instead directed toward figuring out what the [insert party name here] truly needs to do to improve the lives of the hundreds of millions of people it claims (often only in words) to serve. Then, when it is their turn at the helm, that party should prioritize solving real problems over goals like “balancing” the Supreme Court or changing Senate rules. If they focus first on "fixing the problem", then perhaps the next time voters enter the booth, they would have a genuine reason to vote FOR a party rather than simply against the incumbent.
Biden formed a committee into reforming the Supreme Court instead by nominating 4 more justices, passing real ethics rules and term limiting SC justices.
He should’ve used the power Roberts gave that office.
I hope the next Dem president has learned from that colossal mistake and will reform that damn court.
What do you propose the Democrats do if Texas goes all in on this? Should they agree to lose the election because of red state redistricting? Where does that leave our democracy, or what’s left of it?
They are not interested in winning on skills and merits. They deliberately appeal to a smaller and smaller part of the electorate and the only ways they can win involve gerrymandering, voter suppression and appeals to fear, sexism and racism.
So far, the illegal use of Executive power has broken our institutions and not provided a counteractive remedy. Fighting this battle at least throws some sand in the cogs. We are already headed to breaking a system that does not work for both parties
Constitutional checks and balances are no longer recognized by the Trump administration and the Republican Party only exists to serve Trump. I don’t see any existence of our “normal”political function.
Another Substack writer has explained his theory of “governmental decompensation” that is a direct result of Trump’s “narcissistic decompensation.
So, if these political events continue to unfold as you describe, then we will probably have our “Fort Sumter” moment. We being human always do things that have consequences that are blinded by the pursuit of money and power.
As one of the 14 citizens who worked with the public to create CA's legislative and congressional maps, I thank you for this piece. This is not about Democrats or Republicans, but the voice of the people. Voters do not trust their elected officials. Rigging elections will only add to this synacism, which in turn hurts our democracy. The people, not the politicians, are the guardrails of our democracy and the solution to a more representative democracy.
Thank you for your role in making citizen engagement and democracy work Patricia 🙏🏼
This is sobering. I feel like I'm watching a train wreck in slow motion.
It's Thursday and now we're playing this out in reality. Texas did it. I come to Mike Madrid because he lives in the real world. I'm anxious to read follow up pieces and listen to a discussion on The Latino Vote. Thank you Mike.
It is very clear that the decreased level of confidence in election integrity since 2016 amongst Republicans is due to the rise of Trump.
I appreciate your argument, Mike, but you’re looking for a purist solution to save democracy when none remains. Even if Democrats counter this move, they are still far more pro-democracy than Republicans. There are two bad options available to Democrats, no good ones:
1. Stand by and let Republicans gerrymander mid-decade and further consolidate power and their ability to undermine democracy in all the other ways they’re seeking to do
2. Respond with their own gerrymanders in hopes of blocking at least some of the other authoritarian moves Rs are making
Neither option is purely pro-democracy, but that’s where we are. #2 gives democracy a fighting chance; #1 far less so.
Not a purist at all, I just believe in being honest about what’s happening.
I think we have to break up first to get constitutional and political reforms needed.
While I share your concern I do not share your complacency. The system such as it is, is already broken and partisan redistricting of this type is already the norm.
Consider that in North Carolina Republicans who have gerrymandered and re-gerrymandered multiple times and once defended their map from accusations that it was biased by arguing that they were not racist, they just hate Democrats and seek to lock them out of power. That argument was accepted by the Roberts court as perfectly legitimate.
Or consider Ohio where people passed a citizens redistricting initiative only to see it openly hijacked by Republican officials who have now redrawing maps multiple times to increase their advantage and openly defied courts in doing so.
Simply put, the system it *already* irretrievably broken. In many ways the Democratic leaders are the last ones to realize it because they hail from safe places. Moreover gerrymanders by Republicans are already being justified based on claims that Democrats *might* do so if they can. In effect we are already at a point where legitimacy is just gone and opposition from voters (e.g. in Ohio) is just ignored.
Thanks for mentioning the Roberts court. It has completely lost legitimacy, in part because of previous decisions on gerrymandering.
I’d like to know the solution, because unilateral surrender by the Democrats ain’t it.
I couldn’t disagree more.
And I may be a lot of things but complacency is definitely not one of them.
Ok then lets not call it complacency. But you are arguing from a position that the legitimacy of the system is not broken and critiquing the Democrats for (potentially) breaking it. My contention is that the titanic has already sunk. Electoral legitimacy has already been destroyed and Republicans at least already govern from a position that anything to maintain power is ok and to hell with voters. Yes they won a larger share in the last election but at a state level they have embraced all the tools of gerrymandering with feral precision and now approach purges at the federal level with the same gusto. In North Carolina in particular they embraced the idea of rewriting the rules *after* the election was over to guarantee victory. Yes some party heads complained about it but by and large rank and file Republicans embraced it.
I for one do not want all politics to become a zero sum game and I would like to believe in democratic legitimacy but I do not see how we can look at the present state of affairs and assume that it is not already broken. Restoring trust is not going to be about the Democrats playing nice. It will come when Republicans stop their jihad. But no matter what Democrats do they've shown no sign of doing so and no willingness to let the voting public have a say.
If that is not broken, what is?
Agree. I live in the backwater state of Ohio and I circulated those petitions to vote on rolling back gerrymandering, (that the courts did in fact find illegal multiple times and the fascist republicans ignored the courts orders because that’s what they do now). The actual wording on the ballot was so confusing and so full of lies that despite our efforts to explain how to vote it went down.
The Group of Politicians protecting pedophiles only win when they cheat.
And oh boy how they cheat.
I hope governor Newsome redistricts.
Enough of going high. Our democracy, thanks to the REPUBLICANS, is burning down to the ground.
I don’t think mis-decade redistricting compares to 150 billion dollars to expand ICE and private prisons as a threat to democracy and faith in our system. Or a compliant Republican Congress that confirms dishonest, corrupt, and/or clearly incompetent cabinet members & judges. Or a compliant Congress that allows the Presidency to violate laws and usurp its Constitutional powers. Or a Supreme Court that using the shadow docket for political ends.
That said, Democrats (regular citizens, activists, organizers, and elected leaders) need to consider the cost of moving to redistrict California and New York despite the voters of those states demanding independent redistricting. It will increase cynicism. It will make each election more zero sum. I may also be necessary to stop the immediate threat of Trump’s Presidency.
I stand completely opposed to it. Most importantly, no party can gerrymander a state and Democrats need to focus on winning Senate seats. If Texas Democrats ride anger at Trump, Abbott, Paxton, and gerrymandering to victory in ‘26, they will also roll through plenty of US House seats too. And honestly, the gerrymandering will help them do so because it forces them to compete in purple and red terrain.
All great points as usual. But aren’t we already at “…the system is irredeemably broken” point? With rising tribal loyalty that you mention? The parties themselves have been rendered fairly useless except to hang onto the power that they have without the ability to fully respond to the changing facts on the ground. The repugnantcans are a shell of their former selves cajoled into obedience and the democrats aren’t built for this fight.
I take your points but not sure the remedy.
Start down this road and don't we eventually get to a point where elections will never be held again? Redistricting whenever. Disregard dates and deadlines. Permanent gridlock.
In the “good old days” of pre-2017 when we had a mostly non-partisan and more balanced Supreme Court, wanton redistricting efforts could be challenged (usually successfully) on Constitutional grounds. But that era is gone. The Court has removed itself from interest in and jurisdiction over almost all voting restrictions cases. It’s been a comprehensive GOP - orchestrated effort all along.
Imagine what could be achieved if all the energy spent on redistricting were instead directed toward figuring out what the [insert party name here] truly needs to do to improve the lives of the hundreds of millions of people it claims (often only in words) to serve. Then, when it is their turn at the helm, that party should prioritize solving real problems over goals like “balancing” the Supreme Court or changing Senate rules. If they focus first on "fixing the problem", then perhaps the next time voters enter the booth, they would have a genuine reason to vote FOR a party rather than simply against the incumbent.
Biden formed a committee into reforming the Supreme Court instead by nominating 4 more justices, passing real ethics rules and term limiting SC justices.
He should’ve used the power Roberts gave that office.
I hope the next Dem president has learned from that colossal mistake and will reform that damn court.
You’re such a radical Jim!
Just re-phrasing what you have been saying for years, Mike!
What do you propose the Democrats do if Texas goes all in on this? Should they agree to lose the election because of red state redistricting? Where does that leave our democracy, or what’s left of it?
What are the alternatives?
Republicans need to learn to win on skills/merits not moving the goalposts or cheating.
Good luck with that
They are not interested in winning on skills and merits. They deliberately appeal to a smaller and smaller part of the electorate and the only ways they can win involve gerrymandering, voter suppression and appeals to fear, sexism and racism.
Republicans just won their biggest victory in 25 years, the popular vote, electoral college and a historic number of Latino and working class voters
Gotta wonder how Latino voters feel now…
While that’s true, Trump had a lot of assists from inflation and the Biden’s decision to run again.