HUGE UPDATE: Republican defies OWN party with BOMBSHELL stunt

We've got some breaking news here that. is as infuriating as it is predictable. To set the stage, just days ago we got. some rare good news that South Carolina. Republicans voted against redrawing. their state's map to eliminate the sole. Democratic congressional district. That. happened when the South Carolina State. Senate needed a 2/3 majority to. re-adjourn next week for another special. legislative session. They failed to. reach that 2/3 majority, which was a. rare sliver of good news in what has. been an overall dismal news cycle since. the Supreme Court struck down the Voting. Rights Act, which of course set off this.

cavalcade of red states drawing black. districts out of existence. Well, here's. the update. Now, South Carolina Governor. Henry McMaster is expected to call the. legislature back in a session anyway, even despite his own party refusing to. reach that 2/3 threshold to re-adjourn. for a special session to again attempt. to draw the state's only black. congressional district out of existence. This would be different from the initial. effort because that effort required 2/3. of the state legislators to vote in. favor of the special session. Now, the.

special session would just be called by. the governor and they would only need a. simple majority to actually advance new. maps and they're all but guaranteed to. be able to reach that threshold, meaning. it is likely, if not probable, that the. state's sole black opportunity district. will now be drawn out of existence. And. of course, this comes on the heels of. the same thing happening in Tennessee, in Louisiana, in Alabama, in Georgia, and on and on, which brings me to this. immediate point. We know it's happening. We know that we're not going to be able.

to reason with Republicans during this. effort. We know that any efforts to. compromise are futile and really only. betray our own weakness and impotence. So, the answer then is not to try and. reason with an opponent that doesn't. want to be reasoned with. The answer is. to fight back and win. Here's what I. said on NewsNation just days ago. >> Where exactly can you go on the map. because you're running out of places to. gerrymander states to fight back against. this and in the end, it looks like. Republicans are the ones who are going. to have an advantage going into the. midterms.

after the Democrats started this fight. by taking Illinois and the entire. Northeast. Sure. There are 52 52 seats in. California. Seven of them are. Republican. There's 26 seats in in New. York. Seven of them are Republican. So, I do hope that as Republicans continue. uh to go down this path and gerrymander. states across the country, the Democrats. respond in kind. I hope that the next. governor of California goes 52 to. nothing. Uh I hope that the governor of. New York, Kathy Hochul, goes 26 to. nothing. I think again, that's something.

I've been very consistent on. am I am. for not unilaterally disarming. So, you. think the Supreme Court is legitimate. now? >> Katie, let let me finish let me finish. before you put words in my mouth and. say, "Okay, you're not for. gerrymandering, but now you but now you. are." I am across the board I am across. the board against gerrymandering, but. I'm not across the board for. unilaterally disarming. So, I think. Democrats should respond in kind as. Republicans continue to go down this. path, but ultimately what I want to see. is a uniform standard where there is no. partisan gerrymandering. Again, that's. something I've supported for the better. part of a decade. I do think Democrats.

should strive for full gerrymanders in. every single state they control. Not. because I support gerrymandering. I. don't. But because I don't believe in. unilateral disarmament. And if. Republicans have any issues with this, they should remember that every Democrat. voted to abolish partisan gerrymandering. nationwide while every Republican voted. against it. That was in the Freedom to. Vote Act back in 2021. So, if it's truly. a scourge, then do something about it. Republicans have full control of. government. Put your money where your. mouth is and actually act. And of.

course, they won't because they're not. actually against gerrymandering. They're. just against Democrats fighting back. using the same tools as Republicans. And by the way, this strategy of maximum. warfare isn't new. Here's me and Marc. Elias discussing this issue last summer. Look, Republicans don't care about. democracy. You know, Republicans support. Donald Trump because he is an. authoritarian. And they will abuse every norm. They. will violate every tradition. They will. seek to weaponize every law, every. practice, everything that they can in.

order to gain power for the sake of. having power. And they are not going to. be deterred from doing that if they, you. know, turn a grotesque map into an. obscene map in Texas and our response. is, "Okay, well, we found, you know, four or five seats of our own.". They They will take that as a win, right? Because they've done what they. want and then as you say, they will move. on to Missouri. They'll move on to. Florida. They'll move on to Ohio. Uh they will move on to Utah. Uh they. will move on to, you know, wherever will.

be their next place. And they will not. be deterred. What we need to do is we. need to recognize that if we want to. stop the slide of democracy, we as Democrats, we as people in the. pro-democracy movement need to tell them. that if they take five seats, we're. going to put 30 seats on the table. Right? Because they need to understand. that there will not just be parody if. things go against them, but actually if. they guess wrong and and this this winds.

up escalating, they could wind up on the. severe losing side. So, when people say. to me, you know, "Don't bring a a knife. to a gun fight." I don't even want to. bring a gun to a gun fight. You know, I. want to bring something more than a gun. to the gun fight, right? I want to bring. missiles to the gun fight. I want to. bring hand grenades to the gun fight. because I want the other side to. understand that not only are we going to. fight as hard as them, but we are going. to fight smarter than them. And he's. right. You gain nothing by going tit for. tat. You have to go on full offense. We.

now know the Republican plan, their. strategy. It's not secret. It's not. going to sneak up on us. They will. gerrymander every Democratic district. out of existence. Their judges will let. them do it, even if expressly prohibited. by their own state constitutions. Florida is a testament to exactly that. So, our only recourse now, recognizing. what they are doing, is to go on full. offense. That means that Democratic. officials in New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Maryland need to wake up and start.

redrawing these maps for full Democratic. control. Why? Because again, going tit-for-tat deters no one. You. need to show Republicans some deterrent. effect for what they're doing. I'll make. a commitment to you right now, right. here, that I will reach out to every. Democratic governor in those states and. get them on the record. And if they. refuse to go on record, then I'll push. them to go on record. Subscribe to this. channel to watch those interviews. And bear in mind, if and when Democrats. fight back, they can actually win the. redistricting war. California has 52.

seats, Republicans currently hold seven. That's a big potential haul. New York. has 26 seats, Republicans currently hold. seven. Another big potential haul. One. of those states alone could wipe out. seven Republican states that eke out one. seat at a time. So, these Democratic. governors and state legislators need to. realize that this is no longer about. fairness, it is about fighting back so. that Democrats are not engineered out of. the House forever. And I get that. Democrats don't have the stomach for. this kind of warfare, find it. The time. for good government solutions is long.

gone. Now, it's existential. I'm going. to read an excerpt from my new book, The. Day After, which was written expressly. because Democrats do not wield power. while Republicans abuse it. Quote, "How. have Republicans managed to skew. democracy so much? Because they pursue. power over principle, whereas too many. Democrats pursue fairness and good. government. Republicans controlled the. drawing of 191 of the districts in 2024, compared to only 75 controlled by. Democrats. The rest of the House. districts were drawn by commissions, courts, or divided state governments. In.

the Democratic strongholds of California. and New York, there are independent. redistricting commissions. In Texas and. Florida, there's no such thing. In. Republican-controlled districts, there. is little legal recourse to correct the. maps in their largely conservative. courts. The judges often refrain from. interfering with map schemes unlike the. mostly liberal courts reviewing maps in. Democratic districts. Now, I wrote this. book expressly because I realized that. this issue was creating a massive. asymmetry between the two parties where. one party wields power recklessly and.

aggressively while the other party just. shies away from it. But at a moment. where democracy itself is endangered, that kind of disparity is literally. going to relegate Democrats into. obscurity forever. So if you want to. support my work and that message, please. pre-order the book The Day After. I'm. going to put a link on this screen and. in the post description and in the. comments of this video. So at this point, I hope everybody. watching recognizes that the onus is now. on us to apply as much pressure as. humanly possible to our blue state. officials. And if they won't do it like.

Maryland State Senate President Bill. Ferguson, then we need to support Bobby. LaPin, his primary opponent who's. running against him. If they won't do it. like Colorado Governor Jared Polis, then. we need to support the gubernatorial. candidates in Colorado who will. And the. same goes for every seat in every blue. state there is. Now is do or die. Our. democracy quite literally depends on it. >> [music].