Kings and Knaves

Britain's King Charles III could have, as many people wished he would have, stayed home and not visited the United States to celebrate this sorry excuse for a nation for its semiquincentennial (doesn't that word make you want to throw up??).  But it was good that he did.

The king addressed a joint session of Congress last week with a speech citing the American government's foundation on English common law and how the Supreme Court preserved the separation of powers by constantly citing the Magna Carta that King John was forced to agree to back in 1215 to limit his powers.  It was the ultimate humiliation for These States - it took a king, and the descendant of the very king we revolted against 250 years ago, to teach Congress about American democracy.

Charles scored another coup with Trump, bequeathing him a bell for display on, say, the narrow elevation of the dining room of the White House or Mar-a-Lago, or on the stern of the yacht . . .a bell end, which is British slang for "dickhead."  What more would you expect from a king who, as Prince of Wales, was a big fan of and also a close friend of comedian Spike Milligan?

All of this obviously went over the heads of the bell-enders in MAGA, who likely think that Magna Carta is a credit card and Spike Milligan is that black guy from Brooklyn who makes all those movies sermonizing about racism.  And it certainly didn't move the Republicans manipulating the congressional district maps in the South, with most of the Southern states redrawing their U.S. House districts to get rid of as many black-majority districts - and as many Democratic-majority districts, which are the same thing down in Dixie - as possible.  Democrats in the one Southern state where a redistricting plan worked out to benefit their own party - Virginia, which is so full of transplanted Northeasterners (including the New Jersey-born Abigail Spanberger, the state's governor) that it's not even a Southern state anymore (hey, it is north of 36°30′) - got a serious blow to their efforts when the state Supreme Court threw out the referendum that allowed gerrymandering to maximize Democratic U.S. House representation from the state, striking it down on a technicality.  Now the Democrats are at a disadvantage in being able to win back the House.  It can still be done, but this revolting development makes it far more difficult.

The Attorney General of Virginia placed a stay on the state Supreme Court's decision to see if he can appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of a constitutional violation.  Not because he believes that the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court will side with him, but to use a delay tactic, which could work if he can take his time to make sure that the Court hears the case too late for the old district maps to be used in time for the November elections.

Meanwhile, the effort to redraw that U.S. House district maps in Louisiana has prompted Governor Jeff Landry to suspend primary elections even after people have voted early.

Pundits and activists like Steve Schmidt and Sarah Longwell keep saying that we have to get through a very difficult and destructive period, but we can wait out Trump, and as soon as a Democratic President is in office on January 20, 2029 (and just how do they know that will come to pass?), we can start the long, arduous work of rebuilding what Trump has torn down.  No.  There will be no more waiting - at least not for me.  The United States has demonstrated quite clearly that its experiment in representative government of this sort has failed.  And thanks to issues like the war in Iran and tariffs, the U.S. has also demonstrated with equal clarity that it can no longer be trusted or taken seriously in the international community as a responsible actor.  Our "President" has been too much of an irresponsible actor - a "reality" show actor who, since 2004, has been playing a parody of himself - for there to be anything left to rebuild and for any international trust to be regained by the time he does leave the scene.  That is why I still support the dissolution of the Union.  That is why I am still a secessionist.  

Sic Semper Tryannis

 Virginia lived up to its state motto this week. 

The state responded to efforts by Trump to have Republicans gerrymander enough U.S. House districts nationally to give the GOP an edge in the 2026 midterms.  Virginia voters had the opportunity to temporarily repeal a state constitutional provision requiring redistricting to be done in a bipartisan manner to allow the Democrats to gerrymander House districts and gain a greater advantage in mid-cycle redrawing of the congressional maps.  There are currently six Democrats and five Republicans in the Virginia's U.S. House delegation.

This week, the voters in the Old Dominion gave the state the authority to gerrymander the state in favor of the Democrats.  Trump's and the Republican Party's efforts to rig the system to keep the Republicans in control of the House in January 2027 and prevent congressional investigations into the administration can now be best described as . . . "failed." 

The temporary provision approved in Virginia is facing a legal challenge in the state Supreme Court.  But the odds are in the Democrats ' favor that the position will remain in force through the 2030 census.  

Thus be it always to tyrants.

Texas Hold-Up

The economy is tanking, Social Security is in trouble, and people are ticked off about the big ugly bill.  So what can Trump do now?  He might decide - no, he did decide - to tell Texas governor Greg Abbott to redraw the districts in the Texas U.S. House delegation so that the Republicans can gain five House seats and thwart any effort by the Democrats to win back the chamber in the 2026 midterms.  So Abbott, who was only too happy to oblige and called a special session of the Texas state legislature.  Democratic legislators quickly left the state and didn't come back until after the special session expired.  Abbott was thwarted, but like the bad guy in any dime-store Western novel, he'll be back.

And when he is, Gavin Newsom (above) will be there to meet him.  The California Democratic governor has vowed to get the California state legislature to find a way to gerrymander California's U.S. House districts if Texas gerrymanders its own.  Until Texas acts, California will stand pat, so if and when Newsom makes his move, he will be fighting back, not playing tit for tat.  Democrats are finally fighting back against Trump.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that none of them are serving in Washington.  and they might not be serving in Congress for much longer.  When they return after summer recess, Trump just might have them arrested and sent to a concentration camp.  He already has the National Guard running the place.

And if California successfully thwarts Texas . . . well, Trump is already looking to outlaw mail-in voting, and he plans to "investigate" voter irregularities in any states that do allow mail-in voting in the 2026 midterms . . . even if the governors and legislatures there don't have any basis to look into such charges and tell Trump not to interfere.  

Be afraid.  Be very afraid.