"In rejecting yesterday a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump, Indiana's Republican-controlled senate did not merely deny Republicans two new U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections. They also engaged in a mass revolt against the president. The stakes of their defiance reach far beyond the midterms. This vote was possibly the most significant blow yet against the authoritarian ambitions that have defined Trump's second term."
"Heritage Action delivered a Mafia-like threat, as high-minded scholars apparently do these days: "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's Republican-controlled senate rejected a Trump-backed mid-decade redistricting plan, denying Republicans two additional U.S. House seats and mounting a mass intra-party revolt. The refusal undermines efforts to gerrymander electoral maps and challenges a pattern of coercive party discipline. Trump's approach depends on a cultlike hold over the GOP and the willingness to punish dissenters, even at party cost. Indiana legislators faced bomb threats, swatting, and other intimidation tied to the redistricting fight. Outside groups threatened to strip federal funding and halt projects if the map failed to pass. The state's defiance represents a substantial setback to authoritarian maneuvers.
Read at The Atlantic
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