President Donald Trump continues to lead the United States with a glaring victim complex. This Monday morning, he melted down on Twitter over a supposed Democratic power grab at the state level that can be refuted with no more than a couple simple Google searches. He erupted in an effort to boost similar messaging from former Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, who had claimed some vast conspiracy because of now repeated court rulings against Congressional district maps favoring Republicans by at times outlandish margins.
Trump alleged:
‘Scott Walker is 100% correct when he says that the Republicans must WAKE UP to the Democrats State by State power grab. They play very dirty, actually, like never before. Don’t allow them to get away with what they are doing!’
And what is it that they’re doing exactly? Walker had originally railed in a Fox News opinion piece that Democrats’ supposed strategy was to “put redistricting in the hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats and lifetime-appointed judges,” citing recent examples of court demands for new maps in Michigan and Ohio. There’s easy evidence for the necessity of those cases, though — in Ohio, for instance, even while only garnering about half of the state’s overall vote, Republicans managed to capture around four-fifths of the Congressional delegation. In what universe should that be considered fair and democratic?
The three-judge panel that unanimously ruled against the map asserted that it “dilutes the votes of Democratic voters by packing and cracking them into districts that are so skewed toward one party that the electoral outcome is predetermined,” adding:
‘We conclude that the map unconstitutionally burdens associational rights by making it more difficult for voters and certain organizations to advance their aims, be they pro-Democratic or pro- democracy.’
Besides, it’s not like the case was the work of the Democratic Party, as Walker suggests. The Ohio lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, which while often left-leaning isn’t always and is definitely not some kind of arm of the Democratic Party. The ACLU represented interests like the League of Women Voters, which markets itself as specifically nonpartisan and doesn’t take steps like “supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government.” The organization was founded in the wake of women finally gaining the right to vote — and Walker and Trump want us to take its actions as some sort of secret conspiracy.
Walker never even cited any particular basis for his claims in his Fox News article besides vague references to the Constitution.
Check out Twitter’s response below:
Featured Image via screenshot
