Trump Admits Real Motivation Behind His Nationwide Gerrymandering Assault
This is your TPM evening briefing.
He doesn’t want to get impeached, again.
As my colleague Khaya Himmelman has been reporting for months, there are a few dilemmas at the center of President Trump’s ongoing, relentless, albeit questionably successful (thus far) nationwide gerrymandering pressure campaign. Trump has been explicit that he needs red state legislators to succumb to his demand that they redraw district lines in their states to help Republicans gain seats in the House. This is because Republicans have an extremely small majority in the lower chamber currently — one that shrunk even more today, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) officially vacating her seat, as well as the unexpected death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA). The Republican majority in the House now sits at 218 to Democrats’ 213, meaning Republicans can only lose two votes to pass legislation (if all Democrats are present and vote against it).
While there is value for Trump in holding onto the House simply to maintain his party’s complete control of the legislative and executive branch — though Trump increasingly cares very little about the work of Congress and Republican lawmakers are subservient in ceding their authority to the executive — it’s been reported that he is primarily concerned about Democrats’ taking back investigative authority in the House.
By some counts, Democrats need to flip just three seats in order to take back control of the lower chamber, but the status of Trump’s gerrymandering blitz — and Democrats’ own gerrymandering efforts to combat it — muddies the picture. In short, if Democrats flip enough seats and offset the damage of Trump’s attempts to predetermine the results of the midterms, they’ll again have investigative and subpoena power in the lower chamber, as well as the majority to impeach him for a third time.
This is what is on Trump’s mind.
“You gotta win the midterms. Because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just gonna be — I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump said speaking to congressional Republicans during an all-day policy meeting on Tuesday. “I’ll get impeached,” he continued, before claiming that the reason “we” don’t impeach Democratic presidents is because Democrats are “meaner than we are.”
Anyways, it’s rare for Trump to acknowledge his political vulnerabilities heading into an election beyond preemptively claiming widespread voter fraud. But I’m sure we’ll hear about that soon, too.
How Right Wing Media Remembered Jan 6
Conservative media did a lot to carry water for the Trump administration’s Jan. 6 whitewashing on the fifth anniversary of the attack Tuesday, as expected. But the lengths some right-wing media outlets went to distract and/or skew the narrative were quite bonkers.
First we have The Washington Examiner, giving a platform for MAGA’s favorite whataboutism when it comes to the violent mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6: claiming that the George Floyd protests that broke out in the summer of 2020 were just as bad as doing an insurrection and attempted coup. Headline: On this Jan. 6, remember the violence of 2020’s BLM riots.
Then we have Fox News touting an “exclusive” report on the White House’s new webpage that offers a convenient counter narrative to the facts of the attack, featuring completely deranged quotes like this: “The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters as ‘insurrectionists’ and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump—despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government.” Headline: White House torches Democrats’ Jan 6 ‘gaslighting’ claims in anniversary takedown.
Breitbart had nothing prepared (as far as I can tell) to mark the anniversary so they scrambled to accuse Hillary Clinton of libel instead: Hillary Clinton Libels Trump with False Claim He ‘Urged Supporters to Attack Congress’ on January 6.
I’m sure there are plenty more examples but my eyes are burning/you get the picture.
Hilton Caves
The Hilton hotel chain removed a Hilton hotel in Minnesota from its operations system after the Department of Homeland Security riled up a bunch of right-wing influencers with claims that the property refused to accommodate Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, which the Trump administration is flooding Minneapolis with this week.
The Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota was removed from Hilton’s booking webpages Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. This comes after DHS posted on X claiming the Hilton hotel chain was engaging in a “coordinated campaign” to refuse service to ICE agents sent to the area as the Trump administration seizes on claims of fraud to justify an immigration operation in the blue city. The matter escalated on social media on Tuesday morning when a video was posted of an apparent Hampton Inn employee saying the hotel owner would not accept reservations from ICE or DHS agents. Right-wing hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman got involved and the hotel was removed from Hilton’s channels. More from WSJ here.
In Case You Missed It
New from Kate Riga: An Anti-Obamacare Amendment Just Saved Abortion In Wyoming
Morning Memo: NEVER FORGET: Jan. 6 Five Years Later
Jan. 6 reflections from TPM reporter Hunter Walker who was at the Capitol five years ago: The Moment We Lost The Plot
Where Things Stand: Kelly Says He’ll Fight Hegseth Retribution As Show Of Force For Free Speech
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Trump’s Venezuela Attack Is a Uniquely Dangerous Threat to the Constitutional Order
What We Are Reading
Pentagon will begin review of ‘effectiveness’ of women in ground combat positions
Johnson says no to plaque honoring police officers for Jan. 6
The admission about fearin g impeachment really undercuts the whole "weaponized Doj" narrative conservatives been pushing. If the gerrymandering push is about avoiding oversight rather than some principled stand on election integrity, it basically confirms what skeptics have been saying all along. I remembre during the 2021 redistricting cycle, similar tactics got framed as legitimate partisan strategy, but openly stating its to dodge accountability is a differntt level of transparent self-interest.