POD 932: Politics Getting Dirtier and Dirtier

So to say that the Commonwealth's high court ruling was a massive blow ahead of the midterms to Democrats, I think is an understatement. Dems were relying on Virginia and possibly adding as many as four Democrat seats would have perhaps put the Dems over the top in the midterm elections. But that ruling now gives Republicans a clear lead in the redistricting efforts over the last year. Those efforts, by the way, as I said, further inflamed by the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act decision last. week, which bolster the GOP's chances of holding the House. We'll see about that. The GOP currently owns a razor-thin margin, and President Trump, and I think the rest of the world know, that if the Dems get control over Congress, watch out because the final two years of Trump's term 2.0 will be marked by, you guessed it, more impeachment nonsense. And yes, it would be presidential lame TDS duckness at its finest or worst, depending on how you look at it. And Trump knows it. And that's why he kicked off this gerrymandering madness last year in Texas. But here's the kicker, okay? Here's the kicker. Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is now saying that this redistricting fight is far from over with, quote, we are exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision in Virginia, he said in a statement. No matter what it takes, House Democrats will win in November so we can help rescue this nation from the extremism. being unleashed by Donald Trump and the Republicans. Here's in part with Hakeem Jeffries had to tell MS now over the weekend. Well, since January of 2025 in my first remarks to the new Congress, we made clear that we're going to center. lowering the high cost of living. America's far too expensive right now. People are working hard. They're playing by the rules. And across the audience, including in Virginia, involved in open-seat Democratic primaries, we'll see who emerges. But the focus has got to be on winning. in november and that's what we intend to do what about non-open seat primaries challenges from from progressives who say that establishment democratic leadership has not moved fast enough and hard enough but we're going to continue uh... to defend every single house incumbent ultimately however it's going to be up to the people and that's the reality of serving in the House of Representatives, the institution, the framers, designed to be the closest to the American people. We have only two-year employment contracts. We've got to go back to the people every other year, and everyone is going to have to make their case to the individuals that they're privileged to represent. And that's what they'll continue to do. And I've indicated, whether it's a progressive incumbent, whether it's a Blue Dog, whether it's a new them, I'm going to support members of the House Democratic Caucus. And then we all have to come together to actually push back against this unprecedented attack on our democracy, unprecedented attack on free and fair elections, and unprecedented attack on black representation in the American South and all across the country, which is what the Supreme Court's decision in Calais has unleashed.

Now, the American journey has always been characterized by moments of progress, followed by moments of backlash, and then a new generation of Americans have to show up, stand up, speak up, fight, get into good trouble to usher in an era of progress. We went from the progress of emancipation to the backlash of Jim Crow, the progress of the civil rights movement, to the backlash of mass incarceration, the progress of electing Barack Obama to the backlash that has resulted. in the elevation of Donald Trump. MAGA extremism and this behavior that we're seeing coming out of the Supreme Court of the United States to throw the American South back into the Jim Crow era. So it's going to take an all-hands-on-deck effort. Hakeem Jeffries on with MS now over the weekend. So listen to this. There's one last ditch effort that is being bandied about by Democrats to beat Trump at his own game. One of the ideas being talked about in Virginia would have Democrats lower the mandatory retirement age for the state. Supreme Court justices there so the ideas that legislators would lower the retirement age of the justices from 75 to 54 Virginia's General Assembly is controlled by Democrats, so the idea is to lower the age to 54, which would enable to basically retire all the justices in the majority of that decision, install liberal cronies to the court, and have the court invalidate the independent legislation commission, and then enact a new map. Unbelievable, you bet, but that's the state of today's politics. Now, thankfully, some Democrats there in Virginia have come out against... such a plan, but there are also many who support this plan, saying that it's necessary to combat other southern states who are, quote, ignoring their constitutions. Wow, 75 to 54. I mean, look, hardball this is not. This goes beyond hardball. This goes beyond dirty politics and into the realm of constitutional madness. Retiring Supreme Court justices at the age of 54, which for a judge, quite frankly, is relatively young. Even for Democrats, this is about as low as it gets. And I sincerely hope that cooler heads will prevail in Virginia. And they pass on this hairbrained idea to retire the Supreme Court judge. Because guess what? If that happens in Virginia, that now would open the door for other states to do exactly the same thing. But such is life today. The politics are downright dirty and as the midterms approach, expect it to get a lot dirtier. That's going to do it for the Inez Says podcast. Join me on the radio every weekday morning for Orlando's morning news with Scott Inez 5 to 9 a.m. on DVDO 107.3 FM and AM 580. I'll see you next time.