The Autocrat's Playbook: A Guide to How Democracies Are Dismantled Today
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Post 1 in a series of 3 posts. This is by far the most dangerous thing to our republic Pres. Trump has done to date: He asked Texas to gerrymander its congressional districts so that republicans will gain additional seats in Congress, and they complied.
Blog Post 1 of 3
By: Cassandra Williamson
26 July 2025, Saturday
Hardy, Pike County, Kentucky (The Heart of the Hatfield/McCoy Feud)
Title: A Red Line in Texas: This Isn't About Politics, It's About Rigging the Game
We’ve grown accustomed to political hardball. We’ve seen partisan squabbles, legislative tricks, and endless spin. But we must be clear: the call from the White House for the Texas government to reconvene and redraw its congressional map mid-decade is something different. This is not politics as usual. This is a red line.
Let’s be precise about why this is so egregious. The problem isn’t just gerrymandering, as cynical as that practice is. The danger is the source of the directive: the President of the United States.
For the first time in modern history, a sitting president is publicly directing a state to manipulate its electoral maps with the explicit goal of manufacturing a larger, more durable majority in Congress for his own party.
Think about what this means.
The President is acting as Party Boss, not Head of State.
He is using the immense power and prestige of his office—an office that belongs to all Americans—as a weapon to serve the narrow interests of one political party. The line between the state and the party, a sacred boundary in any democracy, is being deliberately erased.
It’s a frontal assault on Federalism.
The U.S. Constitution gives states the power to draw their own maps.1 For the White House to command a state governor to undertake this process is a profound violation of the norms that separate federal and state power. It treats a state government not as a sovereign partner, but as a subordinate field office for a national political machine.
It inverts the very idea of democracy.
In a healthy republic, voters choose their representatives. This action seeks to ensure that representatives can permanently choose their voters. The goal is to make elections less competitive and to insulate the ruling party from public opinion, ensuring they can hold power even when their policies are unpopular.
We cannot afford to shrug this off as just another political story. It is a foundational threat. When the person occupying the most powerful office in the world uses that power to rig the democratic game itself, he is telling us that he does not believe in the game at all. This is a five-alarm fire for our democratic norms, and we must treat it as such.
To join me on stage for Midday with Cassandra around 1 PM EDT weekdays, use this link: https://studio.restream.io/edo-xdco-unr
To join me on stage for The Path Forward at 6 PM EDT weekdays, use this link: https://studio.restream.io/edy-bdnb-csp
Remember, I strongly encourage and seek out view-point diversity. We gain nothing by regurgitating echo-chamber content. I actually prefer to listen to those who oppose my right to live freely, openly, and honestly in the country for which I served. I also prefer to engage in discussions, and even research, that is founded upon the idea that to be successful over the long term, we need to design such things using a balanced adversarial approach. |
C'mon. A five-alarmer? Puh-leeze. Redistricting is often weaponized (an overused term that I happen to like) in our fifty states. And someone will change them back. Or take it to yet another level. Yawn. What strikes me about this administration is its attention to small (and sometimes petty) details as well as the coverage we get of efforts broad and narrow (and sometimes petty as well). What strikes me about both the administration and the media is it appears these people never sleep. Good or bad, administration brains are going twenty-four hours, nonstop, and sleepless journalists are right there with them.