Threatening Indiana GOP, Angry Trump Concedes Defeat In Gerrymander Battle
Former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray
President Donald Trump may be giving up on redrawing Indiana's U.S. House of Representatives districts to be more favorable to Republicans, according to a new post to his Truth Social account.
On Wednesday evening, Trump wrote a 414-word post to his social media platform in which he appeared to despair over Indiana Republicans not being able to muster enough votes to pass the new 9-0 gerrymandered redistricting map. The president lamented that Indiana Senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray was "the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats" and issued a veiled threat to both Bray and other Hoosier State Republicans.
"[Bray] is putting every ounce of his limited strength into asking his soon to be very vulnerable friends to vote with him," Trump wrote. "By doing so, he is putting the Majority in the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., at risk and, at the same time, putting anybody in Indiana who votes against this Redistricting, likewise, at risk."
"Bray doesn’t care. He’s either a bad guy, or a very stupid one! In any event, he and a couple of his friends will partner with the Radical Left Democrats," Trump wrote in his signature style of oddly placed capital letters. "They found some Republican 'SUCKERS,' and they couldn’t be happier that they did!"
Trump went on to blame several high-profile Indiana Republicans, like former two-term Governor Mitch Daniels (R), who led the state between 2005 and 2013, and GOP consultant Cam Savage. He reiterated his threat to run primary challengers against Indiana Republicans who voted against redistricting, and ended his post by declaring: "One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!"
Trump's post caught the attention of political observers who have been following the Indiana redistricting battle. Politico's Adam Wren tweeted that Trump's Truth Social post "reads like a prewrite obit on the redistricting wars."
"This is flatly unhinged," wrote author Brian Rosenwald. "He’s a mob boss."
"Trump basically admitted the whole game here," Indiana resident Mike Young wrote. "Redistricting, in his words, is about 'contributing to a WIN in the Midterms for the Republicans,' not representing Hoosiers fairly. That is not election integrity. That is rigging the map in advance and calling it patriotism."
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
- Report: Trump Sent Mullin To Deal With Democrats As Shutdown Spooks GOP ›
- Amid Their Redistricting Wreckage, Trump And Johnson Reject Obvious Solution ›
Start your day with National Memo Newsletter
Know first.
The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning
