“The times they are a changin’,” Bob Dylan famously crooned.
Apparently, the Texas GOP’s Jim Crow gerrymandering scheme has finally led some Democratic bigwigs to summon up their inner Harry Truman.
The 33rd president was dubbed “Give ‘em Hell” Harry, though the Man from Missouri insisted, “I never did give them hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.”
“Them” and “they” were Republican plutocrat-politicians who, like today’s MAGA GOP, believed that the purpose of government was to make rich people richer; that only well-heeled white lives mattered; that if you were poor, it was your fault; and that unions were the spawn of Satan.
Anyway, kudos to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for calling out Trump and his Lone Star State lapdog.
Gov. Greg Abbott “is a cowardly fake bully,” U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently charged on MSNBC. “He was ordered by Donald Trump to convene a special session of the legislature in order to gerrymander the Texas congressional map and try to rig the midterm elections.”
“... Democrats are going to respond from coast to coast and at all points in between to this effort to steal the midterm elections. Republicans are on the run right now. Donald Trump is deeply unpopular. Their One Big Ugly Bill, which is now law, is deeply unpopular. It rips away healthcare from millions of Americans, steals food from the mouths of children. All of this is being done in terms of hurting everyday Americans so they can reward their billionaire donors. And they don’t want to face the voters in a free and fair election. Perhaps Donald Trump and Mike Johnson and Republicans in Washington and Texas thought that Democrats would not respond. We’re going to respond forcefully, aggressively, and relentlessly.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also tossed down the gauntlet, warning Trump in a letter, “... You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make. This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy.
“… If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states. But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.”
I’m secretary of the Carlisle County Democratic Executive Committee, and I help committee member Greg Weatherford, a union retiree like me, administer the private “Carlisle County, Ky., Democrats” Facebook page. Most everybody who is a member is a Carlisle countian, but we have other western Kentuckians and county expatriates on board.
I’m pumped over Jeffries, Newsom, and other Democratic luminaries showing real profiles in courage. So I posted, “It’s time for Dems to fight back and fight hard to save our democracy” and asked FB members to respond.
Here’s what I got. (I took the liberty of lightly editing the replies for punctuation, capitalization, and clarity):
We have lost so many races and battles playing fair and nice. The gloves need to come off.
Rush Limbaugh is laughing in Hell at the thought that Democrats won’t do the same thing Republicans do. And he sews socks that smell down there.
As I saw in an old documentary about Kentucky’s labor struggles in the coal mines, the lady said “You gotta fight far with far!”
When they go low we kick them while they’re down!
STAND UP and FIGHT LIKE HELL BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALREADY ENDED DEMOCRACY! We are in an authoritarian Fascist government and Republicans have TOLD YOU they will not stop.
I’m ready for war. When this administration defies court orders, thumbs its nose at the U.S. Constitution, uses masked law enforcement to disappear people to foreign countries, also in direct violation of the U.S. Bill of Rights, then it is no longer Party v. Party. This is Good v. Evil. This is the actual destruction of the U.S. government as we knew it. Project 25 wasn’t a campaign issue. It was the plan, which they are implementing every day. Congressional power has been eviscerated, the judiciary is under attack, and no one seems to remember why we have three distinct branches of government. The envy of the entire world until now. We are no longer a beacon of hope to the world. We are rapidly becoming a 3rd world dictatorship.
No more scratching of asses. … Fight, or it will be 30 or 40 years if we ever get democracy back. Plan, learn from the Republicans, they planned for years. My our democratic future succeed.
[Fight] their fire with the fire not used by Dems. ... Dems play clean while McConnell GOP has flaunted their ability to obstruct.
My guess is a slew of grassroots Democrats from Jordan to Jenkins agree its time — hell, way past time — to “forcefully, aggressively, and relentlessly” resist the “cowardly fake bully” in Austin and the one in Washington.
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