FRIDAY 'ROUND-THE-HORN: THEY'RE NOT BIG FANS OF DEMOCRACY.

Hell yeah, Chrome Dreams is out.

Only one Roy Edroso Breaks It Down freebie this week, and it involves the Ohio vote I discussed here on Wednesday. I see what’s good about this latest pro-choice victory, but it reminds me that Republicans are not at all about the Consent of the Governed anymore, as their actions in Texas and Florida and elsewhere have shown, so we have to be prepared for some egregious shenanigans as the voters keep telling them to fuck off. 

Now, that doesn’t mean they can’t be beat – as one of our REBID commenters reminds us, if there are any honest actors with power in a state’s government (which obviously doesn’t apply to Abbott’s and DeSantis’ satrapies) the people may yet be let to rule:

That state Supreme Court bit was a big factor in Michigan voters being able to flip the state. By the 2022 election, the Court had thrown out every GOP effort to block new maps drawn by an independent re-districting commission. No-reason absentee ballots and same-day registration had passed by referendum in 2018, when Whitmer was elected governor, along with Dems in Secretary of State and AG offices. A series of sane Court actions, a hell of a lot of grassroots work, and Dobbs blowback led to the 2022 trifecta.

But they're gonna go down swinging. Another commenter alerts us to this, from the Alabama Daily News:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A number of high-profile Alabama Republicans expressed their growing concern Saturday over the impending ruling on the state’s new congressional district map, which some warned could be “precedent setting” and threaten Republicans’ prospects to ever hold a majority in Congress again.

“This doesn’t just affect us, this case is precedent setting,” said Paul Reynolds, the national committeeman of the Alabama Republican Party during a crowded state party meeting in Montgomery.

“Louisiana is right behind us, they’re facing the same problem we are. They’re next in line, and what is decided in our case is going to hit Louisiana right between the eyes”…

“Let me scare you a little bit more; Texas has between five and ten congressmen that are Republicans that could shift the other way,” he continued. “How could we win the House back ever again if we’re talking about losing two in Louisiana, and losing five to ten in Texas? The answer’s simple: It’s never.”

In other words: They can’t win if they don’t cheat. And it’s no shock they’re saying this out loud, because for today’s Republicans it's too late to even pretend anymore – their cover is blown and they’re just brawling with the cops now.

Their descent into lawlessness has Republican electeds like Michigan state rep Matt Maddock openly fantasizing about civil war, and lower-level choads increasingly playing it out – like Craig Robertson, who fucked around and found out and is now getting the Horst Wessel treatment from the internet’s leading fascists.  This isn’t politics as usual; be ready. 

UPDATE. Jumped in to fix a typo and figured I'd add this: "Wisconsin: 'Vos says lawmakers may consider impeachment if Protasiewicz doesn’t recuse from redistricting cases.'" We get a couple like this every week, it seems.