The liberals at CNN want you to believe that they care about upholding democracy, but the evidence shows that they turn a blind eye when it’s the Democrats rigging the system.
On Thursday’s “Reality Check” on Neue Day, John Avlon dramatically proclaimed: “Defending democracy doesn’t take a day off.” He then went on to complain about Republican congressional redistricting while ignoring the blatant gerrymandering happening in states run by Democrats.
Texas, which gained two congressional seats after the most recent census, was Avlon’s main target: “[Republicans]They weren’t going to increase the representation of actual voters in congressional districts. It is not. So they went to work drawing districts that artificially increased their own advantage, connecting suburban districts with sprawling, rural communities, consolidating minority-heavy areas and generally painting Texas red.”
Avlon next called the proposed congressional map a “Blatantly pro-white and partisan,” accusing the Texas GOP of intentional racism and discrimination. Not only that, but Republican opposition to election reform bills and so-called independent redistricting commissions was deemed to be “Further evidence to show the discomfort of Republicans with majoritarian democracy,” according to Avlon.
Unsurprisingly, John Berman and John Avlon, New Day hosts, did not bring up the clearly partisan redistricting proposal in states like Illinois. Illinois will be losing a seat. The proposed new congressional map for Illinois was so unfairly partisan, benefiting Democrats, that it received criticism from both sides of the political aisle; a federal judge just threw out the redistricting plan as a violation of the “one person, one vote” principle found in the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Avlon accused Texas of being “a textbook case of politicians choosing their voters rather than voters choosing their politicians,” but didn’t have a single word on the transparent attempts of Illinois Democrats to slash Republican power.
“Simple majorities can pass intentionally unrepresentative partisan maps in the states. Either way, the will of the people is once again being trumped by the rigged system of redistricting, making real representative democracy the only sure loser,” he concluded.
Anyone could say the same thing about the Democrats, who have actually been exposed in federal court for their shenanigans; you won’t hear anything about that on CNN’s laughable “Reality Check.”
Mercedes-Benz sponsored this CNN segment. IHOP also sponsored it.
You can read the entire segment transcript by clicking on Expand
10/21/21
6.56.54 am
JOHNBERMAN – Major developments in the campaign to capture congressional seats. It’s happening all in Texas in broad daylight. John Avlon, “Reality Check”
JOHN ALMON: Democracy defense doesn’t happen overnight. Yesterday, Joe Manchin’s compromise reform bill for election reform was blocked by the Senate Republicans. After months of trying to win their support, Manchin presented a balanced package which included national standards for early voter registration, such as vote by mail and disclosure requirements for dark-money groups. It also contained voter ID, an important GOP priority. Yet, no Republican joined that effort. Not even the 10, needed to defeat the filibuster and start any debate. The Republicans are still uncomfortable with majority democracy.
Washington is one side of this struggle. Real action occurs in the States, where lawmakers are busy drawing districts for the benefit of the party in power. Texas has just shown how flawed the system is. The lone star states gained two seats in the House of Representatives after the most recent census. This was due to the massive urban population growth, which 95 percent is attributable largely to the participation of people of color. Republicans controlled the state legislature. The Republicans weren’t going to change the electoral districts in order to be more representative of actual voters. It’s not true. They began to draw districts to artificially increase their advantage. These included connecting rural areas with suburban communities and consolidating minorities-heavy regions.
Keep in mind, however that Donald Trump was elected with 52 percent of Texas’s vote. According to FiveThirtyEight’s analysis, the revised map would guarantee Republicans control of 66 percent. The new map increases the number Republican-dominated districts to 22 from 25, while decreasing the number Hispanics making up the majority in the electoral vote to seven. It’s all despite Hispanics currently being about equal to Texas’ non-Hispanic White population.
But that’s not the end. In fact, they reduced the number of areas where African-Americans are a majority from 1 to 0. The result was that districts became less competitive which pushed more power to the parties’ primaries. This is an example of how politicians choose their voters, rather than the voters choosing their politicians.
This is on top voter suppression laws in Texas passed by special session. Listen to Justin Holland, a Texas Representative talking about Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP).
JUSTIN HOLLAND It is true. They won’t — they will lose their seats. They won’t be able to get seats next time. They are not going to be taking over. They are going to in fact erode. We’re going back next time with even more Republicans.
(END VIDEO CROP)
AVLON : This is what actually happened. This blatantly pro-white map is already under legal attack. There are echoes from a decade back, when Republicans deliberately discriminated against Hispanics. Texas is not alone in trying to suppress representative outcomes. North Carolina’s race-based gerrymandering was thrown out of court a few years back. [Indistinct]Republicans are trying to take a state that has a 1-point margin in 2020 and build upon their eight- to 5-member advantage in Congress by taking over the state legislature. Over 70% of Ohio voters voted for reforms to district in 2015. However, their desires are being defeated at the capitol. Virginia is under Democratic control and a bipartisan redistricting committee has been in a deadlock. A new, independent redistricting committee has not received bipartisan support in New York.
It is clear that, while some Republicans may block Washington’s federal election reforms, small groups of Republicans are able to pass partisan maps with simple majority in each state. Redistricting is a rigged system that makes real representative democracy impossible. This is your Reality Check.
BERMAN: John Avlon. Thank you so much. The New Day is continuing right now.
