Republicans have intraparty meltdown over Virginia results - Another Day - Brian Tyler Cohen

BTC: Republicans despise gerrymandering. Well, when it doesn't favor them. This is just another day.

Last night, Virginia passed a referendum that will redraw their voting maps in upcoming elections and one person in particular is just thrilled.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Reporter: He called it “A RIGGED ELECTION THAT TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. All day long, Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the end when, of course, there was a massive “Mail In Ballot Drop! Where have I heard that before -- And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory!” [reading from Truth Social]

[cut to studio]
BTC: It is so wild how these rigged and crooked elections keep taking place in races that Republicans lose. I really wish Kash Patel would just ramp up those investigations and get to the bottom of all this purported widespread voter fraud. Frankly, I don't know what's taken him so long.

[inset video of Kash Patel celebrating with USA Hockey team]

BTC: Yep. Could be anything. But Trump wasn't finished, let's call it, congratulating Virginians for taking part in the democratic process.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Reporter: “In addition to everything else, the language on the Referendum was purposefully unintelligible and deceptive. As everyone knows, I am extraordinarily brilliant in person, and even I have no idea what the hell that they were talking about in this Referendum.” [continuing to read Trump’s Truth Social post]

[cut to studio]
BTC: Look, far be it for me to tell the President how to brag about his intelligence, but telling people even you didn't understand a ballot referendum might not be landing the way you think. It's like saying I'm a genius and even I couldn't find Dora's bongos.

But that's politics for you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And last night, the Dems had a huge win in Virginia. To celebrate, even McDonald's all across the state started selling a sandwich called the Span-Burger. Sure, it's mostly to remind Virginians who their governor is, but still.

So, the GOP didn't walk away with the W and while a loss is a hard pill to swallow, being an adult means graciously accepting defeat.

[cut to video from C-SPAN]
Mike Johnson: It's a hyperpartisan gerrymandering boondoggle. We fought hard. We raised a ton of money. We did our best, but the Democrats in charge of Virginia hoisted this upon the people. It is still in the courts. We are confident and calling upon the Virginia Supreme Court to do the obvious and right result, and that is to strike this thing down.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Wait, that's how a Republican wants to overturn a free and fair election. Why go that route when you've got all these peace-loving patriots just waiting in the wings?

But Speaker of the House, Mike “I only whack it when my son can track it” Johnson wasn't the only member of the GOP crying foul over last night's election results.

[cut to video from AP]
Derrick Van Orden: The Democrat party is ruthless and what they did, you know, they they wrote a ballot initiative that was completely disingenuous. This is not saving democracy.

[cut to video from Fox News]
John McGuire: They're willing to lie, cheat, steal to get power.

[cut to video]
Tim Burchett: We need to start playing hard ball this ridiculous new stuff. It's ridiculous. We're going to lose everything because we don't have any guts to fight it.

[cut to video from Forbes News Service]
Steve Scalise: It's a it's a a blatant abuse of power uh to disenfranchise millions of Virginia voters.

[cut to video from Fox News]
John McGuire: And it's more of a power graph and it shows you what they would do if they got power on the national level.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Can you even imagine affordable health care, combating climate change, restoring reproductive rights? What a fucking nightmare.

But while the result of this election might have come as a surprise to some, the existence of the referendum on the ballot was not. Both parties brought out the big guns in hopes that their side would be victorious. For the Democrats…

[cut to video]
Barack Obama: By voting yes, you can take a temporary step to level the playing field.

[cut to studio]
BTC: That's right. Not only did Obama get involved to get the vote out, he even showed a little skin. You know, if we're lucky, maybe when the midterms roll around, we can get deep V-neck Barack. Now, is Obama's open shirt the reason for the Democrat's victory? Hard to say. But today, some are questioning why Trump didn't do more to score a win for his party.

[cut to video]
Karoline Leavitt: Uh, look, the president has a lot on his plate, a lot on his schedule. He did host a a telephone call uh the prior to the election um the night before.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Yes, as we all know, he is extremely busy, but what doctors aren't. But as Karoline Leavitt said, Trump did make a call before the election. So, let's hear what the man had to say.

[cut to video from The Hill]
Reporter: In a telerally alongside Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump called the referendum a blatant partisan power grab and said that nobody's ever really seen anything like it.

[cut to studio]
BTC: That's right. In these United States, we have never seen a power grab like this before.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Reporter: Are you calling in for a complete redrawing of the congressional map ahead of next week?

Trump: Just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats.

[cut to video from CNBC]
Trump: We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor and we have good people in Texas and I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas as you probably know. And uh we are entitled to five more seats.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Well, I guess there was that one time where Donald Trump said he was entitled to five more seats in the House, but who's really counting? Like, I'm sorry, but give me a break with this power grab bullshit. Less than a year ago, when fear of losing the midterm started settling in, the president strong-armed Governor Abbott of Texas to redraw his maps to give Republicans a better shot at holding on to the House. But to be fair, all of those Republicans from today who are calling Democrats ruthless liars willing to abuse power did have something to say back then, too. Let's take a look.

[inset photo of Capitol Hill and crickets chirping]

BTC: Guess they must have gotten camera shy. You know how politicians are. Yep. Not only did those Republicans crying foul today have jack shit to say back then about Dear Leader’s power grab, a few other ones even had a different take.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Stephen Miller: Texas is taking just a small corrective step against this ocean of fraud.

[cut to video from CNN]
Lisa McClain: Of course, I'm gonna side with the president. Listen, I think what we're doing is is right.

[cut to video from CBS News Texas]
Ted Cruz: Texas is a red state. Uh Texas votes overwhelmingly Republican. President Trump got 56% of the vote in the last election.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Huh. So weird. I mean, I guess if we're going by which way a state voted in the previous election, then Ted Cruz would have no problem with what went down last night in Virginia and in fact would probably be out in front of the microphones today praising the entire process. Let's take a look.

[inset photo of Capitol Hill and crickets chirping]

BTC: Oh well, you know how understated Ted Cruz can be. The reality is Republicans are not upset about Virginia's redistricting because it goes against some moral principled stance of theirs. If that was the case, I have a feeling they would have voted for the legislation that Democrats put forward years ago that would have put a stop to partisan gerrymandering altogether.

There was 2021's John Lewis Voting Rights Act, 2023's Freedom to Vote Act, and 2024's Redistricting Reform Act. Three opportunities for these democracy loving Republicans to do away with what they call oh, what was it?

[cut to video from C-SPAN]
Mike Johnson: It's a hyperpartisan gerrymandering boondoggle.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Right. Yet, oddly, not a single member of the Republican party voted for it. Maybe they just didn't like the font that the legislation was written in. In which case, now that they have full control of government, House, Senate, and White House, they could easily pass their own legislation in whatever font they choose to eliminate this scourge on our democracy that is gerrymandering.

But we all know they won't because the real reason they are throwing this tantrum today has nothing to do with gerrymandering and everything to do with the fact that they lost. And even worse, they lost because Democrats took a page out of their playbook. I mean, not the page where politicians sit on their hands as the leader of their party makes himself $4 billion richer off the presidency. It's the one where Democrats decide they will use every legal tool at their disposal to reclaim power.

The only difference is that when Democrats get it, they won't wield it to rip healthcare away from millions of Americans, or cut food assistance away from our nation's most vulnerable, or give giant tax breaks to billionaires. No, they'll do this crazy thing where they try and actually help people.

[cut to video from Fox News]
John McGuire: It shows you what they would do if they got power on the national level.

[cut to studio]
BTC: It sure does.