8/5/25: Texas California Battle On Gerrymandering, Andrew Shculz Betrayed By Trump On IVF, Cory Booker Refuses Zohran Endorsement

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2:09Let's get to gerrymandering. Okay, this is a complicated story. Ryan, you're going to have to help me out a little bit here. All of it kind of starts in Texas, although he can argue about where and when it doesn't. But that was the more most the high profile action now so far. Governor Greg Abbott basically accusing other states of accelerating gerrymandering against Republicans. So him saying, no, then we are going to mid-decade redistrict in our state, which would lead to more Republicans. Here's what he had to say. These legislators have been both, they sought money and they offered money to skip the vote, to leave the legislature, to take a legislative act.

2:54That would be bribery. And so the facts will have to come out. But I think based upon comments made by legislators themselves, they face a possibility of facing bribery charges, which is a second degree felony in the state of Texas. There's one way to cure that. And that is if they get back to the state of Texas and make quorum today at a hearing that we have at three o 'clock, they can cure themselves of any quid pro quo that would subject them to potential bribery charges. So all of this stems from the fact that the Texas the Texas legislative body was going to move forward with these redistricting.

3:29Right. Democrats didn't have enough votes to block it. Used to be would do it every 10 years. Right. Exactly. Traditionally, it's done every 10 years. Every time there's a new census, et cetera, they're doing a mid-level. The Texas Democrats didn't have the votes to block it, but they did have enough people to deny a quorum. So all the state, all the Texas Democrats left the state. So he's accusing them of taking bribery for leaving the state and for being facilitated by J.B. Pritzker or whatever from Illinois. Okay, so that's what happened. So then there is now a threat. Let's put this up there on the screen.

3:55Governor Abbott says that he will remove from office any Democrat who, quote, abandons their duty and refused to show up to the state capitol on August 4th. He says, I will use my full extradition authority to demand the return to Texas of any potential out-of-state felons. That's how he's referring to here. Now, all of this, as I said, stems from that vote in the legislative body where the Texas House actually locked its doors and then approved the motion to arrest warrants for Democrats who broke quorum. And here's what happened there.

4:50All right. So that led then to now the Texas Democrats who are saying, actually, it's not a felony in the Texas Penal Code for leaving the state. that they're making it up, that they have no legal mechanism. But broadly, Ryan, this is all just about the gerrymandering accusation, which would lead to some five more seats for Republicans in the state. Now, why are Republicans and the White House getting involved even in this? And a lot of this is being directed at the White House because they have such a narrow margin in the House of Representatives right now. And Texas, obviously, under Republican control, especially they increased their margin in the state more recently.

5:29they're saying, well, hey, Illinois, Massachusetts, all these other Democratic states are gerrymandered to hell on top of California. So why can't we just go ahead and do it with Texas? And by the way, which we'll get to in a little bit, it's kind of true, all right? I mean, to the extent for gerrymandering and one-party control of the state. But what's your analysis here? So it is true in places like Massachusetts, there's basically no Republicans, I think, statewide, although, and then the state votes, maybe 65, 35. Right. So if, if you were going to have representation by proportionality, which we don't have, like we have single.

6:06Yeah. Let's make that very clear. We don't have that anywhere. Then you'd have a couple of Republicans in Massachusetts, but you would actually have to gerrymander the heck out of those districts to make sure that you put all the Republicans in these, in these seats. Like you mentioned at the top of the show, I've been covering this for forever now. And it is a case where, just, and I'm saying this objectively speaking, Republicans pushed farther and first on gerrymandering. Like where they controlled, let's say, take Wisconsin, for instance, which is a swing state. Yet when Republicans took it over in 2010, they gerrymandered it to the point where they had almost the entire congressional delegation, despite the fact that you'd often have Democratic senators and governors winning, but because they were, they first gerrymandered, and they did this in Missouri and other places, first gerrymandered in Michigan, the state legislatures, and from there they gerrymandered the federal districts.

7:06Whereas, and this was a complaint of Democratic voters, that Democrats wouldn't fight back because they were enthralled to this idea of good government. Because liberals really do, and this is a criticism that the left has of liberals, liberals value process. They really want the process to be clean. Whereas the left and the right care more about the outcomes and power. Whereas liberals see, as long as it's fair. And so in New York and California and some other states where Democrats were in control, they set up these commissions that were designed to try to take power away from the politicians and put it into these kind of non-biased commissions that would do it fairly, quote-unquote fairly.

7:56And so as a result, you could have had many more Democrats in New York and California in particular than you had over the years. And so now, whereas in Maryland, for instance, they didn't do that. They're like, no, we're going to see if we can figure out how to get eight Democrats in there. They can't, but they're like at seven to one or something like that. But now with Texas pushing the envelope constantly and doing these redistrictings in the middle of the 10 years, which used to be like a norm that wasn't like, whoa, you're gonna just bust out every two years and like redraw it just to help yourself a little bit.

8:37And Texas is an interesting case because not only do you have the shifting politics of different demographics, like, oh, now all of a sudden. Yeah, Latinos in South Texas are Republicans. No, now they're Republicans. So how do we factor that into a gerrymander? All of these suburbs that are exploding in Texas, are these California Republicans that are moving to Texas? Or are these, you know, are these Midwest folks that are coming down to Texas and are actually Democrats? And so it's a harder state to gerrymander, which is why they're constantly trying to do it because they're getting new data coming in from each election.

9:15And then you have to guess, like, are we going to have a Democratic wave here? Is it going to be like so it's tricky? But they're trying to do it constantly. And so now and I don't know if we have this next element up now, California, New York are like, screw it. if Texas is going to push this hard, then we're going to respond by throwing out our commissions. Yeah, we have that from New York. Yeah, we can put up New York. Let's go and play D6, guys, just to hear from Kathy O 'Connor. Yeah. I have newsflash for Republicans in Texas. This is no longer the Wild West. We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stole in a modern-day stagecoach hoist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys.

10:02Americans don't want a system that's stacked against them. They believe in fairness. It's fundamental. Rigging the system is un-American. But here they are, flagrantly breaking the rules so they can hold on to power. All right. And at one point in that speech where she seems to be putting on a twang just for the fun of it, she says, I'm sorry to the good government groups, but politics has to be about politics. And that is, for a lot of Democratic voters, refreshing to hear because they're over the process stuff. Now they're in the trenches and they're ready to go toe-to-toe over this stuff. Yeah, and Gavin Newsom is joining her.

10:41And Gavin Newsom is seeing it. He has issued a very similar threat. Let's take a listen to that, please. D5. If we want to still be in this game, we need to disabuse ourselves, disenthrall ourselves of the status quo in the past. We have got to enter a new mindset and we've got to get back on this playing field and we've got to do with the kind of vigor that our kids and grandkids deserve, that liberty and freedom deserves this moment. The founding fathers deserve the principles that find the best of Roman Republic and Greek democracy. That's on the line unless we stand the line and stand guard of this democracy.

11:19And that means we've got to go on offense. No more defense. Go on offense. Fight fire. with fire. So you ask me, am I in? I'm all in. You ask me, I'm uncommitted. I'm all in, committed and resolved. He's all in, Ryan. So Gavin and Kat, I mean, look, New York, California is two most populous blue states, right? And so they're obviously, California, the most populous state in the country. I don't - And Newsom's saying he's going to call a special election, do the redistricting, and then it kicks to the voters. So the voters would have to approve it. But Newsom and Democratic thinking is that as long as it's if it's framed in fairness and good government terms, Democratic voters in California, as they've shown in the past, would actually they're against gerrymandering, like as a principle.

12:08But setting the principle aside, if they frame it as this is a fight against Trump and these bad Texas Republicans, then it's like a 60-40 issue where California voters probably do end up then approving it. Right. So what they have right. And so, for example, just a bit. So Texas would increase its Republican seats by five. Miraculously, Gavin's plan would reduce GOP representation from nine to four. So it's just one of those words. And then New York, actually, if they join, then they're going to get a couple out of there. And apparently the vice president will be flying to Indiana in the next two days because Indiana, I think there's one or two seats that they might be able to go.

12:51So it's a race to the bottom, you know, now in the whole country. And all of it is about control of the House of Representatives. Ironically, a lot of this is Trump's fault because he appointed so many House members to his cabinet and to his government. And so Mike Johnson's margin, yeah, the speaker was like, please stop taking people from the House because what's the GOP margin. It's a couple of seats now. I mean, it's pretty obvious they're probably going to lose. So what they're trying to do is at least hang on to the margin that they might be able to, in some miraculous scenario, win. But I mean, broadly, I don't know.

13:24I mean, it's one of those where it's sad, just the race to the bottom, I guess, on all of this. But in a sense, I agree with the right and the left here. I'm like, power is power, right? I mean, this is what it's all about. It's already like, let's all stop deluding ourselves that the system is in any way fair or whatever, never has been, in particular, in this regard. I guess the last question I have for you is, how does the court play into any of this? How does that work? That's going to be interesting. Like, does, you know, you put this... Because the court has a standard. Yeah, put D7 up there on the screen.

13:53The court has thrown out, and they have some standards when it comes to Jeremy. Again, I don't fully understand it. I tried to read into it a little bit. But they have the ability to throw things out on the basis of the Voting Rights Act and more on racial grounds, but I'm still not yet clear on what it all means. Right. They can't really throw it out based on partisan grounds. It's more the other stuff. It would be wild if the Supreme Court came in and was like, all right, this Texas one is fine, but not New York and California. Right. We're going to let Texas Republicans draw those districts, but we're going to draw California and New York, that would be just the full mask completely off and shredded.

14:42I don't expect that yet. Because also it's not like a Democratic House of Representatives is not an existential threat to the Supreme Court's right-wing project. Right. They can swallow that. And so with these, yeah, so if everyone's doing the math, then we've got Texas at five for more seats. California will respond by removing five Republican seats. Indiana is going to go for one or two. New York, you said three or four. So actually by my count, I think the Dems are up right now. Yeah. So I guess we'll see what the other Republican House is and all that. But yeah, that is our current state of gerrymandering.

15:19You got to be careful because it's an interesting dial. If you push too hard and make all – if Republicans make in a Democratic year, push a lot of seats to like 52, 48. so that they can get as many as they possibly can, then you can actually lose half of that. Well, I was looking recently, for example, at Sherrod Brown, is hiring campaign managers. He's thinking about running in Ohio. And I was talking with some friends, and I was like, you know, he's got a good shot, right? I mean, he ran way ahead Trump. Even though he lost, he ran pretty close. People love him. Way ahead of Trump. Represented the state for quite a long time.

15:55Ohio, probably he's still a red state. I would probably still bet against him. But if it's a landslide election, a 2008-style year, I mean, you remember 2008. There were all kinds of Democrats who had no business being in the House of Representatives. Yeah, exactly. One in Indiana. Who was that guy? Tom Perrielle. There were all these Democrats who were like, how are you even here? Like, what are you doing here in Washington? You know? And it was like a two-year-long project, but they were still here, right? And in that way, that's how you got – I mean, I'm trying to think. There were some – who were the Democratic senators?

16:25Like Heidi Heitkamp, right? Yeah, North Dakota, Nebraska. They had two senators from North Dakota, two from South Dakota, two from Nebraska. Yes. They had 60 senators. If you have landslide years and it just happens to align with some crazy election or whatever, you can have pretty dramatic results. So that's a very good point that the GOP could be shooting itself in the foot if they do draw all these 52-48s. That's not hard to lose at all, especially in a low turnout, depressed MAGA election. If you put up some knuckle-dragging freak. Yeah, right. Yeah, you only need, who was that guy's name?

16:59Todd Akin? You only need an Akin or two or Roy Moore. And all of a sudden, you've got some Doug Joneses in the U.S. Senate. It can happen. It's happened before. I think something that makes me well-studded to be a nurse is my empathy. Growing up with a big family, I think I've always kind of been a caregiver. When you care give, you get to know the family and the patient and you get really close. and Rasmussen University, they did a very, very good job of giving us the resources that we need. So just being able to apply the knowledge that I've retained to my daily life has been so amazing. Learn more at rasmussen.edu.

17:41Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The Summer Savings Event is here at Apple Vacations. It's the perfect time to bring everyone together for the getaway you've been dreaming about. Book between July 24th and August 27th and enjoy up to 55 % instant savings. From relaxing beach days to unforgettable moments with the people who matter most, your next vacation starts here. Travel through July 31st, 2027. Start your vacation today at AppleVacations.com or through your travel advisor. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. Ugh, hon, the ice cream has turned to soup. I think the fridge is finally dead.

18:15Hopping on GrandAppliance.com. Great idea. They were awesome with the Samsung Ranger microwave we bought last year. Oh, they have matching Samsung in stock and next day delivery. Let me see. Oh, yeah, that looks perfect. I hope we get the same delivery crew. Those guys were awesome. Agree. Total pros. Another crisis averted by the team at Grand Appliance, appliance experts since 1930. Let's get to the next part here. My old friend, Andrew Schultz, perhaps, you know, we're just covering this just broadly some of the podcast guys continue to break here with Donald Trump. Let's go and put this one up there on the screen.

18:55This is from screenshots from Andrew Schultz's Instagram. He says, quote, you don't break your word, your word breaks you. And this is from a Washington Post article from our friend Jeff Stein. It says, Trump promised to mandate IVF care. The White House says there's no plans to do so. He continues talking about some assistance, IVF assistance grants to a private charity saying, real Donald Trump flip-flopped once again on a campaign promise. This was kind of a core issue for him because him and his wife had fertility struggles, which he talks openly about in his special, which everybody can go watch.

19:32But this was a good peg just to the actual announcement. Let's go to hear from Jeff Stein, who followed up on this in an Excellent story over at The Washington Post. It says, The White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services, two people with knowledge of the internal discussion said, even though the idea was one of Donald Trump's key campaign pledges. Last year he said if he returned to office, the government would either pay for IVF or issue rules requiring insurance companies to cover treatment for it. The pledge came as Trump faced political blowback over the abortion issue.

20:07Quote, The government is going to pay for it or we're going to get it. will mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great. We're going to do that. He said in August of 2024, we want to produce more babies in this country, right? And if you continue to look here, you know, kind of broadly within all of this is that you actually had a kind of silent move against IVF by a lot of the most pro-life elements. So for example, Katie Britt, the senator from Alabama, just last year introduced legislation to withhold Medicaid funding to any state that bars IVF after that Alabama law, but nobody has actually introduced legislation for IVF that has any sizable constituency in the Senate.

20:51And in fact, they're pointing instead to some of the other things that they had in the big, beautiful bill for why it will be pro-natalist while walking away from the IVF promise. So, I mean, that is one, I don't know, I'm trying to, for Andrew, obviously it's a very personal issue. So that's part of the reason he's speaking out against it. But I can't help but think that that moderation from Trump did play some role in him allowing him to win the popular vote on the, even after a midterm election, which had, abortion was a massive issue. Massive issue. Yes. And if the context was that, you mentioned this Alabama Supreme Court ruling, that was just absolutely bananas saying, you know, that basically was shutting down IVF treatment in Alabama by saying that, you know, every frozen embryo represented some, you know, first degree murderer of a person.

21:42And so Republicans were on their heels there. And Trump responded by saying he's going to be the most pro IVF president in history and in fact, it's going to be IVF for all, free IVF for everybody. And it's now, if it wasn't obvious at the time, exposed as just ruthlessly cynical, just a complete lie that he told to get over a political, what he saw as a political speed bump. He just hit the gas, drove right over it without any concern for what that did to raise the hopes of people who, like for those who are trying to conceive and can't, it's an existential thing. It's spiritually debilitating month after month to go through that.

22:34And then you layer on top of that the prohibitive costs of it on top of the like spiritual emotional turmoil that it takes. and the toll that it takes. And then to then just say, actually, never mind. Right. You thought I was serious? See, that's why I think in a way it actually is important at a cultural level because if it's just same old boss, new boss, same as the old boss, that's not good. The old boss was not popular for Republicans. Trump's political strength was being a quote, moderating influence or appearing moderating to a lot of people who are low information voters, who are like, yeah, he was responsible for abortion, but he doesn't read to me like a Christian evangelical or any of that.

23:19He said he wants free IVF. That sounds pretty good to me, right? And so then to explicitly the White House now coming out and saying, actually, we have no plans to require anybody to do it. It would probably require legislation or at the very least, they could try and do it through executive order and quietly kind of just let it drift away. I do think it's a problem, especially an ironic, right? Whenever you have an administration which is talking about like, oh, we need more babies. We need to increase fertility. And then the only example now so far are these Trump baby – which, by the way, my child is eligible for.

23:50So I'm going to set mine up soon, my Trump account. Thank you, President Trump, for the$1 ,000 US dollars. It appears that it will compound to a whopping$3 ,300 if I invested in the S &P 500. So you can use it to – I mean with inflation – Buy a book. Yeah. With inflation, you'll buy a science textbook for college. I'll take free money. Everybody should. But not exactly game-changing in terms of having a child or any of that. It belongs to the child. It's not like it covers health care costs or any of that. And what's interesting in the story that Jeff points about is that under the Obamacare exchanges, which cover some 50 million Americans, including yours truly, they have the ability through rules to enforce different things that they can and cannot cover.

24:39My guess, Ryan, is that they most likely, because they're still committed to a lot of this free market bullshit, is that they realize how much of an increase it would cause in premiums. And also, as you and I know, at the same time that this is all having a discussion in, double digit premium hikes are currently expected for a lot of the Obamacare exchanges sometime in the next two years because of the stripping of subsidies. So, I mean, that's kind of the news just broadly for the IVF healthcare conversation. But, I mean, listen, I guess it'll just continue to simmer underneath until anybody does anything about it.

25:14Currently, they're focused on pharmaceuticals sending demand letters to Swiss companies being like, you must lower your drug prices or something like that. And it's like, okay, well, an easier way is to force Medicare, right, you know, to just say, hey, this is what we're going to pay for your drugs. Take it or leave it. You know, screw off. But apparently that's not what they want to do. Well, it ain't free to occupy Gaza. Oh, right. Yeah, that's right. We can't really afford to do everything. That's what we need to raise all of our money for. Makes a lot of sense. All right, we've got Abdul El-Sayed standing by.

25:40Let's get to it. My name is Arnold Bogarty, and prior to me, enrolled in Rasmussen to become a nurse. I spent 16 years in the military, 12 in Special Forces, as an Army Green Beret, and I was recommended to Rasmussen by a former student. She said she loved the culture. It was a family atmosphere. I went to visit the campus. The facilities were amazing. I knew before I left that that was the school that I was going to attend. Rasmussen University. Are you ready to be your own hero online and on campus? Learn more at rasmussen.edu. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The Summer Savings Event is here at Apple Vacations.