Governor Abbott has stated that anyone giving or taking money to help the runaway Texas representatives is guilty of bribery. He makes a good case: Bribery is defined as giving money to induce an official to either take an action or not take an action.
Soros and "Beto" are paying the Democrats to flee the state and not vote on the redistricting bill. They wouldn't be able to do this without the bribe money, and all of them are too selfish to pay themselves for their absconding.
Ergo, the money paid to them is in fact a bribe to ensure they do not take an official action (voting) on public business.
We'll see if Governor Abbott follows through, or if left-wing judges decide to redefine bribery to grant Democrats a special exemption.
From the Texas Tribune:
he expenses are mounting fast for the more than 50 Democrats in the Texas House who left the state Sunday to prevent the Republican-controlled chamber from having enough members to conduct business. Most lawmakers traveled to the Chicago area by way of a private plane from CommuteAir. They are now on the hook for lodging, meals and the $500-a-day fines they will each accrue for every day of the special session they miss.
National Democratic organizations have been eager to pick up the tab for what they see as a last-ditch effort to stop a nationwide redistricting war that threatens to upend the 2026 midterms. O'Rourke's organization, armed with a $3.5 million war chest, has covered much of the costs so far -- including air transport, lodging and logistical support, a person involved with the fundraising said -- though other groups have been in the mix.
Texas Majority PAC, a group backed by Democratic megadonor George Soros and formed by alums of O'Rourke's 2022 gubernatorial bid, is coordinating with national Democratic groups to solicit fundraising from the party's regular big-dollar donors, according to two people with knowledge of the internal dynamics.
Obama is now saying that gerrymandering is an assault on democracy.
Except for when Illinois gerrymanders to deliver a bespoke seat to him.
From the New Yorker in 2012:
In 1996, during his first run for office, in the Illinois State Senate, Obama defeated his former political mentor Alice Palmer by successfully challenging her nominating petitions and forcing her off the ballot, effectively ending her career. A few years later, Illinois Democrats, after toiling in the minority in the Senate, gerrymandered the state to produce a Democratic majority. While drafting the new political map, Obama helped redraw his own district northward to include some of Chicago's wealthiest citizens, making the district a powerful financial and political base that he used to win his U.S. Senate seat, a few years later.
This is the left's answer: Democrats have to gerrymander! It's bad, but they have to!
But Republicans must be blocked from doing the same! Unlike the Democrats, Republicans do not "have" to gerrymander!
"Skwad" member Ayana Presley attacks gerrymandering... from a state (Massachusetts) that gerrymandered so hard that Republicans don't have a single seat.
And speaking of Massachusetts' perfect 9-0 gerrymander: Masshole governess Maura Healey is attacking the proposed Texas gerrymander without even acknolwedging let alone defending her own state's highly partisan gerrymander.
She actually threatens to gerrymander Massachusetts again -- to increase its 9-ZERO partisan split to... I dunno, 9 to DOUBLE ZERO. (It's the second zero that really hurts. The first zero lifts the hair from the skin, the second zero cuts it at the root.)
In fact, Massachusetts hasn't had a Republican represent the state in Congress since 1996, or nearly 30 years. I'm not quite certain how much worse Healey can make it for Republicans, at least on the national level. Or, for that matter, in the state legislature. In the Massachusetts Senate, there are 40 seats, and 35 are held by Democrats.
Democrats are so absurdly hypocritical on this issue that even Stephen Colbert points out the Illinois gerrymander to the morbidly obese groomer governor.
By the way, the Democrats have unlocked a new achievement: Branding Republican gerrymandering the new "Holocaust."
Semi-related: Earlier this week, "women" staged a protest outside the Texas State House's women's bathrooms. These "women" demanded the "right" to use the women's bathrooms.
The "woman" on the right is doing some next-level Manspreading. I can't figure out why!
But it's probably because of The Balls.