NBC’s Seth Meyers was in a good mood for a change during Wednesday’s Late Night. While Meyers accused Texas Republicans of trying “to rig the 2026 midterms” by redrawing the state’s congressional districts, he praised blue states for threatening to do the same, not realizing many are already more gerrymandered than Texas.
Meyers teed up a series of clips from the August 5 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America, “Trump is probably just mad at California because Democrats there are threatening to fight back against the GOP plan to rig the 2026 midterms by redrawing congressional maps, which has caused a national uproar.”
The new Texas map would give Democrats eight out of 38 seats. Currently, Republicans control nine of 52 California seats.
As it was, the clip package ended with a trio of Democratic governors threatening to redraw their own maps:
KATHY HOCHUL: We are at war, and that's why the gloves are off.
JB PRITZKER: They've decided that the only way to save themselves is to cheat, to change the rules in the middle of the game.
GAVIN NEWSOM: If they do move forward, California will not sit by idly and watch this democracy waste away.
Pritzker’s Illinois is also already severely gerrymandered, but that wasn’t of much interest to Meyers. Instead, he marveled:
I can't believe it. But Donald Trump has done the impossible. He's managed to get Democrats off their asses. I mean, I haven't seen a liberal this angry since I asked a barista for a straw in my iced matcha latte, and they said, "Oh, so I guess you hate sea turtles then?" Seriously, this might be Trump's only actual accomplishment: lighting a fire under Democrats. For the first six months of Trump's term, they've just been, like, frozen in place like tourists on the F Train sitting next to a guy with an iguana on his shoulder. In fact, Texas Democrats left the state to break quorum and stall business in the State House, and now Republicans are threatening to sic law enforcement on them.
Meyers is the perfect encapsulation of the modern liberal. When Republicans do something, it is bad. When Democrats do it, it is democracy. He thinks Hochul, Pritzker, and Newsom are fighting fire with fire, but oddly enough, that is what Texas leaders think they are doing because Democrats did it first.
Here is a transcript for the August 6-taped show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
8/8/2025
12:50 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: Trump is probably just mad at California because Democrats there are threatening to fight back against the GOP plan to rig the 2026 midterms by redrawing congressional maps, which has caused a national uproar.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The latest on the political showdown in Texas. It's over the Republican plan to add GOP seats by redrawing the state's congressional map. Democratic lawmakers left the state to stop the vote on the measure, and now the Republican governor is threatening to arrest them.
JON KARL: The new district maps could help Republicans win five extra House seats in next year's midterm elections. The move was demanded by President Trump, who is eager to preserve the narrow Republican majority in Congress. The fight in Texas is setting off a national battle over redistricting. With the Democratic governors of California and New York threatening to do what Republicans are doing in Texas.
KATHY HOCHUL: We are at war, and that's why the gloves are off.
JB PRITZKER: They've decided that the only way to save themselves is to cheat, to change the rules in the middle of the game.
GAVIN NEWSOM: If they do move forward, California will not sit by idly and watch this democracy waste away.
MEYERS: I can't believe it. But Donald Trump has done the impossible. He's managed to get Democrats off their asses. I mean, I haven't seen a liberal this angry since I asked a barista for a straw in my iced matcha latte, and they said, "Oh, so I guess you hate sea turtles then?" Seriously, this might be Trump's only actual accomplishment: lighting a fire under Democrats. For the first six months of Trump's term they've just been, like, frozen in place like tourists on the F Train sitting next to a guy with an iguana on his shoulder. In fact, Texas Democrats left the state to break quorum and stall business in the State House, and now Republicans are threatening to sic law enforcement on them.