Republicans Aren’t Done Stealing Democratic Seats

Republicans in two more Southern states, South Carolina and Georgia, are moving ahead with plans to redraw their districts this year following the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais last month.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is planning to call state legislators for a special session, local TV station WIS-10 reports. A spokesperson for the governor told the outlet Wednesday to expect “something” on Thursday regarding an announcement, the same day that the state’s legislative session is scheduled to end.

The South Carolina Senate voted down a resolution Tuesday that would have made a special session possible, making an executive order from the governor the only possible way for one to be called. On Tuesday night, McMaster posted on X, “The General Assembly still has two full days in which to finish its important work, including giving full consideration—as sought by the people—to the important question of redistricting.

“I urge the General Assembly to finish its work according to the U.S. and South Carolina constitutions and the best interests of the people,” McMaster’s post said.

Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on Wednesday called for a special legislative session June 17 to redraw the state’s congressional map, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. While Kemp has already ruled out changing the map in time for November’s midterm elections, the governor is hoping to get the map redrawn before November’s gubernatorial elections.

Republicans in Georgia hope to improve on their 9–5 advantage in the House of Representatives, while South Carolina has one Democrat, Representative Jim Clyburn, versus six Republicans. If these efforts are successful, the two states would join Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida in marginalizing the political power of their Black populations.

Miami residents are suing President Trump, claiming that the land given to him for the construction of his presidential library was an illegal transaction intended to curry favor with the president—a violation of the domestic emoluments clause of the Constitution. The lawsuit calls for the land sale to be canceled.

The lawsuit points to the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis selling a three-acre plot of land in the middle of Miami to Trump’s foundation for just $10—when it’s obvious that the land is worth millions.

“With its waterfront views and central location in bustling Downtown Miami, the [Miami Dade College] Parcel would likely sell for over $300 million on the open market, according to local real estate experts,” the lawsuit reads. “But President Trump paid nothing for it.” Litigants also stated that the library would disrupt their lives and contribute to traffic and noise pollution.

Another point of contention in the lawsuit is that Trump has already publicly stated that he doesn’t even want to use the library for its intended purpose—he wants it to be a hotel.

“[The land] is no longer available to serve MDC’s student community and Downtown Miami,” the suit reads. “Instead, the land will house a Trump hotel that brings riches to the President.”

This lawsuit comes just a month after The New Republic reported that four massive companies with loyalties to Trump—Meta, X, ABC, and Paramount—all pledged tens of millions of dollars toward the library. Now the slush fund that money went into is nowhere to be found, adding yet another level of scrutiny to a project that isn’t even off the ground.

And on top of all this, the renderings for the Trump Presidential Library are gaudy, gratuitous, and ugly. AI-generated concept art shows an ostentatious skyscraper in downtown Miami with at least two massive gold statues of the president, massive outdoor patios with palm trees, full-size planes and fighter jets inside, a large ballroom, a replica of the Oval Office, and of course gold everywhere and on everything.

Vice President JD Vance blatantly lied Wednesday when asked about Donald Trump’s callous remarks on Americans’ worsening financial situation.

At a press conference, Vance was asked whether he agreed with Trump’s position that Americans’ worsening financial situations should not be a consideration in the decision-making process on Iran.

“Well, I don’t think the president said that,” Vance said. “I think that’s a misrepresentation of what the president said.”

Let’s be super clear: It wasn’t a misrepresentation. When asked Tuesday whether Americans’ worsening financial situations motivated him to make a deal with Iran, Trump replied: “Not even a little bit.”

“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran is they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. That’s the only thing that motivates me,” Trump said.

Rather than indicate any daylight between the president and himself, Vance decided to lie about quotes on the public record. The vice president is just one of many Republicans who have been sent scrambling to clean up the president’s careless remarks. House Speaker Mike Johnson once again played the amnesiac earlier Wednesday when asked about the president’s shocking statements.

Trump has insisted that the economy is in great shape. In reality, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly report, released Tuesday, found that inflation rose to 3.8 percent in April, outpacing wages, which grew at a rate of 3.6 percent.

Meanwhile, new polling from CNN shows that Trump’s net economic approval rating isn’t just bad—it’s one of the worst of all time. A whopping 77 percent of Americans blame Trump for increasing the cost of living in their community, up 37 percent from 2024.

Senator Rand Paul’s son William drunkenly used antisemitic insults against Republican Representative Mike Lawler at a Washington, D.C., bar and restaurant on Tuesday.

NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman witnessed the entire exchange as the younger Paul, who introduced himself as the Kentucky senator’s son, accosted Lawler regarding Representative Thomas Massie’s primary election next week in Kentucky.

Paul was seated at the establishment’s bar a couple of seats away from Lawler and Gorman, and interrupted a conversation between the two to tell Lawler that if Massie loses, it will be because of “your people.”

Lawler replied, “Your people?”

“Yeah, you Jews,” Paul said, to which Lawler remarked that he isn’t Jewish.

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry for calling you a Jew,” Paul said. The senator’s son then went on a rant against Jewish people, calling them anti-American and claiming Lawler and his “Jewish supporters” served Israel over America. Lawler argued with Paul and defended his support of Israel, telling him that he was antisemitic.

Paul then accused Jewish Republican megadonor Paul Singer, who is funding an anti-Massie super PAC, of serving “Israeli interests, not American interests.” A pro-Massie super PAC, Restore Freedom PAC, has run an ad with a picture of Singer in front of a rainbow Star of David titled “LGBTQ Mafia.”

Paul also told Lawler that he “needs to watch more Tucker Carlson,” and defended his father and Massie as the only legislators who care about the U.S. Lawler ultimately decided to end the conversation, telling Paul, “Well, you just seem to hate Jews, so there’s no point arguing anymore.”

This prompted Paul to wave his finger at Lawler and say, “Don’t put words in my mouth, Mike Lawler, I never said that.” Paul then complained about Lawler’s position on state and local taxes, and Lawler told him to “Please leave us alone.” The senator’s son then gave Lawler the middle finger, then apologized for being drunk and left, but knocked over his barstool and tripped over it in the process.

The whole exchange was pretty embarrassing for Paul, and he’s now put his father in the awkward position of having to apologize for his son’s rude behavior. Massie, a libertarian ally of Senator Paul, has often clashed with President Trump, who is backing his primary opponent. The younger Paul did not do him or his father any favors Tuesday night.

Just one Democrat voted Wednesday to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, handing President Donald Trump complete control over U.S. monetary policy.

The final vote for Warsh was 54–45, mostly along party lines. Only Senator John Fetterman broke ranks and voted alongside Republicans to confirm Warsh.

Warsh is everything Trump wants in an appointee. He’s handsome and wealthy—the richest Fed chair ever, in fact—but most of all, he’s willing to do whatever the president wants.

During his confirmation hearings last month, Warsh assured lawmakers that he would “take [his] responsibility to be an independent leader of the Federal Reserve very seriously,” and claimed the president had never “asked [him] to predetermine, commit, fix, [or] decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions, nor would I ever agree to do so.”

But that was a lie. Trump confirmed to The Wall Street Journal in December that he’d pressed Warsh on whether he could trust him to support interest rate cuts if he were chosen to lead the central bank. When Senator Ruben Gallego cornered him on this point during the confirmation hearing, Warsh complained about journalistic standards.

It’s no secret that Trump has been desperate for the Fed to lower interest rates, in the hopes of boosting his party’s chances in the midterm elections. He has repeatedly attacked outgoing Chair Jerome Powell for refusing to cut rates. And Trump has no qualms demanding loyalty from those he installs, such as the conservative Supreme Court justices he won’t stop harassing.

The confirmation of Trump’s newest sycophant signals the destruction of the Fed’s independence.