Republicans Panic Over DeSantis' Last-Minute Gerrymander

MAGA's social media machine exposed after WHCD shooting, group opposing Trump's ballroom refuses to drop lawsuit, Flynn may get another taxpayer-funded settlement

Good evening. I’m John Byrne, in for British Chris.

The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner set off a series of suspiciously timed posts from MAGA influencers. Ron DeSantis plans to redraw Florida’s congressional map may actually hurt Republicans. The group suing to stop Trump’s ballroom is standing firm in the face of pressure. And Michael Flynn is about to walk away with his second taxpayer-funded settlement. Let’s break it down.

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MAGA’s Social Media Astroturf Machine Exposed After Shooting

Within minutes of a gunman being stopped outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, something remarkable happened. Not a call for gun control or a statement about political violence, but rather a coordinated, near-simultaneous chorus from pro-Trump influencers, officials, and media figures all arriving at the exact same conclusion: Donald Trump needs his ballroom.

Ashley St. Clair, a former MAGA influencer who says she was recruited by Turning Point USA, went on TikTok to expose what she described as coordinated group chats where pro-Trump figures align their messaging. She said one of those chats is called “Fight Fight Fight,” named after the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt. She argues this was a PR operation, not a spontaneous reaction.

The machinery didn’t stop there. Actor Ben Stiller posted “Got it done” on X while watching the Knicks close out their playoff series. MAGA figures like Rep. Nancy Mace and Richard Grenell responded as if it were a coded endorsement of violence. AOC posted that there’s no place for political violence and she was relieved everyone was safe — and got attacked for it anyway.

That’s where we are. A shooting happens. The right immediately uses it to push a $400 million construction project. And somehow the actual policy debate — the one about congressional authorization, about historic preservation, about whether the president should be allowed to bulldoze portions of the White House without approval — gets buried.

We didn’t even get around to the gun control conversation this time.

DeSantis’ Gerrymander May Backfire on Republicans

Ron DeSantis dropped a proposed congressional redistricting map that would convert Florida’s current 20-8 Republican advantage in the House delegation to a 24-4 split — and he released it to Fox News before Florida’s own lawmakers had a chance to see it. This means the same state legislators who are being asked to vote on this map learned about it from cable news.

Florida’s constitution includes anti-gerrymandering language — called Fair Districts — that prohibits drawing maps based on partisan intent. Releasing a red-and-blue coded map from the governor’s office, before the special session even begins, is about as clear a demonstration of partisan intent as you can get.

But Republicans are nervous. DeSantis is trying to squeeze out Democratic seats in Tampa and Orlando, which means the remaining Republican-held seats in those areas will have much tighter margins. In a midterm environment where Democrats have been flipping Republican seats nationwide, that’s a significant gamble.

One unnamed veteran GOP operative told NBC News that it seemed like DeSantis wanted Republicans to lose, and argued that the governor’s “chaos theory” could be teeing up his own presidential candidacy in 2028.

The Florida Supreme Court will almost certainly weigh in — a court where DeSantis has appointed six of seven current members. But some Republicans aren’t even sure a favorable court saves this one. The Fair Districts language is right there in the state Constitution. And the governor just handed opponents a smoking gun with that Fox News preview.

Group Suing to Stop Trump’s Ballroom Refuses to Back Down

The Justice Department tried to use Saturday night’s shooting to pressure the National Trust for Historic Preservation into dropping its lawsuit over the White House ballroom. The National Trust told them no.

“Your assertion that this lawsuit puts the President’s life at ‘grave risk’ is incorrect and irresponsible,” wrote Gregory Craig, the trust’s attorney, in a letter Sunday. “Simply put, this case does not jeopardize the President’s safety in any way.”

The trust has been consistent throughout this fight: it’s not arguing against a ballroom. It’s arguing that the president has to follow the law — specifically, that congressional authorization is required for a $400 million project that involves demolishing historic portions of the White House grounds.

Construction is actually continuing right now, because the injunction has been put on hold while the case goes through the appeals process. A hearing is scheduled for June.

The proposed structure is roughly 90,000 square feet — nearly twice the size of the White House itself — and would seat up to 999 guests. Polls show 58 percent of Americans oppose it.

Before Saturday’s shooting, Congress showed little appetite for authorizing the project. In the days since, a handful of Trump allies have said they’ll pursue authorization. The legal fight, meanwhile, heads to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with the National Trust firmly in place. Trump may have been able to bully others into submission, but when it comes to this fight, it’s likely to drag on for awhile.

Michael Flynn’s Second Taxpayer Payday

Michael Flynn is apparently getting a second settlement from the Trump Justice Department.

The first one was worth $1.25 million, paid out to resolve Flynn’s claim that he’d been maliciously prosecuted. That’s the prosecution for crimes he twice pleaded guilty to in open court, before changing lawyers, reversing course, and successfully lobbying Bill Barr’s DOJ to drop the charges. Trump then pardoned him the day before Thanksgiving 2020 in what legal observers called one of the most nakedly corrupt moves of his first term.

Now, according to reporting from Lawfare’s Anna Bower, Flynn has reached a second settlement in principle in a separate civil suit, this one over claims that the Army illegally garnished his retirement pay. The final dollar amount hasn’t been disclosed yet.

There’s no principled defense of any of this. Flynn pleaded guilty. Twice. He was pardoned. He’s already received $1.25 million from taxpayers. And now he’s in line for more.

It increasingly looks like Flynn doesn’t need a White House job. The president’s team keeps finding ways to send him money instead.

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I’m John Byrne, for Raw America. Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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