Lawrence O’Donnell Relishes And Rejoices In Trump’s Humiliating PA Special Election Defeat

Lawrence O’Donnell completely captured the crushing nature of Trump losing a special election in a district that Republicans illegally gerrymandered to be unwinnable for any Democrat.

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O’Donnell said, “The Republicans know what happened last night. The Democrats won a congressional district where they didn’t even bother to put up a democratic name on the ballot in the last two elections, that’s how hopeless it was. Democrats won in a congressional district where the Republican could previously run unopposed. They won in a district where Donald Trump won by 20 points, Mitt Romney won by 17 points. They won in a congressional district that was gerrymandered by Republicans as are most of the congressional districts where Republicans win. But this was a district so perversely gerrymandered that the United States supreme court ruled it an illegally contrived district that Pennsylvania has to eliminate it. Just erase it off the map in the next election. The Democrat won in a district that was gerrymandered by Republicans, so a Democrat could never win, and a Democrat won. So Donald Trump has been humiliated and too silenced today. He can’t think of a word to say about what happened. The white house tried to spin it today that without Trump’s involvement in the race the Republican would have lost by an even wider margin. And that is, of course, a wild lie. The district was gerrymandered to the illegal point where the Republican could never lose, and Donald Trump went to the never lose district and lost. Delivered a loss for the Republicans just by being himself.”

Lawrence O’Donnell hit on exactly what Republicans don’t want to talk about. Trump, “the great dealmaker” went into a district that was designed by Republicans to never be able to be won by a Democrat. PA-18 was the ultimate rigged game, but Donald Trump is so unpopular that he has made the once unwinnable winnable for Democrats. That’s is exactly what Donald Trump has done, and if a Democrat can win a House seat in a rigged district, what does that mean for Republican incumbents in swing districts?

It means that the Republicans are facing an election where their president has energized an opposition to such a passionate degree that no incumbent with an (R) beside their name on the ballot will be safe in November.

Trump managed to lose a district that was rigged by his party in favor of Republicans, and Lawrence O’Donnell couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association