joining me now ari berman, and ”the new york times” columnist, michelle goldberg.s easy to demonize the way they are doing things in texas and arkansas, but virginia is more subtle. youngkin doesn't seem as extreme but at the end of the day, the forces compelling republican politicians all compel in one direction, demonize women's right to choose, throw critical race theory, you know, red meat at the base. they're all going to do it. do you have concerns that even people who try to fool you into thinking they're a moderate like youngkin wind up playing the same game in 2024? >> well, i think it's become very clear in the last year that there are very few moderates left in the republican party and that attacking the democratic process is now the central organizing principle of the gop. remember, the republican candidate for governor kicked off his campaign by lying about what happened in 2020 and made that his key platform. but i think what republicans are doing in texas is so revealing because it's really the prototype of their governing strategy, which is to pass

mother jones reporter ari berman tweeted in response, quote, "democracy is quite literally dying in the dark." the conservative-led u.s. supreme court appeared in favor of reinstating the death penalty for boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev, after hearing arguments in the case wednesday. a federal appeals court overturned the execution last year but biden's justice department is arguing to bring back his death sentence. conservative justice amy coney barrett questioned the motivations of the federal government during the hearing. >> i'm wondering what the government's endgame is here. the government has declared a moratorium on executions but you are here defending his death sentences and if you win, presumably that means he is relegated to living under threat of a death sentence that the government does not plan to carry out. amy: during the 2020 presidential campaign, joe biden pledged to work toward eliminating federal capital punishment. in lebanon, heavy gunfights are going on in some of t worst violence in beirut in a decade -- in beirut in a decade. the protest, led by hezb

joining our conversation, "mother jones" senior reporter, ari berman and editor at large of the bulwarklikely consequences. >> well, it's really amazing, nicole. right now, what republicans are doing is they are gerrymandering their way back to control of the u.s. house into one-party control of places like texas. and the texas congressional map is so shocking because it completely nullifies demographic change and it completely nullifies competition in a state that's becoming very diverse and increasingly competitive, so 95% of all demographic change in texas came from communities of color but in the texas congressional maps, white republicans gained seats and black and latino democrats would lose seats under the texas congressional map, the number of competitive districts would go from 12 to just 1. and so, everyone talks about how the country's trending more diverse and democratic, and that's true. but the maps that are being drawn by republicans are making the country much whiter and more conservative and less competitive as the country moves in the opposite direction. >> i mean, cha

as mother jones senior report are ari berman points out, the new vote gives white texans nearly 60% ofe the fact that white texans only make up 40% of the population. hispanic residents 20% of the districts. look no further than harris county, home to houston, where voters of color have helped turn it more purple. 95% of the population boom in the last decade is attributed to people of color. but as one state representative puts it, you would not know by looking at the new map. >> the fact that we did get those two congressional seats and somehow they ended up being white majority seats. i don't know where they do their math, but clearly we need to work on education in the state of texas because we know, yes, we had two additional seats we were supposed to get, but they absolutely should have been going, at least one of them, to minorities. we know in the north texas region in the dfw area, we should have picked up probably a hispanic opportunity seat, but we didn't do that. >> let's be clear. it's not just texas. last year all 50 states certified a fair and free election, yet there ar

it's part of a larger trend of what's happening in texas scenery porter ari berman broke down the detailshis latest about their joan's piece. texas populations just shy of 40%, wipe away voters are not the majority and 60% of the maps districts. hispanic voters make up a comparable 39% of the state population, are a majority in just 18% of the districts, asian texans makeup under, 12 and 5% of the population respectively are majority zero districts, the things that makes it so notable is the population growth which allowed texas these two new seats, is 95% attributable, to people of color, now a teeny legal rights organization, the mexican american legal defense fund education, fund is suing texas governor greg abbott, and the deputies secretive state to block the map from taking effect. saying a quote, illegally in unconstitutionally deludes the voting strength of latino voters in, texas. in a paralysis the organization's vice president for litigation, and she joins me now. first, let's just start with what's the ground rules, of the voting rights act, the constitutional say. about this

senior reporter ari berman broke down the details in his latest mother jones piece.jority in 60% of the maps' districts. hispanic voters make up 39% of the state population are a majority in just 18% of the districts. black and asian texans make up under 12. the thing that makes this notable is the population growth which allowed texas these two new seats is 95% attributable to people of color. now a latino legal rights organization, the mexican american legal defense and educational fund, is suing the governor and the deputy secretary of state to block the map from taking effect saying it illegally and unconstitutionally dilutes the voting strength of voters in texas. she joins me now. firstly, let's start with what the ground rules of the voting rights act and the constitution say about this process. what is the sort of guidance in terms of equal representation here? we know that there is an imperative for majority/minority districts or districts where non-white members can be elected because. diversity of constituency. what is the baseline we look at to judge this

a mother jones senior reporter ari berman points out the new map hands white texans control of nearly shis spannics only 20% and black voters only 3%. so whether it's preproductive rights, preventing trans gender students from playing in sports or rigging the system to their own game, the republicans will stop nothing to regain power. before we dig into this, another transparency of latino, which i'm the founding president, has two active laws on their voting rights legislation. joining in he is former hud secretary and 2020 presidential candidate lee an castro, and he's also a msnbc analyst. also joining me executive of justice brian fowler. thank you both for joining me. i want to start with you first because one of the things that seems to be so off-putting in texas is a lot of things that are seen to be legislative are not coming from the grassroots. a lot of it seems to be coming out of washington, whether we're talking about the her damage foundation when it comes to the voting rights restrictions or when it comes to the anti-abortion laws. can you speak to that, how this is inc

ari berman, charlie sykes, thank you so much. >>> when we come back, the firing and the obsession withor trump. today, andrew mccabe is enjoying a little bit of redemption. we'll tell you all about it next. >>> plus, secretary of transportation pete buttigieg responds to criticism aimed at him for being a dad and taking some parental leave. >>> democrats sending in their biggest, boldest super stars to campaign in virginia for terry mcauliffe, starting tonight. first lady dr. jill biden. will the democrats' star power be enough to win virginia? "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. tinues after a quick break. dot n'go anywhere. growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. (vo) at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see things differen