Donald Trump's agenda is not popular with most Americans. That has him worried that Republicans could lose the House of Representatives in the 2026 election. If Republicans lose the House, Democrats might then be able to block the worst of Trump's unpopular actions.
A reasonable chief executive would probably change his unpopular agenda, but Trump is not a reasonable person. He doesn't care what the public wants as long as he can get what he wants. To accomplish this he has decided to cheat to retain the House in 2026. He has instructed Texas Republicans to redraw the states' U.S. House districts to get Republicans an additional five seats. To do this, they would likely be destroying some minority districts by placing many minorities in heavily Republican districts.
Democrats don't have enough members of the state legislature to stop the new Republican gerrymandering. But they have the power to stop it by refusing to show up for the votes by denying a quorum in the Texas House. The House cannot pass any law (including redistricting) unless a quorum of 100 members is present.
Enough Democrats have left the state (going to Democratic states) to deny the Republicans a quorum. The House speaker has issued a civil order for the arrest and return of the Democrats, and Gov. Abbott has instructed state DPS troopers to do that. But those troopers don't have jurisdiction outside of Texas, and since the Democratic House members have not broken any criminal law, the Democratic states and cities they have gone to are refusing to aid in their arrest. It is currently a stand-off.
Texas Senator John Cornyn has asked the FBI to assist in locating and arresting the missing Texas Democrats. And Donald Trump has said that might have to be done.
But the mission of the FBI is to "protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States". They should not be used to help either political party in a partisan political matter (which this is). The Texas House Democrats may have angered Trump and Texas Republicans, but they have not broken any laws - either state or federal.
If Trump orders the FBI to intervene, his lackey Kash Patel would probably cooperate. That would turn the FBI into an enforcement branch of the Republican Party - an inappropriate and possibly illegal use of the FBI. It should never be used in a purely partisan political manner for either political party.
If Trump does this, it will mean he can use the most powerful law enforcement agency in America as his personal political retribution arm. That would be a giant step toward the dissolution of our democracy.
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