{"id":30406,"date":"2017-11-22T13:06:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T21:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=30406"},"modified":"2017-11-22T13:06:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T21:06:03","slug":"republicans-on-parade-11-22-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/22\/republicans-on-parade-11-22-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans on Parade – 11\/22\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here is the one hundred third article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today\u2019s honoree is Republican future head of the Census Bureau, Thomas Brunell. He is so honored for his intent to establish a permanent, totalitarian Republican Reich by using the census to help abolish competitive elections.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"1122Brunell\"The Trump administration is leaning toward naming Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience, to the top operational job at the U.S. Census Bureau, according to two people who have been briefed on the bureau\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

Brunell, a political science professor, has testified more than half a dozen times on behalf of Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts, and is the author of a 2008 book titled \u201cRedistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The choice would mark the administration\u2019s first major effort to shape the 2020 census, the nationwide count that determines which states lose and gain electoral votes and seats in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

The fate of the census under President Donald Trump has been closely watched<\/a> by voting-rights advocates worried that the administration \u2014 which has already made unsupported claims about voter fraud \u2014 might nudge it in directions that over- or undercount some Americans<\/strong>. Subtle bureaucratic choices in the wording and administration of the census can have huge consequences for who is counted, and how it shifts American voting districts… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Politico<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

If anything, Politico downplays the significance of Trump’s intent to appoint Brunell, and does not even mention the sleazy way he is doing it.  Fortunately, Rachel Maddow<\/a> has done the homework for all of us, as she puts this in context with Republican Gerrymandering.<\/font><\/p>\n