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Democrats were winning the gerrymandering arms race Donald Trump kicked off last year, and still seem poised for a good fight. But then things changed.

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What does the decision, by Sam Alito and the five other Republican Supreme Court justices to effectively end the Voting Rights Act mean for the gerrymandering fight, and the race for House control in 2026 and 2028?

* Should the Supreme Court’s decision, which was widely predicted, make us rethink our assessment of the Democratic Party’s posture in the gerrymandering fight?

* Should Democrats lean in to the race politics of the GOP’s campaign to eliminate black representation in the South, or should they heed misgivings within the party about increasing the salience of race in politics generally?

Then, do things look any better in the Senate. Fixing this down the line will probably require a Democratic trifecta, which means putting up as many Senate wins as possible. So why have party leaders had such a hard time steering primary voters to viable candidates? Is the crisis in confidence among Democrats in Chuck Schumer feeding bitter infighting within state parties? And what, short of resigning and giving way to a new leadership team, could Schumer do to regain trust in his electoral judgment?

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Further reading:

* Matt argues Ken Martin is doing a terrible job running the DNC.

* Brian notes that even if Democrats win the midterms in a wave, the rump GOP will be the party’s most fascist incarnation yet, and they should prepare for opposition politics with that in mind.

* TPM on the Democratic Party’s preparations for Trump-Republican midterm subversion.