On Tuesday, NBC’s Today show seized on the Biden Department of Justice trying to bully Texas into changing its electoral map to benefit Democrats. The heavily slanted segment amounted to a litany of left-wing grievances attacking the Republican-controlled state and accusing it of racist redistricting.
“Also this morning, an ongoing battle over voting rights is intensifying. The Justice Department now suing the state of Texas over its new redistricting plan, saying it would discriminate against minority voters,” co-host Savannah Guthrie breathlessly announced just minutes into the morning show. Correspondent Morgan Chesky acted as DOJ spokesman by offering this press release:
And at its core, the DOJ says this is about minority voters in Texas and the rapidly changing demographics here not getting adequate representation. And this lawsuit has two claims. Number one, Texas Republicans intentionally did this to suppress the minority vote. Number two, even if it wasn’t intentional, the impact was still discriminatory, and the DOJ can win on either of those claims.
In the taped report that followed, Chesky hyped “a Texas-sized fight over voting maps” and cries of racism from the Justice Department: “The suit alleges the state’s new maps violate the Voting Rights Act because they discriminate against voters in the state’s booming Latino and black populations.”
The reporter at least briefly read a tweet from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, “calling the suit ‘absurd,’ adding he is ‘confident that our legislature’s redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail.’”
However, every other soundbite in the piece was from a Democrat. A clip ran of Biden’s Attorney Merrick Garland, another clip was featured of U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, and a final clip was included of Democratic Texas State Representative Ramone Ramiro, all were wailing about the proposed Republican redistricting plan.
In between those soundbites, Chesky was indistinguishable from the liberal partisans:
The state was allocated two more congressional seats after the 2020 census, but did not draw a single new district with a majority of black or Hispanic voters. Instead, the two new seats have white voting majorities....The new redrawn districts were signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott this fall and pave a safer path for the GOP’s majority to stay in power....It’s part of a national wave of states redrawing their voting maps, many controlled by Republican lawmakers, that could impact next year’s midterm elections and those for years to come.
Chesky wrapped up the story by parroting radical Biden administration demands: “And right now, the DOJ is asking the courts to prohibit Texas from conducting elections under these challenged plans and they’re also asking the courts to make sure these maps are redrawn.”
Texas has been a favorite target of the leftist media, particularly NBC. In July, when state Democrats actively tried to subvert democracy, the broadcast network cheered them on. In November, NBC actually bragged that it helped spark a separate DOJ civil rights investigation into the Southlake, Texas school district for not adopting radical Critical Race Theory.
Tuesday’s DOJ propaganda from NBC was brought to viewers by Kia and Dick’s Sporting Goods. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the December 7 segment:
7:09 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Also this morning, an ongoing battle over voting rights is intensifying. The Justice Department now suing the state of Texas over its new redistricting plan, saying it would discriminate against minority voters. NBC’s Morgan Chesky joins us from Dallas with that story. Morgan, good morning.
MORGAN CHESKY: Hey, Savannah, good morning. And at its core, the DOJ says this is about minority voters in Texas and the rapidly changing demographics here not getting adequate representation. And this lawsuit has two claims. Number one, Texas Republicans intentionally did this to suppress the minority vote. Number two, even if it wasn’t intentional, the impact was still discriminatory, and the DOJ can win on either of those claims.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Texas Voting Maps Controversy]
This morning, a Texas-sized fight over voting maps. On Monday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit challenging Texas Republicans’ plan for redrawing congressional and state legislative districts. The suit alleges the state’s new maps violate the Voting Rights Act because they discriminate against voters in the state’s booming Latino and black populations.
MERRICK GARLAND [U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL]: As the Supreme Court as observed, a core principle of our democracy is that, quote, “voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.”
CHESKY: The state’s attorney general [Ken Paxton] firing back on Twitter, calling the suit “absurd,” adding he is “confident that our legislature’s redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail.”
According to the DOJ, Texas has grown in population by 4 million people over the last decade, and that 95% of that growth is in black, Latino, and Asian populations. The state was allocated two more congressional seats after the 2020 census, but did not draw a single new district with a majority of black or Hispanic voters. Instead, the two new seats have white voting majorities.
VANITA GUPTA [U.S. ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL]: The newly enacted redistricting plans will not allow minority voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.
CHESKY: The new redrawn districts were signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott this fall and pave a safer path for the GOP’s majority to stay in power. Democratic State Rep. Ramone Ramiro says the new maps hit his own district, near Fort Worth, hard.
Once you saw the new districts, what did it do to you?
STATE REP. RAMONE RAMIRO [D-TX]: I went from a 50% Latino surname voter registration to a 38% Latino surname voter registration.
CHESKY: It’s part of a national wave of states redrawing their voting maps, many controlled by Republican lawmakers, that could impact next year’s midterm elections and those for years to come.
And right now, the DOJ is asking the courts to prohibit Texas from conducting elections under these challenged plans and they’re also asking the courts to make sure these maps are redrawn. Savannah?
GUTHRIE: Alright, Morgan Chesky, thank you.
