The Weekend 5/9/26 | 🅼🆂🅽🅱️🅲 Breaking News Today May 9, 2026

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[00:00:00]New York. I'm Antonia Hilton along with Aean Mohudin, Elise Jordan, and Katherine Rmpel. Tonight, redistricting whiplash. Two legal rulings suddenly put Republicans in a much better position for the midterms and carry enormous consequences for American democracy long term.

[00:00:16]>> Plus, love taps in Iran. Trump's bizarre new description for military strikes as he drops new hints about the possibility of a peace deal.

[00:00:24]>> Also, polygraphs and personalized liquor bottles. The new wave of controversies.

[00:00:29]Dogging FBI Director [music] Cash Patel and the state of Trump's immigration crackdown. Is the administration really softening [music] its hardline approach?

[00:00:48]Welcome to the weekend prime time.

[00:00:49][music] There are less than 100 days to go before Americans head to the polls and cast their votes in the midterm elections. And yet, the legal and political ground beneath us is shifting in real time. The past week and a half shattered the House map, and with it, Democrats once clear path to retaking the lower chamber. Republicans are emerging with a sizable structural advantage as two blockbuster court rulings allow them to carve out roughly 10 more favorable House seats. First, it was the Supreme Court hollowing out the Voting Rights Act, triggering outrage in Louisiana and across the South, opening the door for Republicans there to erase at least one majority black congressional district, a state that is roughly a third black. A state that has only ever sent a handful of black leaders to Washington DC and had no black representation in Congress from 1877 to 1991.

[00:01:43]That's 114 years. And then this week, Virginia's top court struck down a voterapproved redistricting plan. That plan would have given Democrats four more seats in Congress. The New York Times reports the Republicans were quick to celebrate the Virginia decision with one of Speaker Mike Johnson's senior political aids interrupting a meeting in Texas to break the news. And Johnson later himself celebrating on the phone with Virginia's Republican former Governor Glenn Yncan. For now, Democrats are still favored to win the House, but all of this raises unsettling questions about what the redistricting wars have wrought for the midterms and for our democracy long term. Two legal decisions, immeasurable consequences for who holds the power. Joining us now to unpack all of this, Basil Smeichel, MS Now political analyst and professor of practice at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies and James Sample, professor of law at Hofster University and author of the Substack, Who Decides Who Decides.

[00:02:46]James Basel, it's great to have both of you guys with us tonight. So, James, you and I had a had a conversation the other day about all of this as I was processing these rulings in real time.

[00:02:55]uh you do a very good job of bringing us back down to earth. Um you called the Virginia decision a quote defensive or defensible ruling an indefensible landscape.

[00:03:07]Break that down for me.

[00:03:10]>> What I mean by that, Antonia, is that the ruling in Virginia is defensible.

[00:03:15]And the from the very beginning, as far back as October, as far back as a couple of weeks ago, when the district court in Virginia came up with seven grounds on which the district court found the process problematic, I said that this one ground, the ground on which it was ultimately held to be unconstitutional under the state constitution of Virginia, was at the very least a credible, serious, nonfrivolous argument. And let's be clear, Virginia put in place state constitutional provisions that were intended to safeguard and to be structural protections that make it difficult to amend their constitution as a matter of state constitutional law. They didn't put that in place for this. It's been in place for decades. And the the basic synopsis of why this was held to be unconstitutional under Virginia law is that in order to amend the Virginia state constitution, you need to pass an amendment through the House of Delegates through the through the assembly. There needs to be a general election for the House of Delegates and then it needs to pass again. So you have two different legislatures pass the same amendment.

[00:04:24]What happened here is that voters started voting for the legislature in September of 2025.

[00:04:32]40% of the voters who cast a vote in the general house of delegates election voted prior to the amendment being passed in the House of Delegates in late October. To be clear, the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court I think is a disaster for our democracy. It's probably right on the law and it's actually a pro- voter protection decision. The problem is the context against which it occurs. And the context against which it occurs is one in which we are racing to the bottom. One in which we are becoming the inverse of what we should be. The House is actually becoming the Senate. A 100 years ago, the Senate was chosen by the state legislators. We are now in a place where the state legislature is effectively choosing who gets to be in the House of Representatives in Congress.

[00:05:20]>> So, Basil, can you walk us through what the overall consequences are for democracy? Because it it it feels like we are racing toward uh a landscape, a a a context in which even if Democrats win big this year, they probably win small.

[00:05:38]And we may be leading in or or walking into a world in which basically we are enshrining potential minority rule going forward where one side can win 55% of the vote and still lose.

[00:05:52]>> I see it is a lot more stark than that actually. Um I start by saying that what we're seeing is the intentionality around by Republicans to make sure Obama did not have cotails.

[00:06:04]Democrats lost a thousand state legislative seats while Obama was president. That's not an accident because what they're doing is pushing all of these policies to the states.

[00:06:15]There are what 23 states with a Republican trifecta, 26 that have Republican governors. So when we think about what's next for Democrats on this issue of voting rights and redistricting, I should say, I get nervous because there isn't a lot of room left, right, to be able to to to to fix this. Number one. Number two, I said this when Texas um entered the frey to try to do their redistricting and I said this is going to be tantamount to an American version of apartheid because it's not just about congressional seats.

[00:06:48]What the congressional seat allows states to do is then redistrict state legislative seats, city council seats all the way down to even school board elections. Right? So when you think about the removal of the civic opportunity, civic engagement for black people, the fact that the president reclassified certain jobs where there are concentrations of women, particularly women of color as professionals, making it difficult to get student loans, restricting now with with the Supreme Court's help who can go to college and what colleges they can go to, and then how many African how many hundreds of thousands of African-American women lost their jobs.

[00:07:24]So there's also an economic b, you know, an economic attack on African-Americans here. So when you put those two things together, to me it says you're trying to through central you're trying to centralize through our entire federal bureaucracy and have it trickle down to the states the restriction of black civic engagement and economic empowerment. That to me rings very true to, you know, an American version of apartheid that is not easily unshakable in the in the near term.

[00:07:57]>> So the question is, do the Democrats have any legal recourse here with all of this redistricting that's taking place to try to level the playing field or is it just going to come down simply uh at the ballot box that they're going to have their best and final chance at uh at regaining power?

[00:08:15]>> I don't think they have much legal recourse. They certainly don't have legal recourse in Virginia. Um the this is an independent and adequate state ground which means that the US Supreme Court doesn't really have jurisdiction to overturn what happened. There are some areas Florida is facing a challenge to its redistricting effort which is effectively in place but subject to a challenge that is still ongoing that but those are long shots in terms of legal challenges. Basically what has happened and I am less optimistic than many people. I don't know that. I think that we could end up with 60% of the vote producing 40% of the seats. Let's be I mean this is very very stark. I mean Antonio says I bring it down but like realistically >> I agree. But yeah Basel and I were talking earlier. I mean this is it is not just grim. It is really really grim.

[00:09:04]And the only way that I see forward is to fight the gerrymandering with Jerry Mandering which we both hate. I mean it's bad for democracy but it might be necessary for democracy in the short run. and then perhaps 2030, which feels like cold comfort, maybe 2040, you can get a a federal ban on partisan redistricting because let's be clear, a big part of the reason that we are in this apartheid, the reegregation is the US Supreme Court. 1980s John Roberts in the Reagan administration dreamed of where 2026 John Roberts has gotten America. And let me just say this because you did talk about democracy and you asked that question. It's important to remember that they put all of this in paper. They put all of this in writing and there were a lot of people that said it can't really happen. He's not going to go that far. Of course, he will because it's not just him. It's everything and everyone around him that wants to bring make America great again. And we kept saying this this can happen. It's not that it's not that difficult. But folks felt, and I'm I always say this, people got complacent. People got complacent. But now we're in a situation where things do look very very grim. Um, if you're a Democrat and you actually and or anybody that actually cares about this stuff and and that's the concern, and I and I tell people this all the time, the midterms will not save us. So, as much as we would talk about the importance of, you know what, it's it's actually having a version of project 2025 that outlines what needs to happen going forward. What do we need to put in place? What guard rails need to go back up? But isn't part of the problem that this hasn't been war gamed far enough out and for worstc case scenario with the Republicans coming in with this super aggressive posture is the position now that Democrats need to take that they are looking at every single majority they have where they can get anything possibly by looking at the law and then pursuing it as aggressively as possible. Much like when they talk about packing the court that scares Republicans to death. Yeah. And you still have kind of the tempered language and oh look at what happened in Virginia when like you said like I think that James' point he's addressing reality.

[00:11:23]The law was against them and and it was a valiant effort in the sense that they mobilized their supporters. They got to show the energy and they get to see what's there and who's there to fight but it just wasn't going to go to the finish line. Every type of political social and sociopolitical mobilization in this country has been built off of abolitionist movement and the civil rights movement. No question about it.

[00:11:48]So what we're seeing now and I guess the potential path forward is to have a multi- multiaceted plan. There's a legal strategy, right? There's the mobilization. You see that with the no kings rallies. you've seen that um with all of the, you know, all of the Democratic overperformance in some of these races up up until now. Um and so yeah, you got to keep that going, but it's got to keep you got to keep it going. There's just there really is I don't want to say time is running out, but it kind of is.

[00:12:16]>> Is it going to take an Obama-like figure to actually drive turnout in a way that simply is not happening right now? And yes, where you have the kind of incredible turnout from low intensity voters, low information voters, and they finally >> I think it takes more than an Obama like figure like if we are as many historians believe and I guess I would like for the two of you to weigh on this. We are in a post reconstruction reactionary period.

[00:12:43]I mean it took us decades and there were many um people who literally put their lives on the line to get us out of that period um and to bring us to the America that like we were born into and thought we were going to enjoy um to to to survive that. Uh and I don't I don't know that is a daunting thing to face as someone who grew up hearing the stories of what it was like for my grandparents to live through that. Um, it's it's genuinely shocking to like sit with it and that is what I'm going to have to live through now.

[00:13:14]>> Basel James, stick with us. We're going to catch up with you after the break. Up next, what Trump is saying today about a potential peace deal with Iran. You're watching the weekend prime time on MS Now [music] between the United States and Iran.

[00:13:28]President Trump told a French news outlet today that he expects to hear very soon from Iran about their latest peace plan, adding quote, "They still very much want to make a deal." Now, this comes after the US and Iran exchanged fire this week, sparking fears that the fragile month old ceasefire could collapse. And while Iran has already accused the US of violating the ceasefire, President Trump says it is still very much intact. In fact, for him, these fresh round of strikes are just a quote love tap, whatever that means. The CIA estimates that Iran can likely survive a US naval blockade for 3 to four months. That is according to two officials who confirmed it to MS. Now, meanwhile, here at home, people are feeling the [clears throat] economic pinch of the war. Watch.

[00:14:12]This is ridiculous, man. Very ridiculous. I definitely have to be a lot more conscious about, you know, budgeting for real. That's not even counting like food or like leisure does that is not even in the cards anymore.

[00:14:26]You know what I'm saying? So >> it's really hard when like you're a single parent and stuff, you know, even working full-time like I'm considering getting a serving job.

[00:14:35]>> In the moment I try not to think about it, but then later it's like oh where is all my money going? Like but what else?

[00:14:40]I can't like walk. So >> Basil Michael and James Sample are back with us. So we are I believe day 71 of this war. Basel, there's clearly no appetite for this war and it seems the president has boxed himself in and I always feel it's a bit of projection with him. None of the people that I've spoken to, yes, of course, Iran wants the war to end. Yes, it is definitely uh in facing economic hardship and and has a long road ahead. But at the same time, it seems that they they feel they have the upper hand because with each passing day, it becomes uh more economically dire for the United States with the straight of Hormuz closed, oil not flowing, all the other consequential results of that. Um and the president right now doesn't seem like he can reignite the war with the way the polling suggests that he's uh tanking on it and the economy is not doing well and yet he's out here saying that they desperately want to make a deal.

[00:15:32]>> Yeah. You know, and let me pull on that thread about the polling because he's lost among very, you know, so many constituencies that supported him, particularly young voters, right? And and young men, and you heard a lot of young people gas station.

[00:15:45]>> That's exactly right. You know, these are folks that are paying 50 70% of their income on rent, uh, when you're supposed to kind of pay somewhere around 30. They're paying upwards of 50 and 60 70%. And so all of these all of these dollar amounts, even on the margins, really do matter. I happened to be up in upstate New York earlier today. It was three hours away. Um in Whitney Point, New York was in in Broom County. And every time I drive through upstate New York, um which is largely Republican country, I see a lot more stores closing. Um I end up talking to a lot of farmers. I spoke to a black farmer today in upstate New York who said that they are struggling and um all of the additional costs because of the the war.

[00:16:26]And I add to that the sort of shadow tax. All of the actual policies that Trump has put into place like cutting money for children and adults who are disabled, right? All of those things that help families function are so much more expensive. Much we talk about and a lot we we actually we don't talk about >> or or food stamps. bragging about kicking people off of food stamps, which by the way also affect farmers since um >> if you have fewer people able to order, you know, purchase food, then then that means that that's less income going to potentially American farmers. So, yeah, a lot of harm here.

[00:17:00]>> James, I want to play you um some sound.

[00:17:02]Jimmy Kimmel uh did a good roundup of all the different terms, phrases that the president has used to describe this war. I want you to listen.

[00:17:13]We are at, as they would say, a war.

[00:17:14]They call it a war. I call it a military operation. Of course, they call it a war. I call it a military conflict.

[00:17:21]We're in a I call it a mini war cuz that's all they are. I call it a skirmish because that's what it is. We have to make a journey down to Iran.

[00:17:30]This is a minor excursion. This is a short excursion. It'll be a short-term excursion. This is an excursion. A little excursion. We're winning the war by a lot.

[00:17:41]by a lot.

[00:17:43]>> My personal favorite is Journey. I think that's what I say when I'm like going to the mall and I have like more than one errand to do.

[00:17:49]>> Um, but seriously, what do you think the real reason is uh that they won't call this what this obviously is?

[00:17:55]>> Each of those phrases is miniaturaturizing a very serious matter.

[00:18:00]It's miniaturizing a very serious matter that hasn't been conducted in accordance with the Constitution. Certainly Aean mentioned day 71 not in con not consistent with the war powers resolution where at day 60 it's either supposed to end or there's supposed to be an authorization for the use of military force. It's trying to minimize the maximal damage that has been done not just to a third party but to this country as well.

[00:18:28]>> But is that like also a legal get out of jail free card? I don't know if that's what you were asking.

[00:18:33]>> Care about the legality. So Trump is just like whatever.

[00:18:36]>> Yeah. So like if they use these euphemisms, does that mean that there's some way in which Congress is less able to hold the administration accountable?

[00:18:44]>> No. That the reality is, as we discussed last week, the reality is that the only way that the war powers resolution or the only way that Congress's war power authorization is going to be robust and manifest is if Congress acts and Congress is enacting. And also just because the language of the war powers that correct me if I'm wrong doesn't it's not necessarily about war it's about military operations. So Donald Trump can call it a war, he can call it a skirmish. If you are deploying the military uh in an operational way that triggers the war powers act after 60 days to be used and that's why they still rely on the AUMF from 2001 which again is like such a massive loophole because we've just applied this blanket statement of terrorism to every country in the world irrespective of the conflict whether it's Nigeria or Venezuela. You remember when they started using the word naroterrorism because they were like if we can bring naroterrorism into the AUMF from 2001 then we can just apply that to military operations off the coast of Venezuela.

[00:19:44]They're probably going to use it for Cuba. I'm sure they'll find a way to use it for Cuba. Just be like we don't need a war powers resolution. Cuba is a sponsor state sponsor of terrorism. The the boat strikes the boat strikes. I mean even even assuming for the sake of argument that everything that they claim for which there's no evidence because there's never an opportunity to gather evidence. even assuming for the sake of argument that everything they claim is true that these are drug traffickers, narot terrorists, we don't execute drug dealers.

[00:20:12]>> Yeah.

[00:20:13]>> Especially not without due process. They are to to Katherine's point, they are using labels to get around actual processes and actual legal requirements, actual frankly moral requirements.

[00:20:26]>> I do wonder about the non-political calculation of this war. Trump just really doesn't seem to care if he makes the case to Congress, if he makes makes the case to the American people. He has let he's approached this as if he's political teflon and nothing can hurt him. And yet, we see what's happening at the gas pump. We see his approval ratings. But by the time November rolls around, do you think there's a risk of this just being so baked in with the American public who really doesn't care that much about foreign policy until it really impacts them? But they were already struggling with inflation and it doesn't even matter and rise above basic partisansship.

[00:21:04]>> Well, you're right. Vote uh voters don't really vote for foreign policy per se.

[00:21:08]They vote for safety and security and they vote for the their economic uh opportunity and aspirations. So, yeah, I think it's incumbent upon Democrats to really hit on those points. um talk about the anxiety that they feel, talk about the economic challenges that are out there, talk about the the chaos that this administration has brought, including among other things up to and including the war. But I also would caution Democrats about um they need to really understand what's at work here because as you talk about, you know, doesn't the president see what's happening? I mean, he does, but only within a small circle. Because if you think about it, and the way I like to think about it, this is kind of like a political theology really. And all of the all of the ex the the higher cost of gasoline, the higher grocery costs, um, all the tariffs, all of the things that make are making others uncomfortable about what's happening. For a lot of Donald Trump supporters, that's the tithes they pay to him, right? So this so for so so for him, you know, all he's doing is looking at that at that piece and everybody else doesn't seem to care about.

[00:22:18]>> Yeah. But I think that that's a small share of the electorate still. I mean, they are an unshakable share of the electorate that's like, sure, you know, punish me a thousand different ways, Mr. Trump. Like make me pay, [laughter] you know? I mean, seriously, there's some weird psycho stuff like sematic whatever. Anyway, we don't need to get into another phrase there.

[00:22:39]All right. Sorry.

[00:22:40]>> I would just I would just [laughter] say that I think Republicans and we saw this in Indiana, right? They are still lock step behind him. The opportunity I think largely for Democrats is to is about talking to independents.

[00:22:52]>> Yeah.

[00:22:53]>> Well, we could keep going, but Basil Michael and James Sample, thank you for being with us next time. Next time. And coming up, a new polygraph controversy puts [music] FBI director Cash Patel back in the spotlight. Not that he ever exited to begin [music] with. You're watching the weekend prime time on MS Now.