Politics and views in the United States.

Trump weighs in on the Texas redistricting effort as Democratic and Republican states across the country consider redrawing congressional maps, and North Carolina's governor vetoes an anti-DEI bill.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats.

We have a really good governor and we have good people in Texas.

And I won Texas, I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know.

And we are entitled to five more seats.

Commenting publicly for the first time, President Donald Trump tells CNBC he supports the mid-decade Texas redistricting, which could set off an unprecedented string of similar moves by states blue and red.

Joining California, Maryland Democrats say they may go after that state's lone Republican seat if Texas redraws its districts.

And Vice President J.D. Vance will travel to Indiana, where the GOP could pick up one or both Democratic seats.

New York state lawmakers are proposing an amendment to the state constitution, giving the legislature the power to redraw maps mid-decade if another state did so outside the ruling of a court order.

Rachel Foss with Reinvent Albany says the amendment misses the mark.

If New York wants to have a better redistricting process, they could make a more independent process that puts voters first.

I think the problem with this amendment is it would entrench politically motivated redistricting into our state constitution.

If one state gerrymanders, it would say New York can do so as well.

New York lawmakers would need to pass the amendment during two different legislative sessions before going to voters, and courts in the state might decide to strike down maps drawn under the process.

Work at the Texas legislature remains stalled, with the absence of more than 50 Democrats making it impossible to meet the quorum.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he'll start removing the runaway lawmakers from office if they don't return by Friday.

But it's unclear if Paxton has that authority, as courts have expressed reluctance on it in the past.

Meanwhile, the conservative Fifth Circuit Federal Appeals Court struck a blow to Texas civil rights groups, ruling unanimously that the state could require a voter's state ID number or partial Social Security number to cast a mail-in ballot.

It also recently ruled that mail-in ballots must be received by Election Day to be counted.

In education news, the Republican-controlled General Assembly in North Carolina failed to override a veto by Democratic Governor Josh Stein of a ban on college diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

The state has the second most historically black colleges and universities in the country.

Deborah Maxwell is with the NAACP in North Carolina.

The promise of having a sound basic education, which is part of the state constitution, is under threat.

It doesn't mean a narrow right side education.

It's to be diverse.

It's to offer opinions so that you can be an informed citizen.

The General Assembly also failed to override vetoes of public school and local and state government DEI bans.

Under unrelenting pressure to release files on the late pedophile and longtime Trump associate Jeffrey Epstein, the Justice Department says it's going ahead with a probe of former President Barack Obama and officials who investigated Russian election interference.

And the chair of House Oversight is issuing subpoenas for former President Bill Clinton and others in connection with Epstein.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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