Welcome to the Jim Acosta show, and it's another day that ends in why and Donald Trump's cover-up of the Epstein affair.

He is so frightened of the Epstein files being revealed. He is cooking up distraction after distraction like the federal takeover of the D.C. Police Department, as well as his midterm gerrymandering power grab, prodding Republicans in Texas and various other states to

redraw their congressional maps.

My first guest today is a big-time warrior for democracy.

You recognize him, David Pepper.

He is the former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

He writes Pepper Spectives.

I hope I said that right here on Substack.

And plus, you've written a democracy, a user's manual, something we could all use these days, David, great to see you. How are you? I'm great. How are you doing? Good to be with you. I'm doing fine. I'm doing fine. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. You know, let's dive right into this stuff. I mean, there's a lot to tackle. I mean, I do want to get into Trump and what he's doing in D.C. He is throwing out all of these distractions. But the gerrymandering business that is going on to me, it's an emergency. It is an emergency for our democracy that is unfolding as we speak. And you wrote about this.

You said of the gerrymandering that is going on in Texas and potentially other states like Indiana,

it's an, this is where you said, quote, it's an assault on democracy that mirrors the big lie effort after November 2020 and should be treated as such.

Let's talk about it. What do you mean?

Yeah. So we're so used to gerrymandering. And in Ohio, it's destroyed our state. It's destroyed

sort of any kind of semblance of fair democracy. So in a way, when we see what they started in

Texas, it feels like that. But in this really occurred. And I was thinking about, I mean,

I don't like Jerry Manor wherever it happened, but whoever does it. So I, I had it in my mind

in that bucket. But when I saw Vance go to Indiana, and I'll be going to Indiana on Sunday,

in part because I was so excited to see Indiana democracy folks protesting Vance's visit. And I want to urge them on. But when Vance went to Indiana, I was so excited to see Indiana democracy folks protesting Vance's visit, and I want

to urge them on. But when Vance went to Indiana and met with the governor and went to meet

with legislators to get them to gerrymander Indiana to get rid of the two Democratic seats

there, that's when I thought, this is the buildup to January 6th all over again. Remember,

when Trump was inviting Pennsylvania state reps to the White House to tell them to fix the

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