During a Saturday appearance on The Weekend: Primetime, MS NOW political analyst Basil Smikle leveled a sharp critique against Republican redistricting successes and the Trump administration’s economic agenda, suggesting the U.S. is drifting toward a version of South African apartheid.
Smikle’s comments come as courts continue to navigate the thin line between legal map-drawing and unconstitutional gerrymandering.
The panel’s discussion was prompted by a series of significant judicial interventions. The U.S. Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that race-based gerrymandering violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, while the Virginia Supreme Court recently struck down a congressional map that would have heavily favored Democrats.
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In the Virginia case, the court ruled the proposed map—which likely would have secured 10 out of 11 seats for the Democratic Party—was an illegal gerrymander.
Co-host Catherine Rampell suggested that even if Democrats see high turnout in the 2026 midterms, the current system might favor “minority rule,” allowing a party to lose the popular vote while maintaining legislative control. Smikle argued the situation was more calculated, claiming Republican efforts were an intentional move to ensure the political legacy of former President Obama “did not have coattails.”
“I get nervous, because there isn’t a lot of room left, right, to be able to, to, fix this,” Smikle said, expressing frustration over the limited options remaining for Democrats to alter the redistricting landscape.
Smikle further expanded his critique to the executive branch, characterizing President Trump’s administrative shifts as a targeted “economic attack” on Black Americans.
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He pointed to the reclassification of certain federal job categories, changes to student loan accessibility, and a reduction in government staffing—sectors where Black women are prominently represented—as evidence of a coordinated effort to limit minority influence.
“When you put those two things together, to me, it says you’re trying to centralize… the restriction of black civic engagement and economic empowerment,” Smikle said. He concluded that this combination mirrors “an American version of apartheid that is not easily unshakable.”
While Hofstra Law Professor James Sample agreed that the current state of affairs is a “disaster for our democracy,” he noted that, from a strictly legal standpoint, the court decisions favoring these maps are “probably right.”
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