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Welcome to this weekend’s edition of the Surge, a politics newsletter that, in light of the hantavirus outbreak, sadly will be canceling all of our future vacations to rat-infested garbage dumps.

Speaking of rat-infested garbage dumps, we’ve got two entries about California politics this week. John Roberts is deeply disappointed in those who view the Supreme Court as political. And you, the taxpayer, may soon have the great honor of paying for Donald Trump’s ballroom—congrats!

Let’s begin with the dramatic turn against Democrats in the redistricting wars.

1. The Supreme Court of Virginia

A devastating series of events for House Democrats in the redistricting wars.

Two weeks ago, Democrats were sitting pretty in the middecade redistricting wars that the White House kicked off by urging Texas to redraw its congressional map. Between the twin gerrymanders of California and Virginia, Democrats looked as if they might even net out on top, given some sputtering efforts by Republicans in other states. But that picture has now been totally reversed, with three loud bangs. This week, Florida quickly passed a new gerrymander giving Republicans an excellent chance to win four new seats. The Supreme Court eliminated protections for predominantly minority-held seats in Louisiana v. Callais, prompting hastily organized efforts by states like Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina to wring out additional GOP seats late in primary season.

The third dagger came on Friday morning, when the Virginia Supreme Court tossed the state’s redistricting ballot referendum results because “the legislative process employed to advance this proposal” violated the state constitution. That means that Virginia’s existing map, currently split between six Democrats and five Republicans, will stay in place, whereas the struck-down map could have netted Democrats an additional four seats. Perhaps this was a conclusion the court could have arrived at before allowing an expensive statewide referendum to proceed.

These developments don’t eliminate Democrats’ ability to win back the House. But they do make control of the House something closer to a toss-up, even in a horrific political environment for Republicans. Democrats have never needed the Surge’s permission to get hysterical, but it’s warranted here: This has been a catastrophic turn for Democrats, who are watching the national congressional map become stacked against them piece by piece. Blue states have a lot of gerrymandering to do in the coming years to make up the difference.

Congrats to the American taxpayer on the new purchase!

Republicans this week released text of their party-line reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies through the rest of Donald Trump’s term. But, dear reader, that’s not all that the bill funds. It also offers the Secret Service a fresh $1 billion in security measures,........

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