Send a textEpisode 6 explained how gerrymandering works. In Episode 7, Bella Goode examines who is driving this strategy, how it connects to Project 2025, and what responses are underway.This episode shifts from mechanics to accountability, explaining how political incentives, legal changes, and demographic pressure make aggressive gerrymandering more likely.What This Episode CoversWho controls map-drawing and why incentives matterHow weakened voting-rights protections affect redistrictingNational pressure and policy alignmentState-level examples of aggressive gerrymanderingParty-level and legal responsesWhat individual voters can doWhy It MattersGerrymandering is not an isolated abuse of power. It is one tactic in a broader effort to preserve political control as the country becomes more diverse. By manipulating district lines, politicians can blunt the influence of growing non-white and urban populations — even when those communities vote in large numbers.Project 2025 provides the ideological and policy framework for this strategy. Its goal is not to compete for votes, but to redesign the rules of representation so demographic change no longer translates into political power. Gerrymandering works alongside other tactics — weakening voting-rights protections, manipulating census data, and attacking election administration — to produce the same outcome: durable control without majority support.Understanding who is driving aggressive gerrymandering, and why it has intensified now, is essential to understanding how white nationalist priorities are being converted into law — quietly, legally, and long before Election Day.Next EpisodeIn Episode 8, Bella turns to the census — and how undercounts quietly reshape representation and funding for years to come.Support the showBella Goode is a pseudonym — but the voice, research, and mission are all real. A Republican turned Democrat advocate in 2016, I was raised by middle class parents in Pennsylvania. I’m a former marketing executive, entrepreneur, and lifelong learner with an MBA from Wharton and a Master’s in Psychology from Penn. I spent decades telling stories in the business world; now I use those skills to connect the dots in American politics. I’m here because the truth matters — and because the stakes have never been higher. Surviving Trump isn’t lighthearted. It’s clarity, evidence, and a fight for the future of our democracy. Follow my blog on Substack https://survivingtrumppodcast.substack.com