After being on the wrong side of President Donald Trump, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) lost his seat to a Democrat in 2016, but he was able to get it back in 2020. One San Diego columnist thinks that it's probably a short-lived victory, thanks, in part, to Trump.

Writing Tuesday for the Times of San Diego, Raoul Lowery Contreras explained that Issa is the only Republican member of Congress south of Anaheim. Given that the Census triggers redistricting Issa out of his seat.

"Instead it is in reapportionment, the every-decade requirement per the Constitution to draw legislative lines for congressional seats," wrote Contreras. "The problem this time for Issa is that the Trump administration royally screwed up the decennial U.S. Census. The official numbers for the new decade were due Dec. 31. But the report isn't ready yet because Trump nativists like Stephen Miller demanded the Census count the number of undocumented immigrants so they could be excluded from the final total."

That was obviously unconstitutional, he said, but the fact that Trump demanded it, his administration ultimately messed up the population counts for the states.

"Then there is the exodus of people from California that has shrunk the traditional annual growth rate to the lowest since 1900. States like Arizona and Texas have grown relative to California and will likely be allocated more congressional seats. That means that unless Congress enlarges the 435-member House, California will probably lose at least one congressional seat," wrote Contreras.

Even with a non-partisan commission for redistricting, he doesn't have the seniority he once had, nor does he enjoy the benefits of being a pro-Trump party player after supporting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in 2016, Contreras said.

Read his full column at the Times of San Diego.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post published a damning analysis of how a GOP consulting firm pocketed millions from the campaign of Kim Klacik, a heavily-touted GOP candidate who ran an unsuccessful long-shot bid in a heavily blue district of Baltimore, Maryland last year.

Klacik received national attention and a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention after a viral online ad featuring her walking through run-down neighborhoods of Baltimore and claiming that Democrats had abandoned the city's Black residents. The ad was even touted by former President Donald Trump.

But according to the report, Klacik only learned after the fact that the vendors who helped her create and promote the spot would be taking most of the money she raised off it.

"The company that produced the video, Arsenal Media Group, would take a cut. And a firm hired to promote the video, Olympic Media, would keep up to 70 percent of the money it generated, some of which was not disclosed in Klacik's initial campaign finance filings," reported Meagan Flynn and Michael Scherer. "Her campaign is an example of how some consulting firms are profiting handsomely from Republican candidates who have robust appeal in today's politically charged environment — even when they are running in deep-blue districts where it is virtually impossible for them to win. The more viral the candidate goes, the more money the companies make — a model possible only through the online outrage machine of hyperpartisan politics."

Klacik herself was reportedly outraged and felt ripped off. "When I saw it, I almost passed out," she said. "I actually lost sleep over this. These companies — it's a racket. Unfortunately, this is why we ask people to send us checks directly to our P.O. box." Some of her GOP donors are also enraged, with Bruce Dale of Michigan — whose $800 check to her may have gone entirely to vendors — saying, "It sounds like part of the swamp that needs to be drained."

It is highly unlikely Klacik would have won even if she had been able to keep all the money for campaigning, as the district, represented by Rep. Kweisi Mfume, votes about 26 points more Democratic than the nation as a whole.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) once joked that someone could kill Sen. Ted Cruz (R-X) on the Senate floor and they wouldn't be found guilty even if they were tried by the U.S. Senate, CNN reported at the time.

According to Rolling Stone, Cruz's former college roommate Craig Mazin joked, "One thing Ted Cruz is really good at: uniting people who otherwise disagree about everything else in a total hatred of Ted Cruz."

The latest in a long line of attacks against Cruz from his colleagues comes from former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). His upcoming autobiography even put the attack in a prominent position at the top of the book jacket.

"There is nothing more dangerous than a reckless assh*le who thinks he is smarter than everyone else," Boehner said of Cruz, according to Punchbowl's Jake Sherman.

After Cruz abandoned his own freezing state to vacation in Cancún, his approval rating dropped to 43 percent with 48 percent disapproval, a Morning Consult poll said. Those numbers are even amid 71 percent approval from Republicans.