Trumpmandering - what is it? And where does the expression come from?

Trumpmandering -- what is it? And where does the expression come from?

I would like to say that election fever has taken hold this end, but I usually associate that term with the excitment surrounding an election: In this case, I've got election cold sweats. So in an effort, to distract myself from what appears to be another American election disaster unfolding, I am turning my attentions to an expression that I love "Trumpmandering". But what does it mean?

xxxmandering....is  when certain activities become associated with a specific person or thing. Trumpmandering for me is about fake news, misinformation, inflated truth, populism and misogyny  -- there I said it. It's also about meglomania and the pursuit of power at the expense of everything else. (that's one vote less for Trump). But where does the phrase come from? 

Here's two of my favourite American political expressions: Gerrymandering and Fillibustering. 

According to the New York Times - Gerrymandering is a way that governing parties try to cement themselves in power by tilting the political map steeply in their favor. The goal is to draw boundaries of legislative districts so that as many seats as possible are likely to be won by the party’s candidates. Drafters accomplish it mainly through two practices commonly called packing and cracking. A packed   district is drawn to include as many of the opposing party’s voters as possible. That helps the governing party win surrounding districts where the opposition’s strength has been diluted to create the packed district. Cracking does the opposite: It splits up clusters of opposition voters among several districts, so that they will be outnumbered in each district.

To gerrymander is a portmanteau of the name Gerry and the last part of salamander, that is, Gerry+Mander. Gerrymandering was first termed when Elbridge Gerry tried to manipulate the voting district of Massachusetts. 

Gerrymandering has since been extended with others joining it to mean something according to their specific context, to tie the "-mander" suffix to a particular politician or group hence: Trumpmandering.

Case closed!

Oh some of you still awake??? Yes I mentioned my other favourite word... fillibustering. 

Fillibustering is the use of obstructive tactics by a Senator to prevent voting on a Bill. In other words it's literally talking a Bill to death. Senators talk and talk and talk for hours on end until the Senate runs out of time to put the Bill to the vote. This can be stopped if 60% vote in favour (cloture). I'd like to say both Gerrymandering and Fillibustering are exclusive to the US. But with our first past the post voting system in the UK and the recognised tactic of "talking a Bill out of parliament" -- I suspect while there may be an ocean between us the difference politically is thinner than the paper the voting ballet is printed on. 

Hey ho! Keep your eye out for Trumpmandering ... oh.. and if you're on Twitter... keep an eye out for the new warnings whenever Trumpmandering rears it's ugly head... 

election fever - the excitement surrounding a national or local election

Misogyny -  is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It enforces sexism by punishing those who reject an inferior status for women and rewarding those who accept it.

meglomania - delusion about one's own power or importance (usually a symptom of a manic or paranoid disorder).

tilting - to angle, slant or twist something so that the results are a little different. e.g. you can tilt the window to let in more light. 

portmanteau (a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others for example, brunch i.e. breakfast combined with lunch).

obstructive - causing a blockage. Maybe on purpose.