As Indiana Republicans meet with President Donald Trump to discuss a mid-cycle gerrymandering plan, and California Democrats are in the process of executing their own gerrymander, one GOP strategist is sharing a roadmap for Democrats on what he sees as the path to “defeating Trumpism.”

“What if you win – which is probable, not possible – without cheating?” said Mike Madrid, former leader of the California Republican Party and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, speaking on his Substack “The Great Transformation” Tuesday. “That’s how you destroy Trumpism. Want to know how to make it stronger? You cheat, then you win.”

Labeled by some as the ‘gerrymandering wars,’ talks among state leaders about redrawing their congressional districts outside of the U.S. Census taken every ten years kicked off after Republicans in Texas redrew their own maps to give the GOP five additional seats in Congress, and at the behest of Trump. California responded in kind by developing their own redistricting plan, set to kick off later this year should the measure be approved by voters.

And as additional states weigh in on redrawing their own districts to bolster either Republican or Democratic numbers in Congress, Madrid argued that it was a losing game for Democrats to join in the redistricting fight, arguing that it would see Democrats give up the “moral highground,” and would inevitably lead to “political violence.”

“This is a sign; they’re worried, they’re nervous, they’re scared, (and) now is not the time to return that favor and behave the same way,” Madrid said.

“The way you get rid of Trumpism is by what Lincoln said in his ‘right makes right’ speech. The only victories that are sustainable are moral victories. The greatest victories of this country have been moral victories; World War II, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War. They were first, moral victories.”

Madrid left the Lincoln Project, a political action committee led by moderate Republicans in opposition to Trump, in 2020, and is currently the principal at Grassroots Lab, a consulting firm he founded in 2008.