Perpetual redistricting is twisted. Enough is enough.

Congressional districts nationwide have been reshaped, off schedule, right up into the primary season. This destabilizing intrigue stems mainly from President Donald Trump directing a high-handed state-to-state manipulation of district maps to avoid the conventional midterm turnover of the House of Representatives majority.

Trump fears a democratic rebuke that other presidents managed to endure.

Trump's mapping onslaught started last year in Texas where the obedient GOP carried out a highly irregular off-year redistricting. The new Texas map is intended to flip five congressional seats currently held by Democrats.

Democrats responded in kind with partisan gerrymanders of their own to offset potential losses. The "out" party declined to disarm against an autocratic president who — let's remember — tried and failed to nullify the voters' 2020 election by retroactively cheating on the true results. 

In deep-red Indiana, gutsy Republican legislators rejected Trump's demand, knowing that the details of House district lines rest within the constitutional control of the states. For retribution, the president directed primary challenges against GOP state senators, which effectively purged six of them at the polls last week. Trump also is hinting at retaliation in South Carolina after its GOP-run Senate voted against an ad hoc redistricting.

National Republicans under Trump pushing around state Republicans prompted national Democrats under House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) to prod state Democrats, especially in Maryland and New Jersey, to act on behalf of their own national organization. 

All of it is twisted. Redistricting is meant to be done once every 10 years with census reapportionment, not repeatedly within a decade when either of the two parties find it advantageous. Previously, states such as New York struggled to ensure some semblance of nonpartisanship with maps that balance community interests without racial discrimination and gerrymandering. This partisan war has shattered those efforts. In New York, top Democrats now are pushing for a state constitutional amendment that allows a redrawing of congressional lines in 2028. If successful, the Democrats could rig in their favor three or four more congressional districts.

But the state in 2014 amended its constitution under the aegis of creating a better redistricting process. In 2021, the dominant Democrats asked voters to adjust it for better party advantage. The proposal lost at the polls.

It's time to stop redistricting for this decade and to aim again for more stability and reason.

In the end, voters decide who is elected. Gerrymandered districts not only insult the electorate, they can even backfire against the party in charge. Voters aren't obligated to vote along partisan district lines.

Enough is enough. Much as Democrats may be angry, and Republicans fearful, nobody knows how the House midterms will turn out in November. We need to stop the map manipulation and enforce principle over party.

Looking ahead, New York Democrats should take a cue from defiant Indiana and South Carolina Republicans — and help begin de-escalating the decade's perpetual map wars.